Rating: 
Summary: Yeah right.
Review: A gunfight in the Hyatt?! I live here. Even toy pistols resembling the real thing are banned.Either Tom or Martin should spend some time here before even trying to emulate "Singlish", some of the dialogue made me wince. Finished the book in less than 24 hours. Not too engaging. Thanks to Steve who lent me the book, 3 years here and your "lahs" are still wrong. :-)
Rating:
Summary: Worthless.com
Review: Bad book. Clearly not written by Tom Clancy. I will have to watch Clancy write his next book before I buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Once more, then I'm moving on
Review: The key phrase in your response, Tan Sh, is "to the best of my knowledge" -- a trip to your local bookstore would perhaps enlighten you about the correctness of the alternate spellings. Your Kelvin/Melvin comparison is disingenuous, for obviously they are two distinct, different, proper nouns. Larong/lorong on the other hand, are both phoneticized spellings of non-english words, and there is no absolute rule to follow -- even, yes, in Malaysia. The same applies when translating Cyrillic Russian, or Chinese -- pick up five different reference works, and you will likely find many variations in spelling. All perfectly acceptable. Again, I say that you are quibbling over minor points, when this area is supposed to be reserved for thoughtful reader reviews that will help other readers decide whether they want to purchase the book. I myself have spent extensive periods in Singapore, and found the novel dead-on accurate in most of its regional details. What is irksome about postings such as yours is not their mean-spirited negativity, but the fact that they are built around a core of hollowness and falsity -- and thus are unconstructive. They remind me in a strange, vague way of the worker ant -- whether in a shoebox or a forest green,it will burrow on instinctive, narrow reflex, heedless of its surroundings. Worst of all, they confuse subjective opinion with objective truth, which is never a good thing, is it? Let us take, as yet another example of this, your writer's workshop/Comp. 1.01 remarks about the use of italics for emphasis as somehow "wrong". That fossilized bit of dictum may be useful to remember in school -- if you've got one of those nasty frustrated-author types for an instructor --I myself can smell them a continent away, and have run into many in my time -- but in the real, grown-up world one quickly learns it's all a matter of stylistic preference. Some great writers like italics, some don't. Some readers like 'em, some don't. You clearly fall into the latter group. But to waste our time complaining about it . . . please.
Rating: 
Summary: A few words...
Review: Red is a 'color' or 'colour' only because the spelling for both words has been established and accepted as correct a long time ago. Even so, strictly speaking 'color' is used in the US English context whereas 'colour' is used in the UK English context. In either case, the mistakes that I have pointed out are not a result of alternate spelling but more to case wrong spelling, as to the best of my knowledge they have never been spelled in the way the author has. Even if there is such an alternate spelling, the spelling used should be reflective of how it is spelled in the local context. To illustrate my point further, if a person is called 'Kelvin', would it have been acceptable for another to call him 'Melvin'? After all, is it not an alternative spelling? My review of the actual story itself may perhaps be hidden within the rest of the review. It may not be much, but it is there. I did not see a need to point it out explicitly.
Rating:
Summary: Quibble, quibble
Review: Larong, lorong; Behasa, Bahasa; etcetera, etc. -- red is red whether you write it's a colour or a color, which is to say that these alternate spellings are equally correct, lah. But Tan Sh, did you manage to notice the story while checking this book for imagined errors? As the ultimate authority on all things, your word is breathlessly awaited.
Rating:
Summary: Ughh!
Review: Since reading my first Tom Clancy book, I've become a fan of his books. However, after reading or rather trying to read ruthless.com, I may have changed my mind. I am a Malaysian who has lived in Malaysia, the place where part of the book is set in, all my life. While this does not make me an expert in all matters concerning this multi-faceted country and its neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Indonesia, I do know enough to make a comment when references are made concerning them. Below is a list of my comments regarding part of the book, as per the 1998 Penguin Books version: 1) Behasa Malayu (pg. 10) - what is this? Is it a mere typing error or just plain ignorance? The correct spelling is Bahasa Melayu which mean 'Malay language'. 2) larong (pg. 26)- again, what is this? From the rest of the text, I take it that is actually lorong, which translated means 'small lane'. Just what is it about using all these words when the author does not know how to spell it? It isn't as if there isn't an English equivalent. 3) lah (pg. 27) - This word was used at the end of several sentences in the book., inappropriately I may add. This particle word originally came from (could be from somewhere else before that) the Malay language. It should be added to the end of another word to 'strengthen' the meaning of the previous word. Since making its way into Malaysian English and Singaporean English, its usage may have changed a bit but not as radically as used by the author. The author used it as a separate word at the end of a sentence following a comma. A typical example of the correct usage is "Eatlah" or at most, "Eat-lah" which basically means to implore a person to eat. 4) ah beng (pg. 30) - This word was used by a character in the book to refer to a big, muscular villain. In actually fact, this term usually refers to a typical geek, usually of Chinese descent. Hardly an appropriate reference, don't you think? 5) Selangor (pg. 82) - Now, this is very laughable. In the book, a character directed a cab driver in Singapore to go to Selangor, one of the states in Malaysia. Selangor is an air distance of 300 km away from Singapore. Thus, it is unlikely that the cab the above-mentioned character had hailed at random is: a) a long distance cab b) able to operate within two countries. 6) pelan-pelan saya - What is that? Even though this is supposed to be Bahasa Indonesia, it is quite similar to Bahasa Melayu, which I am quite familiar with. In some parts the so-called native language is so bad, I wonder how anyone, even a native can understand it. These are the mistakes that I have found in the first half of the book, which I managed to find again later on when I wrote this. I have yet to finish it, and I wonder if I could stomach reading the rest of it. All these mistakes point out that the author is quite unfamiliar with the languages and culture in these countries. It is likely that the author has not even been to these countries before and/or has not expanded enough time to conduct sufficient research on these countries. This is quite disappointing to me as Tom Clancy has always struck me as a meticulous writer who seemed to be able to come up with authentic works for his books even though they may be set in many different countries. Then again, these countries have never been my native country, until now that is. This leaves me to wonder over the authenticity of all his other books. This book seriously made me speculate whether Tom Clancy was really the author of this book. Even the writing style is different. (What is with all those uses of italicized words, anyway? A good author would not need to resort to the use of italics to emphasize a point). It has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty bad
Review: 3/5 of this book had to many complicated words and concepts that made me read certain parts over and over again when I found myself dozin off from bordom. 1/5 of the book was way too descriptive, like in a torturing scene, they described every little feeling of pain that sent chills up my spine and left me feeling sick to my stomach. The other 1/5 of the book kept me wanting more because it was so well written. I managed to finish the entire book even though I am only 13 and was bored out of my mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Have to call a spade a spade, but...
Review: I found this book to be a real page turner, even if it didn't offer much in the way of meaningful character development, etc... If you take it for it is, a page-turning action thriller, it did that rather well. If you're looking for more in-depth story-telling, perhaps read something like Timeline by Crichton, which was unbelievable.
Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for the story to end
Review: Imagine guys & girls, reading this book after the glorious TIMELINE from Michael Crichton ?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for young adult readers who like action
Review: Hardcore non-stop Excitement.never wanted to put it down. Well worth the money. Time well spent.
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