Debt of Honor

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Summary: Ryan Saves us...AGAIN!!
Review: Talk about your cliff-hangers...it doesn't get much better than 'Debt of Honor' my friends. I honestly can't think of ANY book I have EVER read that leaves you with such an amazing, but frustraing ending. I echo one of the reviews of that book: The last chapter alone is worth the cost of the book. But please do NOT spoil the surprise by reading it. From a subtle but increasingly hostile Japanese agressive act on everything from the military to Wall Street, Clancy has given us a nail

biter, and one of his best, too (I STILL liked 'Sum Of All Fears' the most...). Run, don't walk to the nearest book store and grab this large book and lock yourself away for a good weekend filled with a huge adrenaline rush. How it all comes about, and what America does about the Japanese threat is truly enlightening, especially the thought that since the 'Gulf War' Mother Hubbard's Cupboard has become pretty bare of Military might. Nevertheless Clancy has given us reason to rejoice in that he has given us a FANTASTIC story with probably THE BEST (and most fustrating) ending I have ever read--you simply HAVE to read it to understand what I'm talking about...and while you do, enjoy!

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Summary: Long book but thrilling climax!
Review: Don't remember a whole lot about this one, but the climax was remarkable.

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Summary: Starts slow, but ends with a bang!
Review: This book started VERY slow and was pretty confusing at first. In other words, its a Tom Clancy book. Once I got into, though, it was pretty amazing. In fact, I could not put it down when I got to the last 300 pages or so. Its not his best, but if you like the Jack Ryan books, it is a must read.

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Summary: Clancy's best in a while
Review: It seems to me that Tom Clancy goes in cycles. He writes one or two really great books, followed by one or two really disappointing ones. "Debt of Honor" catches him in the biggest upswing since "Cardinal of the Kremlin".

To me, the most impressive (and enjoyable) part of Clancy's talent is his ability to take very complex systems (nuclear reactors, building thermonuclear weapons, radar, etc) and explain them simply. In "Debt of Honor", Clancy attempts to explain economics. There's probably economics professors out there who snicker like crazy at this, but, you know what? To a lay person, it's a pretty simple and understandable explanation of the forces that shape the national and international economy.

All the usual Clancy hallmarks are here: globe-spanning story lines, gee-whiz technology, well-developed characters, (seemingly) accurate spy tradecraft, and a whole bunch of action.

The only downside: The last 5 pages caused me to do a major "You have got to be kidding". But, 5 pages out of 800 or so can be excused. This is a good one!

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Summary: Clancy's best, forget about "The Bear and the Dragon"
Review: The plot is just brilliant. Some readers had criticized it for its complication. However, as an investment professional and an Asian who really knows the culture in this part of the world, the story is much more believable than Clancy's latest books, including "The Bear and the Dragon", who just had shown Clancy's ignorance of both PRC and Taiwan. Anyway, if you really want to read the best of an author who's famous in his portrait of the world stage, this is the one for you. p.s. Quite disappointed by Clancy's three books after this.

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Summary: This is where Clancy lost me
Review: It's pretty hard to believe it's been more than a decade since I first picked up "The Hunt for Red October" and was quickly hooked into Tom Clancy's world.

Clancy started losing me with "The Sum of All Fears," which included an exceedingly optimistic view of the Middle East peace problems and how to solve them (all this time I thought Tom was a fatalist). Here, he adopts another questionable worldview, by putting the Japanese back in a nationalistic posture that seems borrowed from "Triumph of the Will." He decides to revive Japan's previous imperialistic ambitions, which goes to show that even Tom Clancy isn't immune to a novelist's problem of searching for post-Cold War enemies.

If I had any doubt that Clancy had wrung everything necessary out of the Ryan character in the last book, I was thoroughly convinced after this one. Jack Ryan began as a pretty normal guy in the first three or four books. He was smart and talented, with a pretty good background, but by no means was he a superman. In this book, Ryan is literally transformed with one cataclysmic event into the most important man in the world.

I admit that the climax is a cleverly realized cliffhanger. Clancy typically ties up his loose ends rather nicely, but this is the most open-ended climax he's ever written, leaving us clamoring to know what the heck happens afterward. At the same time, I was also pretty disappointed at Clancy's use of such a melodramatic writing device. Later, I was not tantalized enough to pick up "Executive Orders," partly because of the very mixed reviews it received, and also because I was put off by its gargantuan size, which seemed to indicate that Clancy had learned nothing about trimming down his prose.

"Debt of Honor" was the last Jack Ryan novel I read, and I don't plan on reading another one anytime soon. It could be because Clancy is lowering his standards with each new book, or maybe it's because I'm finally growing out of his work.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Story! A Smashing Ending!
Review: In 'Debt of Honor' Jack Ryan is called by the President to be his National Security Advisor, and not a moment to soon. In Japan ruthless terrorist elements, still smarting over the defeat of the Japanese empire in World War Two, make a bold decision: Attack the U.S. Thier first goal is to construct a small nuclear arsenal, then lauch a daring attack agianst U.S. holdings in the Pacific, and finally to create an economic crisis in the United States that will make the Great Depression look like a day in the park. When all this comes to bare it is up to Jack Ryan to set things right or give in to the outrageous japanese demands. And like Clancy's other great thriller, 'The Sum of All Fears,' this novel's ending is one of the greatest ever written, setting the stage beautifully for the next novel in the series, 'Executive Orders.' All in all 'Debt of Honot' is a thrilling read from the master of modern techno-literature!

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Summary: The Only Tom Clancy Novel I Did Not Like!
Review: Japan is one of my favorite country's to read about. Tom Clancy and his novels are some of my favorite to read. So Debt of Honor should have been the perfect book. Unfortunately it was not.

Bottom line was the story was one of Clancy's most ridiculous. And way too much on the finacial stuff. Pages and pages of the Wall Street and economic stuff was just too much.

The ending is certainly a shock, but again too far fetched. Too much on stocks and currency and not enough action. The whole idea of a Japan rising is old too and just a bit cheesy...maybe in 1985 it would have been more topical.

I love Tom Clancy books. And this is the only one I did not like. Parts of this book are very boring and others are laughable. The ending sets a great new storyline while at the same time....COME ON!

There are better novels about Japan and certainly better Clancy novels.

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Summary: Long and preachy
Review: I've given up on reading Clancy's books because I get tired of trying to read the plot through the technobabble. It's been said before that Clancy seems obsessed with the details of military devices and even more obsessed with explaining those devices in painstaking detail. That said, I've really enjoyed most of his novels. I particularly liked Patriot Games, Without Remorse, Clear and Present Danger and Sum of All Fears.

Debt of Honor continues the tradition of Clancy's spy novels. Jack Ryan, however, seems to be an ever-expanding character. My impression from the earlier novel was of Ryan as a quiet man with clear convictions. In this novel, he's suddenly Superman. He knows everything, and he's the perfect military leader, CIA thinker, political prophet and more. I get the feeling that Clancy is living vicariously through his creation.

As if that isn't bad enough, we get this preachy story about how we should be handling foreign policy. The story talks from beginning to end about the smaller United States military and how that makes us unable to defend our country. Clancy may be right, but I didn't pick this up for a political debate. I just want entertainment. And I could do without the Jack Ryan speeches about how the country should be run.

Rating:
Summary: Good story but...
Review: Not a bad story. Intriguing, intricate, this book has the best climax that Clancy has written yet. BUT, the story becomes a bit too complicated with Clancy's musings on American/Japano economic relations. Plus, at just 10 pages under 1000 (pbk ed) it's simply too long. There are some thrilling passages, particularly the auto accident that starts the whole mess and the capture of a high-level Japanese official by Clark and Chavez, but wading through the hundreds of pages of filler material between them becomes torturous. I think Clancy would do well to tighten up his novels with old-fashioned editing. Still, it's a good read and necessary before reading Executive Orders.