Clear And Present Danger

Rating:
Summary: An exciting and suspense filled novel.
Review: An American family is brutally murdered on a private yacht in Caribbean waters. Three American officials are killed on a visit to Columbia. And an undercover war is started between America and the drug empire in Columbia.

Despite its length, this book was real page turner. The plot was very exciting and full of breathtaking suspense. It was also full of specifics about many subjects, from politics to the way a special type of infantry works. I am the type of person who loves that kind of detailed information. Clear and Present Danger also provides an interesting political outlook. In the book, the president begins an undercover war simply because it is election year and he wants to get re-elected. And a high government official gets blackmailed and decides to secretly kill more than 40 people so that he won't be sent to jail. It gives a new and horrible spin to politics.

Tom Clancy is the master of suspenseful action and hasn't let his readers down with this book. This was a great book and one of my favorites. I would definitely recommend Clear and Present Danger to people who enjoy details, suspense, action, and food for the brain.

Rating:
Summary: An essential item for a flight to Australia
Review: As Terry Pratchett said, a Tom Clancy novel is an essential piece of equipment for a flight to Australia. Not only are you still reading it when you get there, but you can use it to hit snakes with afterwards.

This isn't a negative comment. It's a positive one :)

Some people complain about the amount of technical detail in Mr. Clancy's books, but I find it adds realism. You're never worried about not understanding how a peice of equipment works in one of his books!

As for this particular one, I've pretty well managed to read the Jack Ryan series backwards, starting at Red October, then Executive Orders and so on back down the line. This book answered so many questions for me it was incredible.

The characters are realistic - even though I wasn't entirely sure who the hero was until I realised it was Ryan. And Clark. And Chavez. And occasionally Moira Wolfe, Captain Wegener, Colonel Johns. And various others I can't remember at the moment. The equipment is lovingly detailed, the locations lavishly described, the total effect quite bewitching.

However...don't try to compare this book to the film. Not only does Dan Murray (look away if you don't want spoilers), who becomes director of the FBI in the last book of the series, get killed (look back now), but Bob Ritter is the semi bad guy who devolps a conscience in the book, versus the snarling, gloating, ruthless ba...person in the film, and so on down the line.

Basically: This book is GOOD! Read it!

Rating:
Summary: Another winner by Clancy
Review: At first I was wondering WHERE in the WORLD Clancy was going at the beginning of this fantastic read, but by the time you figure that out, he's got you going in a totally different direction with several new plot lines that make you wonder the same thing. Superb plotting and a hard-to-resist desire to teach those who are responsible for drugs in this country a lesson combine to make this one amazing read. Get ready for several hours of pure escapism, and by the time you are finished it'll make you a pure Clancy fan. Unlike many in the 'spy' genre who haven't been able to produce anything decent since the cold war ended (John LeCarre & Robert Ludlum) Tom Clancy apparently has something they lost: Vision and Imagination. This novel is an amazing example of just what vision and imagination can do for you. STILL one of my all-time favorite Clancy stories, and even though they made a valiant effort in turning it into a movie, it just isn't possible to adapt a Clancy novel into two hours. It's like trying to make the entire Old Testament into a made-for-TV movie...somehow you are gonna leave out something important. I just wish the Coast Guard had the authority to do what they do in the beginning of this book to drug runners they capture...

Rating:
Summary: Tom Clancy does it again
Review: I'm a big Tom CLancy fan and i just loved every minute reading this book very well done. Very well written couldn't have been done better. Mr. Clancy always kept me on the edge and he is able to put in alot of great info and he knows soo much about alot of what he writes in his book

Rating:
Summary: One of Clancy's best
Review: I'm a huge Tom Clancy fan, so I won't mind if you think this review is a little biased. I do want to mention, however, that, having read all of his works of fiction, that Clear and Present Danger is one of my favorites. There's lots of action, intrigue, and plotlines in this one, just like his other fine books, but at 650 pages, he's put it all in a tighter package. (For the unintiated, Clancy books have been known to exceed 1000 pages.)

Two of my favorite characters, John Clark and Ding Chavez, get a good amount of airplay (readplay?) here. Other books with the characters, including Without Remorse and Rainbow Six, were lackluster, but they really shine here. One can't help but feel a sense of loyalty between these two after reading their stories here.

This was the first Clancy book I re-read...it's really that good!

(I could also add at this point how the movie didn't do justice to the book....but you knew that already, didn't you?)

Rating:
Summary: One of Clancy's Great Books
Review: Tom Clancy delivers in this poweful book, expertyly portraying America's war on drugs. After personal friends of the president are killed by drug runners, the president decides that the threat of drugs is a very clear and present danger. In order to deal with this problem, he decides to send over covert special operation teams fluent in Spanish, into Columbia to neautroulize the threat to the American people. Even though I thought the beginning was a little slow, the book picks up very fast. With interesting characters like Ding Chavez, Jonh Clark, and Jack Ryan the book is a very enjoyable read. This by far is one of my favorite books and I recomened this novel to any Clancy fan or anyone who enjoys a good suspensful book. Enjoy!