Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIE!
Review: Read the novel instead. It's far more chilling and topical.
Rating:
Summary: See the movie or not see the movie?
Review: I've heard too many bad things about changes in the movie. I'm cringing as whether or not to ruin a good reading experience by seeing something completely different. I can't imagine Ben Afflick in any way, shape or form playing the Jack Ryan of this book, but I'll save that for the movie review, if I do decide to see it.The above is meant as a compliment to the book. I've now got at least four Jack Ryan's under my belt, and with this one, I went back in Jack Ryan history. I've seen him become President in later stories, and this one provides a lot of missing links as to how he eventually achieves this position. Once again, the world is in turmoil. Boy is it in turmoil. Seems that the Israelis lost an A-Bomb a few years ago. Seems the some Arab bad guys found it. Seems that they want to blow up the Super Bowl with it. Seems this could trigger an even bigger nuclear conflict with our new buddies, the Russians. Jack Ryan, of course, is right in the middle of it. While few people in history realistically get to save the world so many times, I enjoy reading his adventures. Just the basic decency of the guy, with just enough flaws, is refreshing, especially in this world where each new election brings us more and more less-desirable leaders. A good human touch is added this time to all the political and technical intrigue. Faced with overwhelming pressure on the job, Jack starts drinking a few too many glasses of wine. This contributes somewhat to job performance, but especially reeks havoc on his personal life. Not taking his kid to a ball game IS a big thing, and Jack repeatedly puts it off. He starts to shoot duds in the sack, which, coinciding with a smear campaign on his career, makes his wife convinced of infidelity. I think adding these personal life touches makes it a better story. And of course, that story gets awesome in it's scope. We see the world once again at the brink of war, and see that there are factions in the Middle East that just don't want us all to get along. The fact that this is a ten-year-old book speaks volumes about reality today. And the specifics on exactly how to put together a nuclear device add the technical reality famous in Clancy novels. This one stands up as one of the best.
Rating: 
Summary: SUM OF ALL FEARS
Review: FAR TOO NARATIVE AS OPPOSED TO FORMERLY READ CLANCY BOOKS. LACKING INTER-PERSONAL REMARKS. HAD QUITE ENOUGH PHYSICS AND
CHEMISTRY IN SCHOOL. THIS "BOOK" LACKED THE PERSONAL INTERPLAY
AVAILABLE IN PREVIOUSLY CLANCY BOOKS.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy does it again...
Review: This is the 5th book in the "Ryanverse" and this time an Israeli nuke is missing. A militant Arab terrorist group finds the missing nuke and reworks it into a usable weapon. At the end of Clear and Present Danger, J. Robert Fowler is elected President and he is in the Oval Office at the time of this story. It's clear that he and Ryan aren't too fond of each other and his National Security Advisor, Elizabeth Elliot (who is Fowler's personal Monica Lewinsky) flat out can't stand Jack. Elliot is one of those characters that you would like to choke if you had the ability, but that keeps you into the book. Certainly the nuclear bomb and the intended use of it is the main plot, but Clancy uses the secondary storyline (the President and Elliot trying to force Ryan out) to keep the pages turning. All in all, another classic Clancy. The final stages of the book are absolutely incredible, as has been the case with every Jack Ryan book I have read thus far. I'm sure the trend continues!
Rating: 
Summary: We Still Need Jack Ryan!
Review: Before I read this novel my impression of Tom Clancy had been that he writes Russian related political suspence represented by
The Hunt For Red October and Red Storm Rising. But this novel shows that the world still need a Jack Ryan. Actually I would like to hear him say "Mr. President, you are acting irrational".
Terrosists who ... nuke from Isreal and detonate at Super Bowl series sounds so real now that ... that might do the same abound. Situation is close as well. Russians are now allies not enemies. And rising tension in Mid East. It's a bit long and tedious for non-native speakers of English. And as a Japanese who heard about Hiroshima and Nagasaki about 60 years ago, lack of radiation description is a big disappointment. It should not just be dealt as a matter of casualties counts. Despite that, the last 200 pages compensate all the frustration. I would like to see again how Jack would deal with another ... of global terrosism.
Rating:
Summary: Someone get this guy an editor.
Review: Let me start out as saying that I am a fan of Tom Clancy. I loved almost every book that came before this. Sum of all Fears is a very compelling story but this book could afford to lose about 300 pages. Does the reader really need to follow the path of a tree being shipped to Japan? Yes it does play a significant role later in the story but do I need to know the name of the guy who cut it down and how he came to be a lumberjack? We're given 3 pages of background on a cop who is murdered and never mentioned again. And the building of the bomb! I skipped many pages when it came to this. It's by sheer luck that I happened to stumble on the only significant part of the bomb's making.
This book almost put me off Clancy for good. I haven't and probably won't read DEBT OF HONOR or EXECUTIVE ORDER. I did read and enjoy the John Clark stories WITHOUT REMORSE and RAINBOW SIX. Retire Jack Ryan and stick with Clark and Ding Chavez.
Rating:
Summary: Up to this point, Clancy's best Ryan/Clark novel.
Review: This book is a tour de force of action, suspense, and intrigue. It begins innocently enough with a Middle East treay for peace, but soon turns into something more... A lot has happened since "Clear and Present Danger." Ritter and Moore no longer work for the CIA and Jack Ryan has become the DDCI. He is now protected by John Kelly, a.k.a. Mr. Clark, and Ding Chavez. He is also hated by President Jonathan Robert Fowler, and his National Security Advisor, Elizibeth Elliot. Jack is become a key player in politics, but faces many tasks in this book such as: dealing with the incompetant DCI, a scandal that can shatter both his personal and professional lives, and a drinking problem, just to name a few. And this is just the first two hundred pages! The story is slow to start, but picks up pace as you are treated by members and events from Clancy's previous Ryan and Clark novels. (If you've left anything out, you might have to fill in the gaps.) This book is ectremely intresting because it shows what really happens inside the government, and how one event can really break down all around it. If you have seen the movie, you have no idea about the books, but here are a few hints to the differences: Superbowl, Denver, Submarines, Islamic Radiacals, Camp David, and E.E. (And that's not including the stuff they left out because of how young they made Ryan.) This book is amazing, with a nail-biting climax. If it is getting late, and you need sleep, DO NOT start reading the last 312 pages. This book is powerful as it is shocking, and is by far Clancy's best work to this point.
Rating: 
Summary: Abridged Audio Version - A fairly quick & interesting story
Review: Given the size of the original text, the editors of this audio version must have abridged a metric plethora of text from it to distill the story to only 4 cassettes. Still, what remains is a very interesting, fast-moving story, expertly narrated by David Ogden Stiers. Through a strange series of coincidences, a nuclear bomb arrives on U.S. shores, to be detonated at the Super Bowl, where the U.S. President and various other important U.S. government officials are slated to be. That's really the only storyline in this version of the book - there is very little character development or anything else, for that matter. I feel an unabridged version would be much better, both in text and audio form. It seems that most of the politics were snipped out, as well, which is tragic. Still, this is quick and entertaining, and Stiers does a great job of the reading, including pulling off realistic accents. This version is a good teaser for the full-length book.
Rating:
Summary: The Sum of All Today's Fears
Review: Tom Clancy's novel, including #5 in the Jack Ryan series, "The Sum of All Fears", is becoming too real. While a few short weeks ago, it was an enjoyable hypothetical, suspenseful read, today it is again, a primer on terrorism and modern American history. The plot revolves around the Middle East and a group of terrorists. An Israeli nuclear weapon, from the 1970's, falls into the hands of these terrorists, just a major peace seems at hand. The nuclear bomb is exploded during the Super Bowl, destroying Denver's stadium and throwing the executive branch and the Presidency into chaos. An emotionally, physically, and professionally beaten-up Jack Ryan, again, rises to the occasion, to save America and World Peace. Clancy's characterizations is superb. A different Jack Ryan is painted. His confidence level is down, due to the new Presidential administration. Early in the novel, Ryan loses a battle of wills with President Fowler's National Security Advisor, Elizabeth Elliot. One to hold a grudge, Eliot does everything within her power to depose Ryan from his position in the CIA. She hints at Ryan's having an affair, she brings up financial problems, even puts a "spy" in his office, to follow his movements and actions. It helps her cause against Ryan, as she is sleeping with the President and constant pillow talk works in her favor. The strain on Ryan's career and personal life is well documented and one of the highlights of the novel. John Clark, the mysterious CIA agent, is not only working against the terrorists, but his input saves the Ryan's marriage and possibly, his career. Clark is the ultimate "spook", a CIA operative with an unknown past, quickly becoming Ryan's right hand man. The two Arab terrorists, along with the Native-American activist are well developed, allowing us, strangely, an insight to a terrorist mind, thoughts, actions, and emotions. A German engineer is introduced, along with the play-by-play description of how to upgrade a nuclear bomb. The finish is suspenseful,as the bomb detonates in Denver. The President's office being fed misinformation, Elliot was more concerned about almost being at the game, rather than National Security, a battle of personalities develops, with the Vice President and Ryan being cut-out of the decisions, entirely out of favor and the critical information loop. These circumstances and personality conflicts nearly lead the United States into another World War. Fortunately, Ryan's international and domestic contacts take hold, calmer and cooler heads prevail, facts of the terrorism attack are known, and the world is saved. Contrived? A bit. A number of events are forced to make the scenario work. A snow storm in the United States is paralyzing the east coast. The President and Elliot cannot leave Camp David, along with Ryan being stuck at "The Farm". Finding an undetonated nuclear bomb, getting all the characters in place to develop it and making it work is improbable. The circumstances of logs falling off of a trans-Pacific ship and damaging an American submarine is improbable, along with the location and actions of a Soviet sub. The unlikelihood of someone highly unstable to rise to a position of National Security Advisor and the almost "treasonist" act of over-riding Presidential orders by Ryan, lead to some questions, ending with a new President. The exceptional parts of the novel is the inside look at terrorists, the crisis center of American power, and the human side to Jack Ryan and his family. The coincidences involved in the plot, make everything seems contrived, however, with the certainty of recent events, anything is obviously possible.
Rating:
Summary: A decent read, but by far not Clancy's best
Review: I've enjoyed everything I've read by Clancy, and "The Sum of All Fears" was no exception. Despite its narrative sprawl and occasional lack of focus, it is good Clancy: a well-paced plot with a long dramatic peak that lasts about 100 pages and ushers in a fairly satisfying ending. We know the basic plot: missing weapons-grade nuclear material gets made into a huge, multi-stage bomb by German and Middle Eastern terrorists. It is taken stateside, and Jack Ryan and his government buddies must overcome bureaucracy and their own disagreements in order to keep this act of terrorism from throwing the world into total chaos. At its best moments, "The Sum of All Fears" exhibits Clancy's trademark rapid-fire shift of scene; I can think of few authors who can orchestrate, as well as Clancy does, the sort of globally organized tension that caps off this novel. From submarines in the Pacific to hotel rooms in Denver, from the Pentagon to the Middle East, Clancy pushes the plot forward surely, vignette by vignette, in a manner that usually manages to keep from feeling choppy or disjointed. This strategy helps to create HUGE tension, as the scene flits from back-room to front line and registers the immediate reaction and counter-reactions of all involved. "The Sum of All Fears" was also prescient in imagining the possibility of a major terrorist attack on American soil. 9/11 proves Clancy's imagination terrifyingly adept. And although his novel delivers the requisite demonized evil-doers, the Native American terrorist Marvin Russell is painted surprisingly sympathetically, giving fuller and more shockingly human shape to the horrible act in which he unwittingly participates toward the novel's end. My reservations about the novel are few but important. First, there are meanderings, especially the annoying football conversations, which are neither illustrative nor interesting. Their dialog is stilted, as if Clancy himself is forcing the subject, and this is only partially redeemed when the sport of football becomes, by novel's end, peripherally related to the plot. Like the detailed technical profiles of military hardware that one has come to expect from Clancy, the football arguments halt the movement of the story. But at least the technical details are interesting. Then there's the opening premise--the adoption of Civil Rights-era peaceful resistance by Palestinians--which is a real whale of a hypothesis (no less an authority than Jack Ryan claims "the Arabs have figured out how to destroy Israel" [62]). After this imaginative 100-page introduction, though, Clancy more or less drops the entire idea; it disappears completely, and I could almost hear him saying, "Wait, I can't do that--who wants to read a novel about peace?!?!" Left in at the beginning, it sticks out like a spare part and a crass simplification of the Israel/Palestine conflict. Despite my problems with "The Sum of All Fears," though, it was a fairly enjoyable read, and the pay-off at the end was good, since Clancy builds tension masterfully. But it's by far not his best work. "Patriot Games," for example, is tighter and better written; if you're looking to read your first Clancy, I'd start there.
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