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The Teeth of the Tiger

The Teeth of the Tiger

List Price: $27.95
Your Price: $11.18
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Predictable and Disappointing
Review: Had this been my first Clancy novel it most certainly would have been my last. I've read and enjoyed all his previous work and looked forward to this one as well.

Instead I found it predictable, shallow on detail, short on intrigue and just short in general.

Lets hope his next work is up to par with the previous work,

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Less Than Impressed
Review: I want to be fair about this: First, I have never read a Tom Clancy novel before this one. Having seen the movies, "The Hunt For Red October" and "The Sum of All Fears," I thought that, no matter how flawed the movies might have been otherwise, they were, at least excellent tales and original stories. Thus, I bought "The Teeth of the Tiger" expecting a well thought out plot line with originallity in its presentation.

What I got, instead, was a story which was entirely predictable from page one, which didn't get to the (already obvious) point until well past halfway through the book, which was intellectually inferior in its word smithing, and overall boring. Oh, and by-the-way, the quip which was repeated at various points, regarding men and horses and hanging was WRONG! If you're going to write a book, do a better job of researching than that! The misquote misses the point that Judge Bean was making at the time he said, "We have plenty of men that need killing, but we don't have any horses that need stealing!"

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Tom Clancy has lost his mind
Review: George Lucas has lost his mind. Oh, wait. This is Tom Clancy's book review, what does Mr. Lucas has to do with it? George Lucas has lost his mind because after authoring the bestselling classics of original Star Wars he went into commercialized franchise of creating mindless and awful prequels.
Tom Clancy has lost his mind. How could someone that wrote my favorite books descend into this time-wasting mindless pulp-fiction? Trying to capitalize on recent political events he is throwing everything in the basket - the fiction of his previous books with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with September 11th events in New York, and everything in between. He should have thrown in Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia and maybe Napoleon's campaign of 1812. Let's not forget that he wrote this book much sooner than the usual 1-book-in-two-years routine. I do not blame the man for desire to make money on recent wave of patriotism - everyone makes money somehow, but at least do it with quality writing. Up to "Rainbow Six" I was a devoted Clancy reader. "Rainbow Six" went down in quality writing and the madness had started. I have not even read "Red Rabbit" based on reviews expressed here, but this?
The characters are so shallow; you can never know which one is Brian, which one is Aldo, which one is Dominic, or Ryan Jr. They are just all the same. Their conversations are simple minded and shallow. There are too many examples to list. I find myself skipping entire pages. The vocabulary used by supposedly educated John Ryan and Caruso brothers is poorer than of my 13 year-old son.
There is an absolute lack of action; there is a brief scene at the beginning and towards the end. That's it, folks. The plot is so far-fetched, the characters are shallow, and story is boring to the point of insanity. I have tried to read it on numerous occasions, read 2-5 pages at a time, and finally put it down. It has been almost a month since I bought it and I have not finished it yet. This is the author that I respected and read religiously in the past.
Tom Clancy has lost his mind.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What a disappointment....
Review: I've been a major Clancy fan since _Red October_, eagerly awaiting the release of each new installment.

The last several of his books have been huge, cumbersome, rambling works that disappointed. When I heard that the new one was shorter, I hoped that he had gotten back to the tight, taught story telling of _Red October_ vintage. Boy, was I disappointed.

While the Caruso twins are engaging characters, the story seems obsessed with cars and not with weaving a good yarn. When I finished the book last night, I put it down and said, "Okay, so what? Where's the rest of it?" The ending is most unsatisfactory, like the so-called "cliffhangers" that most bad sitcoms try every year...predictable and not terribly interesting.

Borrow it from a friend. Check it out of the library. Wait for paperback. Whatever you do, don't buy this piece of junk and encourage him to do another one this bad. Maybe, if sales plummet, both Clancy and his publisher will be forced to re-evaluate these terrible books and do something worthy of reading and worthy of the legacy of _Red October_.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The Teeth of the Tiger are Rotten and Decayed
Review: I have read every Tom Clancy novel. Much to my disappointment, the Teeth of the Tiger might very well be my last. Gone are the days of suspenseful and sophisticated plots. Welcome to the world of Tom Clancy novels written for the big screen or little monitor.

The description of the Teeth of the Tiger sounded pure Clancy, a novel that was timely and suspenseful. I was sure that this novel was going to be a return from the pain that was the Red Rabbit. Much to my disappointment, the Teeth of the Tiger was dull and full of poorly developed and totally unbelievable characters. The plot dragged and dragged and dragged. Indeed, it was absent of any significant action for nearly 200 pages and entirely predictable. As a result there was absolutely zero suspense.

Even worse, Clancy abandoned his classic commitment to realism by creating a story around three characters that were one dimensional, annoying, and totaly unbelievable. If I had read one more, "roger that bro" I actually think I would have burned the book. The repetitive nature of the brothers' debates (Brother 1: It is bad to assassinate people. Brother 2: It is ok if they are really bad guys, bro.) were also another source of "pain and suffering"

Jack Jr. was literally Jack Jr. with a level of arrogance that was both astonishing and laughable. Also, do you really think that the son of an extremely popular former president could just disappear and go to work for "black" operations unit? ...

The question remains, "What happened to the genius of Tom Clancy?" In contemplating this question consider the fact that during Tom Clancy's last interview on the Today show he was asked about his attachment for Jack Sr. Much to my surprise, Clancy stated that basically he (Tom Clancy) was the model for Jack Ryan. Apparently, Clancy's arrogance has gone unchecked by his editors (if he even has one) and has clearly replaced his genius for writing with a genius for the absurd.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The Tiger Has No Teeth
Review: Having devoured every Clancy book written, I will have to resist the urge in the future of automatically picking up any book he writes when I first see it at the store. Teeth of the Tiger is just the last disappointment from my once-favorite author. This book feels as if he pumped it out over a long weekend. The key characters are as thin as the paper they are written on, bantering with each other in a virtuous, holier than thou, yet classicly Clancy-macho style that I have never heard in real life. I grew very tired of Jack Ryan, Jr interjecting into every conversation with anyone, the question: "I wonder what Dad would think of that?". Here is this kid sent overseas as a covert operative after a few months of work - did anyone stop and think that he could be recognized as the former President's son? I still see Chelsea Clinton on a regular basis while browsing the tabloids in the check-out line. As befits a man of his talent and success, Clancy clearly has more "creative control" over his books of late - the downside is for readers who do not wish to hear his views (through characters) on issues like abortion, taxes, the church, etc. Back to basics, Tom.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Should have been titled, Slow and Boring
Review: Typically, I find Tom Clancy's books too slow and overly-technical compared to the many good authors of this genre. But this one started out very nicely and I started my read. However, fter the first few chapters, Tom Clancy returned to form - slow and boring. Other than the initial excitement, it was a tedious build-up for 260 pages before the real action occurred.

Worse, the entire premise is ridiculous. Clancy gives us the president's son, Jack Ryan Jr., sent off overseas as an undercover agent to supervise assassinations. This is certainly believable! No one would recognize the president's son! That would be like asking one of the Kennedy boys, Chelsea Clinton or Amy Carter to go unnoticed while they pulled off hits around the world. Clancy seems intent on following in the footsteps of Robert Ludlum: Write a good book or two, then begin the descent into mediocracy and tediousness.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Clancy's Back on Form - But he Still Needs Editing!
Review: After the disappointment of "Red Rabbit" it's good to see Clancy back on form in "The Teeth of the Tiger". Gone are the miserable ramblings we saw in that book; back is the tight plot and gripping storytelling. Unfortunately Clancy is in need of a proper editor who will correct some of the repetitions that creep in from time to time.

Anyway, back to the story. "The Teeth of the Tiger" puts us firmly into the new millenium. A covert extra-government organization was set up by Jack Ryan when he was vacating the presidency. The organization's mandate is to use non-conventional means to defeat terrorism (e.g. perform assasinations). They get their information by intercepting internal transmissions betweeen the CIA and NSA - using this to both track terrorists that perhaps the other agencies miss and to fund their organization via insider trading.

Obviously this is a little far-fetched but it's still an interesting premise. Meanwhile Jack Ryan jr. stumbles across their organization and checks them out - getting taken on board in the process. Coincidently two of his cousins, a marine and an FBI agent are also recruited to be the first assassins. It's these coincidences that spoil the book because it could have been written so that there was a better reason they all happened to be recruited.

As the cousins are being trained, a small terrorist operation is in progress and succeeds. Here is Clancy at his most chilling and, hopefully, not his most prescient: Without spoiling the plot, let's say the target is middle America. The biggest coincidence - which nearly ruined the story for me - happens here where we find our heroes in very close proximity to the terrorists on a training run.

The story then moves overseas as the mission proceeds - one by one the bankers and couriers of the terrorist cell are identified and killed. This time, unlike with "Red Rabbit", Clancy manages to keep a degree of tension.

The book ends almost in mid-air. Obviously the scene is set for a sequel. Knowing the way Clancy is going I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the opener for a franchise like the Net Force novels.

All in all this was enjoyable - the writing was fairly tight, the characters interesting and the only things that spoilt it were some minor repetitions and some very annoying coincidences which I felt could have been better handled.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Waste of Time & Money
Review: In the tradition established by "Red Rabbit", I found this book to be an absolute waste of both my time and money. It appears that Mr. Clancy is having a hard time lining up "ghost writers" these days. For those of us who enjoyed the suspenseful build-up in earlier books like "Red Storm Rising", his lastest efforts are absolute bombs. I would suggest to Mr. Clancy that he make every effort to reconcile with more professional "contributing" writers, for example, Larry Bond, in order to pull his future contributions out of the mud-pile that his current books are in. For anyone who has not read Larry Bond's books, I would strongly suggest that they read "Cauldron" (I would rate it five stars) for starters, and see how a truly gifted writer presents his offering. I would imagine that Mr. Larry Bond contributed far more to "Red Storm Rising" that Mr. Clancy did. While rating "Red Rabbit" & "Teeth of the Tiger", several people have asked the question, "Did Tom Clancy really write this book?" I would rephrase that to ask, "Did Mr. Clancy really write books like 'Red Storm Rising', 'Cardinal of the Kremlin', etc?" I don't think so.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Teeth of the Tiger is a caged animal!
Review: Tom Clancy seems to have lost the art of creating suspense in his novels. He seems to write with the calm and precision that he instills in the operative characters in his book. While The Teeth of the Tiger is much better than the awful Red Rabbit, it still lacks the compelling suspense of Clancy's earlier works such as Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising. Those I could not put down. I could put down The Teeth of the Tiger, but I did finish it and I did get some degree of enjoyment. Clearly Clancy is launching a new and younger set of characters (probably trying to make future movie scripts more acceptable to Hollywood), but I wish he would give them a little more fire!


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