The Teeth of the Tiger

Rating:
Summary: Embarrassingly bad . . . .
Review: Let's face it. When you impulsively hit the "buy with one-click" button for a Clancy novel, you don't expect Graham Greene. Even so, I didn't expect a book that made me cringe. I haven't read all of Clancy's novels, but I enjoyed The Hunt for Red October and Clear and Present Danger, and what I enjoyed most about those books was the attention to procedural and technological detail. You can suspend disbelief, and -- notwithstanding the too-good-to-be-true heroes and too-bad-to-be-believed villains -- allow yourself to think Clancy has some insight into military and intelligence tactics and technology. There is no such quality in this book.

I can't believe an editor even glanced at this book. The most exciting set piece occurs at the midpoint of the book, so the entire second half is boring anticlimax, devoid of any excitement. In the final pages of the book Clancy's got two protagonists going on a detailed but irrelevant driving tour through Europe, and a third skimming the Koran on the internet to learn a bit about Islam before the climactic confrontation with the bad guy. Most of the dialogue is along the lines of "Roger that, bro."

The best book I've read about anti-terrorist tactics is Mark Bowden's "Killing Pablo." Clancy can't hold a candle to Bowden.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, too much Clancy --way too much
Review: I vivdly remember reading the first two or three Clancy novels: he was marvelous at concocting fast-moving, captivating techno-thrillers populated with really interesting characters and creative plot twists. I was completely hooked, and eagerly awaited the next book. No more.

Clancy has gone way over the top in this piece of garbage filled to overflowing with fatuous and stilted dialogue between and among one-dimensional characters whose major internal conflict seems to be "Gee, shall I become a paid assassin today? What would Mom say about that?"

And talk about moving through a story at a snail's pace; at the one-third page mark, we haven't even gotten into the action yet, just a lot of silly interaction between the "Campus" officials (read: vigilantes,but OUR vigilantes, so they must be good)and the young Galahads ("Aldo", "Enzo" -- and, of course, Jack Jr. -- yes, the grown-up son of you-know-who) as they toss aside minor moral dilemmas and prepare to go out and blow away the really nasty Colombian drug cartel boys and their new buddies, the Middle Eastern terrorists.

Clancy is obviously writing for the $$ now. It's too bad, because I was once one of his biggest fans.I won't be spending any more of my $$ on this kind of junk.

Rating:
Summary: Toothless Tiger
Review: In the past a Clancy novel would take a while to get wound up, but once the pitch was finally on it's way he always delivered heat. This time it's Clancy who whiffed. Teeth of the Tiger is an underwhelming, rather conventional novel that lacks the old Clancy edge and style, and that's too bad. What used to set a Clancy book apart was his intricate research, a taut and edgy writing style, and a gift for understanding complex geopolitical challenges. He also had an amazing ability to anticipate post cold war challenges in such books as "Sum..." and "Clear & Present Danger" that left you wondering "how does he do it"? For this reason I never minded a book as thick as the Manhattan white pages.

There's precious little real action and zero "wow" factor in "Tiger" and with one or two exceptions the players are essentially two-dimensional. I wish him luck in developing the "Jack Junior" character, but to be honest I wish he would have devoted his efforts to introducing a new set of protagonists. Clancy should have given all of the preachy Clan Ryan a well-deserved retirement.

In the end, "Tiger" has little real bite. It's an off the shelf, predictable story that could have been written by any of the major players of the genre. There's sure to be a sequel, and for this old Clancy fan, I sure hope the sizzle and pop makes a comeback. I miss the old Clancy and wonder if he's too distracted by all of his other ventures to put all his being into a single novel as he did for his first 15 years of writing. Nothing would please me more than to see my "neighbor" across the Potomac regain his old form.

Rating:
Summary: Did Clancy write this?
Review: I skipped Red Rabbit because of the reviews I read here. I should have skipped this one. I didn't think he would write two bad ones in a row. I'm not even sure he wrote this one. It seems like it might have been ghost written. Maybe he has too much on his plate with the numerous games and pulp paperback series. I'd skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: Mike
Review: This book was so slow, and had no action. The first 2 pages were probably the most exciting. after that, it was quite boring. Would'nt recomend this one

Rating:
Summary: Why does Clancy use 431 pages to write a 250 page book?
Review: Tom Clancy is one of the world's very best story tellers. So why doesn't his publisher tell him to start telling stories at the start of each book, rather than in the middle? If you're interested, by the way, Teeth of the Tiger starts on page 241 of a 431-page novel.

Maybe --maybe-- the plot and character development could have been accomplished within 100 pages. With 240 pages of development, we should have been given far more complex characters.

How much small talk can even the most dedicated Clancyphile tolerate? Especially fatiguing was the endless, superficial banter between the two Caruso twins. Brian Caruso's ethical qualms regarding his new vocation as a moral-murderer were legitimate, but they might have been made far more meaningful were he to have had another character to debate with, a character with a little more intellect than his brother. The two Caruso characters are so indistinguishable that I still am unsure which was the Marine and which was the FBI agent.

As for Jack Jr., this guy's a 20-something kid, who grew up in the rough-and-tumble world of White House dinner parties, and who somehow or another has absorbed from his father, and his father's friends, an instinct for gut-undertanding how the deepest of black organizations operate.

Tom Clancy is a pretty wealthy guy, and he's earned all his wealth by entertaining millions of us with tight, very smart, and very timely stories. Stories of such high quality must be truly exhausting to concoct and construct. It seems, at least to this reader and admirer, that Clancy now has far too many distractions in his life, or not enough fire within himself, to produce the kind of stories that rightfully made him a rich man.

With that all said, from page 241 forward, Teeth of the Tiger turns into a very entertaining story. Enjoy the second half of the book, because I believe that this book should be Clancy's last.

It is for me.

Rating:
Summary: An improvement, but not great
Review: First, a disclaimer -- I am a die-hard Clancy fan and rank Sum of all Fears and Rainbow Six as two of the best novels I have ever read. Having said that, The Bear and the Dragon and Red Rabbit were just plain aweful! The Teeth of the Tiger is an improvement over the last two books, but still leaves much to be desired. The action, particularly in the second half, was better than his recent efforts, but the story never seemed to pull together and Jack Jr.'s role was, well, underwhelming. TC WAS the very best, and I long for (and hope for!) his return to his story-telling skills of the early years.

Rating:
Summary: Not Clancy's worst, certainly far from his best
Review: I've come to expect less and less from a Clancy novel, as time goes on. Perhaps he's running out of ideas? Or perhaps he simply needs a better editor who's willing to confront his obvious arrogance (have you ever seen a television interview with the man?) and tell him to go back and write it better! Either way, this book is a failure.

First, there is almost no plot.... There is a big-bad-secret organisation that has been created due to satisfaction with the way things are run in the American government (all of Clancy's characters seem, at one point, to refer to government employees as "pukes"), and they've decided to assassinate [dangers] to the American way of life. Then, they recruite some gullible [folks] (the brothers are two of the most stereotypical characters I've ever encountered in a novel... it's as if Clancy read through a travel guide to Italy and then a couple of books on Italian-American culture, and picked up a couple of highlights), who go around assassinating bad guys. That's it.

However, it's the actual craft of writing that especially fails. The characters are superficial, the novel is replete with repetitions (how many times do we need to read the same "catch-phrases") and vulgarity (I'm not bothered by it, but are Clancy's characters meant to be THAT inarticulate?), and there are a number of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes (is it a "blank" American Express card or a "black" AmEx... be consistent!).

Gave it two stars because it was mildly diverting when I was bored on a flight, but really want to give it only one. The days of Hunt and Clear and Present seem like a long time ago.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have all the Clancy books and this one rates toward the bottom of the list in my opinion. It feels abbreviated, it is one of his shortest books, and feels like the ending happens too fast. It's almost as if he had a deadline, couldn't write a more complete book and just stopped (it appears there will be more in the future based on the ending).

The scope of is small and while it is not about Jack Ryan (senior), he is contantly referred to - Jack Ryan, Jr pretends to be an independent person but constantly talks about the senior. I will say that I prefer his more sweeping stories such as Executive Orders and Debt of Honor.

Clancy usually has had strong female characters in his books (after Red Storm Rising). Dr. Caroline Ryan, Mary Pat Foley or Andrea Price are examples. However, in this book, the women are mostly prostitutes with the exception of one training officer who freezes up in a critical moment. Has Clancy allowed his messy divorce to effect his writing? Just a thought. I am a man who is attracted to strong women so the lack of such characters in this book is a disappointment.

Finally, one thing kept nagging at me - is Jack Jr old enough to be a college grad? I didn't think so, even with about 5-6 years added on the to end of Executive Orders. However, I would expect Clancy wouldn't make that glaring a mistake so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Overall, he has done much better in the past.

Rating:
Summary: Dumb and Dumberer
Review: At 431 pages, the latest Tom Clancy novel is not as bloated as some of his later work. I had high hopes that he would return to the form he displayed in Red October and Clear & Present Danger. Instead, this novel felt a lot like the movie "Dumb and Dumber" -- a sequel ordered up by the publisher with no-name actors instead of the original cast in an attempt to cash in on the highly successful original.

In Teeth of the Tiger, the "no-name actors" are the son and nephews of Jack Ryan and is meant to kick off a new series of books based on the new characters. Unfortunately, the characters come off as unbelievable.

Clancy wants us to believe that Jack Jr. can work undercover all the while using his real name without being recognized (remember his Dad is a former president). He wants us to think that a new "black" organization that works totally outside the system will recruit two full-time assasins who will remain on the official payroll of the US Marines without fear that some accountant will stumble across it.

But we know character development is not why we read Clancy. He does know how to keep us turning the pages. However, even though the plot moves a lot faster than Red Rabbit, the suspense is not as tight as his earlier work. The gunfight in the middle (Skip to bottom if you do not want to know more about the plot) was vintage Clancy. But I found the beginning (recruitment and training of the assasins) and the end of the book full of cliches and predictable. He makes it seem so easy to be an assasin -- no need to prepare for the hit like the Jackal. Fly to new city. Recognize target within 2 hours. Kill target. Have dinner. Fly to new city. Rinse and Repeat. Instead of taking the time to set up the scene, he relies too much on his former novels and real life. There are liberal references to 9/11 and Jack Ryan and John Clark used as a short-cut to character and plot development.

All in all, because this is Clancy -- the book is worth reading. If this was his first book, I double very much there will be a sequel to this book. But there will be --- because he is Tom Clancy and this is not his first book. And because the book ends like The Matrix -- set up for a new series of books about Jack Ryan Jr.