Debt of Honor

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Summary: What if the government decimated by a kamikaze attack?
Review: Jack Ryan's back and Roger Durling's got him! If you ever read a Tom Clancy novel, DON'T MISS THIS ONE! Clancy's main characters are back and there are some new ones as well. Take for example, the egotistical, self-centered, half-mad, and vengful, Raizo Yamata. Yamata institutes a plan so fiendishly simple that it's complicated in its simplicity. The Japanese Prime Minister is forced to resign, blackmailed by Yamata and his corrupt cronies, into resigning. The embarrassing sex scandal involving Yamata and his friends is covered up by the murder of an American singer who was forced into prostitution. At home, the crisis builds and takes on a life of its own when all but one member of a Tennessee family is killed in a fiery auto accident. This sets the stage for the passage of a protectionist trade bill called TRA. In a subplot reminiscent of the scandal that brought down the Singapore branch of the British Brandell's Bank, an opportunistic Wall Street trader who's a cross between Oliver Stone's Gordon Gekko and Ivan Boesky, sets up a program that's a computer virus. There's another opportunist as well. A Commerce Department official who wants to be a lobbyist for Japan. The war between the U.S. Japan begins when the Japanese Self-Defense Forces invade Guam and Saipan. Ryan, as usual, saves the day. There's another well-plotted subplot. This involves Roger Durling's Vice President, Edward Kealty, who as a U.S. Senator, was responsible for the death of a former aide, who drove her car into a bridge abuttment. This one could apply to Bill Clinton although at the time it was written, Bob Packwood's sexcapes were in the news. The ending is like something out of those old World War II movies--a 747 flies into the restricted air space around the White House and the Capitol and crashes into the Capitol decimated by a decapitating kamikaze strike. The only survivor is Jack Ryan, who was on his way into the House of Representatives at the time and is whisked away to the Marine Barracks by the Secret Service. You can rest assured that this isn't the end of Ed Kealty. Like a bad penny, he'll turn up again.

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Summary: Great Book
Review: This was an excellent novel. I had not read a TC book since Without Remorse, and this one blew me away! I'm glad I ordered Executive Orders to read next. He is a master!

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Summary: Cool Man
Review: It was one of the best books I have ever read. The F-22, B-2 and all the other weapones are cool. The end wasn't that good but I recommend this book highly.

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Summary: The Explosive Prelude!
Review: Tom Clancy's "Debt of Honor" is a masterpiece right from the start. It shows the trials and anger of threats and mistakes. The story goes like this: Jack Ryan becomes President Roger Durling's National Security Adviser, or NSA. Right from the start he does a better job than Liz Elliot in "The Sum of All Fears." He knows more about defense than Elliot did. President Durling has had a good time in the Oval Office so far, and his Vice President, Ed Kealty, has a very bad scandel that just recently went public. The Japanese take over the Marianas Islands and Guam. Then for the next 800 pages it's one big fiasco between the U.S. and Japan, India, and China. I strongly recomend this book to any Tom Clancy fan or someone who is just starting to read Tom Clancy.

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Summary: I loved every word in Debt of Honor.
Review: I've read all of Tom Clancy's books and loved all but one of them. In Debt of Honor I learned more about global economics than I ever learned in any college economics class I've taken, and I have taken several in an effort to thoroughly understand the big picture. Not only is he technically brilliant, but the humanity he shows in his writing astonishes me. Techno-author he may be, but he's also closely tuned in to the human condition; this is evident in his treatment of the relationship between Jack Ryan and his wife. Many times it's not only what he does say, but also what he doesn't. Tom is a warm and intelligent master writer, and I hope he never stops.

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Summary: Incredible Read - How Does Clancy Do It!
Review: It's hard to say that this was Clancy's best work because they are all so good. I will say that this book was harder to put down because, like so many others up to this point, I'm a raging Clancy Fan. I own both the hardcover and audio tape of this book. I love the audio. The suspence is non-stop and really brings to life the characters of this novel. The reader (his name escapes me) should receive an award of some kind. He gives the novel the justice it deserves. I hope he reads other Clacy novels in the future. One final note, I actually woke my wife up to tell her how the book ended. I was amazed.

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Summary: Substandard Clancy
Review: This book was the worst Clancy I have read. First of all, Ihave read all of the books in the "Jack Ryan" series, withthe exception of Executive Orders, and I liked them all (Without Remorse is on the border); however, I have to say that this book was actually bad. The beginning was interesting, which is why this book gets a "2" instead of a "1." However, from there it goes downhill fast. Usually, I do not have too much trouble with the technical parts, as all of my education is math and physics oriented, but I could always understand other people's complaints about the extreme technical aspects of Clancy's novels. However, now I can completely appreciate their complaints with this book. The delvings into the global economic system in this book became so tedious that most of the time I felt as though I was reading an economic text book. In fact, I was reading this book during my "dead days" prior to taking my Microeconomics final exam, and I honestly feel that I did better on that test as a result of taking so much time reading through the tedious economic text that was so prominent throughout this book. This is not something I look for in "escape" reading. After a while it became very long winded and tiring, and I was very thankful when I had finished. I think that Tom Clancy needs to stop with Jack Ryan, and write some more independent novels like Red Storm Rising, or just start a new series. It really seems as though he is running out of ideas.

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Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: This is a true Clancy book! It was filled with action, suspense, and drama

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Summary: Couldn't get it outta my hands!
Review: I really loved this book. Living in Japan, I see some of the attitudes Mr. Clancy wrote of (though certainly *not* everywhere in modern Japan). But please, next time, use proper Japanese--"dozo" means "please, here you go," not "thanks!" (that's "domo"). Also, I would have enjoyed a bit more plot about Americans living and working in Japan. I just started the sequel--hope it's as good!

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Summary: one of the best i've read
Review: It kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning all the way to the last page. This would make a great movie. But Harrison Ford has to play Jack Ryan and Chuck Norris has to play John Clark