Rating: Summary: Totally ridiculous Review: This book is a piece of junk. The author has detailed information about the war planes, CIA etc etc. But sadly, he does not have a clue about the real conflict in Kashmir. The whole plot is just laughable.
Rating: Summary: Dire Rubbish Review: This book is so bad that it deserves a negative rating. First off, when you see the words Tom Clancy on the cover, you would reasonably assume that he at least had some input or some editorial control over the content. This is patently not so, because Line of Control is so badly written that a trained chimpanzee would have made a better job of it. Obviously Clancy has just sold out an idea so he can rake in the $ without any effort (which, being a Clancy fan, saddens me). To begin with, the author (Jeff Rovin) clearly knows absolutely NOTHING factual about the conflict in the Kashmir. If he wanted to base a book on it, he should have done considerably more research. Line of Control is wholly misleading. It is also full of factual holes. 'She looked towards the driver on her left'' Even school kids know that India is one of the countries that drives on the left, therefore, the driver is seated on the right. It is also full of 'rubbish knowledge' ' the sort of knowledge you would easily acquire by reading Jaynes or some such publication, but that has absolutely no place in the book' For example, this is a direct extract from Line of Control (pages 180-181):- Ten Pakistan Air Force bases were operational full-time. These were the 'major operational bases' PAF Sargodha, PAF Mianwali, PAF Kamra, PAF Rafiqui, PAF Masroor, PAF Faisal, PAF Chaklala, PAF Risalpur, PAF Peshawar, and PAF Samungli. They would all be hit with two missiles each. Then there were eleven 'forward operation bases' that became fully operational only during wartime. All of these would be struck as well. They were PAF Sukkar, PAF Shahbaz, PAF Multan, PAF Vihari, PAF Risalewala, PAF Lahore, PAF Nawabshah, PAF Mirpur, Khas, PAF Murid, PAF Pasni, and PAF Talhar. Finally there were the nine satellite bases used for emergency landings: PAF Chuk Jhumra, PAF Ormara, PAF Ranjanpur, PAF Sindhri, PAF Gwadar, and PAF Kohat'. So, how did fifteen printed lines of air force base names move the story on? They didn't ' they were never mentioned again. Talk about a waste of time, just to be told how knowledgeable the author is. Rovin also fails spectacularly to obey the prime rule of good writing ' SHOW NOT TELL. He lectures the reader for page after page. Chapter 29, for example, does absolutely nothing to move the story forward ' it just TELLS the background of an Indian Minister. Any half-decent novelist would have built this information gradually into the story, maybe using other people's conversations to provide the Minister's background. Instead we have a whole chapter where the plot stalls as the author catches up on some homework that had no right being there. And that was only one example of many ' chapter 20 was just as dire. And I was driven wild by the 'he said', 'she said' at EVERY conversation point:- 'How are you?' Dave said. 'Just fine,' Maggie said. 'Pleased to hear it,' Dave said. 'How are your parents?' Maggie said. 'Keeping well,' Dave said' and so on. As for characterization' NULL. I didn't feel empathy for any one single character in the book. NOTHING. It's the first time I've ever read a novel where ALL the characters are one-dimensional. Pages and pages were devoted to the extra-marital relationship between Paul Hood and Ann Farris. Did it add to the story? ' NO. Did it lead anywhere? ' NO. Was it resolved? ' NO. So why was it there? Again, it served only to stall the plot. Maybe Jeff Rovin was getting paid by the word, so needed to add as much bumph as he could. I was grossly disappointed with Line of Control. I considered giving it two stars because I kept going to the end, just to see the resolution of the plot. But even the ending was weak and hurried. This is probably the worst book I have read in years.
Rating: Summary: A very exciting finish Review: This book was an excellent thriller by Tom Clancy. It is in the series Op-Center and if you have read any of these you know that they are very good books. It is about the border between India and Pakistan called teh Line of Control, and when Pakistan begins building nuclear missile silos turmoil begins to build up between the nations. The U.S. Striker team (a division of Op-Center) is called to paradrop into the Himalayas in search for these silos but when India and Pakistan learn about American involvement they quickly deploy their armys. Soon the American team find themselves trapped in an all out battle for survival stuck between these two armys. The finish to this book is amazing, so to find out what happens to the Striker team read Tom Clancy's: Line of Control.
Rating: Summary: Series standards are slipping Review: This book was really sloppy. It has everything from major factual blunders (they drive on the left in India and Pakistan) to technological ignorance (it doesn't take 50 minutes to fall 10,000 feet) to just plain bad writing, all over the place. Save your time and money.
Rating: Summary: A lot of fun Review: This is a really terrific installment in the op-center series. The story centers around a terrorist group that has been infilitrated by an agent of the Indian government. The terrorists are plotting to blow up a police station, but radical forces within the Indian government decide to plant additional bombs on civilian targets as a way to create a wave militarism in India. The op-center Striker team, en route to India for a different reason, is suddenly called upon to stop the situation from becoming a nuclear exchange. Enlisting the help of the Indian and Pakistani governments, the Striker team succeeds but at a terrible price. This is a really gripping book. It has less of the political intrigue than some other op-centers, but focuses more heavily on the chain of events encounterd by the Striker team. I definately recommend this for summer reading.
Rating: Summary: It's Good, but......... Review: This is the 1st book of the op-centre series that I have read, and I was a bit surprised to learn that it was not written by Tom Clancy but by Jeff Rovin. However, the book has got elements of Tom Clancy like the realistic scenarios, unbelievable action and of course- Thrill. But this can't cover up some disappointments , the worst of which was the plot which did not have the in-depth coverage as other Clancy works. Sorry to say so, but its true. However, this is a fine book, just that it pales in comparison to Clancy's previous great works.
Rating: Summary: A military novel with great plot but too detailed Review: This is the first Tom Clancy's military kind of novel I read, I mean the one he??create??. The book has its plot, which is a really interesting one between India/Pakistan and the involvement of US military force. However, The way of the plot develop is too slow with too many details, background information and unrelated character. The chapters of the book keep on shifting, which is for getting the reader??s interest, but then the constant shift of chapters is somehow confusing and some of the chapters in between are unrelated to the plot, which makes it even harder to follow. Also, since he puts so many efforts to the background and details, there??s not much left in the ending, which makes the book a little unbalance. The plot basically deals with the conflict between India and Pakistan, also the involvement of a striker team from U.S. Stuck with a double agent, which they can??t totally trust in, the American??s are in big trouble. Also the trouble led by the bombing of Sharab and her group is another theme that the author mentions about. Overall, the book was written in the form that not much concentration is required, even though there is some confusing part in the middle, the question will be solved when you get to the end, this is a good book for people whose into military action and stuff, so enjoy the book!
Rating: Summary: A military novel with great plot but too detailed Review: This is the first Tom Clancy's military kind of novel I read, I mean the one he¡§create¡¨. The book has its plot, which is a really interesting one between India/Pakistan and the involvement of US military force. However, The way of the plot develop is too slow with too many details, background information and unrelated character. The chapters of the book keep on shifting, which is for getting the reader¡¦s interest, but then the constant shift of chapters is somehow confusing and some of the chapters in between are unrelated to the plot, which makes it even harder to follow. Also, since he puts so many efforts to the background and details, there¡¦s not much left in the ending, which makes the book a little unbalance. The plot basically deals with the conflict between India and Pakistan, also the involvement of a striker team from U.S. Stuck with a double agent, which they can¡¦t totally trust in, the American¡¦s are in big trouble. Also the trouble led by the bombing of Sharab and her group is another theme that the author mentions about. Overall, the book was written in the form that not much concentration is required, even though there is some confusing part in the middle, the question will be solved when you get to the end, this is a good book for people whose into military action and stuff, so enjoy the book!
Rating: Summary: A military novel with great plot but too detailed Review: This is the first Tom Clancy's military kind of novel I've read. The book has its plot, which is a really interesting one between India and Pakistan and the involvement of US military force. However, the way the plot develops in the book is too slow with too many details, background information, and unrelated character. The chapters of the book keep on shifting, which is purposely used for getting the reader's interest, but then the constant shift of chapters is somehow confusing and some of the chapters in between are unrelated to the plot, which makes it even harder to follow. Also, since he puts in so many effort to the background and details, there¡¦s not much left in the ending, which makes the book a little unbalance. The plot basically deals with the conflict between India and Pakistan, also the involvement of a striker team from U.S. Stuck with a double agent, which they can't totally trust in, the Americans are in big trouble. Also the trouble led by the bombing of Sharab and her group is another theme that the author mentions about. Overall, the book was written in the form that not much concentration is required, even though there is some confusing part in the middle, the question will be solved when you get to the end, this is a good book for people whose into military action and stuff, so enjoy the book!
Rating: Summary: Very Good Read Review: This was a very good book. Every page I read I couldn't wait to get to the next one. A very good gift for the Tom Clancy Op-Center lover in your family.
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