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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
So What?, 24 Dec 2003
As a Tom Clancy fan, on the strength of his previous books I bought this one straight 'off the shelf'. But this book was disappointing. It was strongly nationalistic, sickeningly pro-american (to be expected but this was too much - possibly done in response to recent american developments?), anti-communist, patronising, and in parts racist, whilst not providing much in the way of redeeming features such as excitement or suspense. On the upside, it was interesting to read a theoretical "how this could have happened" story, but this was constructed more like a biased documentary than a spy thriller; the lack of real action or plot twists ensured that my most common thought was "So what?" If you're not a Jack Ryan fan, don't bother. If you are a fan, you'll probably want to read it simply so you don't miss anything, but don't expect too much. Personally, I'm going to use this book to prop up my broken sofa.
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51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
What a disappointment, 25 Nov 2003
I am a big Clancy fan, but this is very disappointing. For starters, it is all a bit anticlimatic. You pretty much know how things are going to turn out for all the main protagonists with 20 pages of 'meeting' them. There is little action, and most of the book is portrayed in Jack's office or his home - film rights unlikely I think. And the end seems rushed, as though he had to get it to the publishers on time. In addition, annoyingly Jack is portrayed as some sort of prophet. The collapse of communism, the collapse of the Japanese economy, the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, how his wife would be a laser surgery pioneer, are all predicted by Jack in the space of a few days. Indeed it is apparently thanks to a letter from Jack that London is littered with Starbucks. In addition this book is written in a patronising tone. It also seems far less balanced than previous books. There is a huge amount of America is great - nothing compares in this book. Perhaps this is what was required when Clancy wrote it? Overall though I would not recommend this.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Rabbits on far too much, 25 July 2005
This book is truly awful. As previous reviewers have said the story is fiction based around historical facts (so, like Titanic you already know the ending). I was expecting more, but no! Also large bits of the book can be summaried as:- Everything American is great, everything Russian is awful, everything British is somewhere between the two (but closer to rubbish). OK, Ryan and Clancy are American, so maybe that's forgivable especially given the political situation at the time. However, what isn't forgivable at all is the terrible editing. There are lots of repeated facts and text...I don't know how many times I was informed that Jack's wife is a surgeon....maybe my attention span is much better than Clancy's average reader? Don't bother with this book, you'll regret it.
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