Thanks for the info, the book sounds good.
Posted on 07/21/2003 5:31:21 PM PDT by TomB
Book Description
A man named Mohammed sits in a café in Vienna, about to propose a deal to a Colombian. Mohammed has a strong network of agents and sympathizers throughout Europe and the Middle East, and the Colombian has an equally strong drug network throughout America. What if they were to form an alliance, to combine all their assets and connections? The potential for profits would be enormous-and the potential for destruction unimaginable.
In the Brave New World of terrorism-where anybody with a spare AK-47, a knowledge of kitchen chemistry, or simply the will to die can become a player-the old rules no longer apply. No matter what new governmental organizations come into being, the only truly effective ones are those that are quick and agile, free of oversight and restrictions . . . and outside the system.
Way outside the system.
In a nondescript office building in suburban Maryland, the firm Hendley Associates does a profitable business in stocks, bonds, and international currencies, but its true mission is quite different: to identify and locate terrorist threats, and then deal with them, in whatever manner necessary. Established with the knowledge of President John Patrick Ryan, "the Campus" is always on the lookout for promising new talent, its recruiters scattered throughout the armed forces and government agencies-and three men are about to cross its radar.
The first is Dominic Caruso, a rookie FBI agent, barely a year out of Quantico, whose decisive actions resolve a particularly brutal kidnap/murder case. The second is Caruso's brother, Brian, a Marine captain just back from his first combat action in Afghanistan, and already a man to watch. And the third is their cousin . . . a young man named Jack Ryan, Jr.
Jack was raised on intrigue. As his father moved through the ranks of the CIA and then into the White House, Jack received a life course in the world and the way it operates from agents, statesmen, analysts, Secret Service men, and black ops specialists such as John Clark and Ding Chavez. He wants to put it all to work now-but when he knocks on the front door of "the Campus," he finds that nothing has prepared him for what he is about to encounter. For it is indeed a different world out there, and in here . . . and it is about to become far more dangerous.
And it looks like this will be another timeline book. I didn't know where he'd go now that Jack is the president. Jack Jr? This could be good....
Thanks for the info, the book sounds good.
You're right. It's just that it was a completely different approach for Clancy. It was essentially a spy thriller. There wasn't very many weapons fired. :)
But that said, I did enjoy it. I was just expecting much more, and I've always thought I was easy to please when it came to Clancy because I loved Bear and the Dragon, and most people seemed to bitch about it.
Anyway Without Remorse is easily my favorite Clancy novel. Really hard hitting.
Jack Jr? This could be good....
Me too. I was blown away when I read that. It is an obvious direction to take the stories, but I strangely never even considered it.
I hope his new one is good, but I doubt it. IMHO his last good one was Executive Orders. But even that was a little over the top.
I liked Sum of all Fears, because that Mideast Peace Process seemed to be plausible.
Although most of his stuff seems plausible - that's why I enjoy it so much....
I thought it sounded so much like the Clintons that I should point it out here on FR. Not sure if it's been mentioned before...but here it is.
A couple of days after 9-11, I picked up Executive Orders because it seemed so timely.
Agree.
Pretty much anything that Jack Ryan did as *merely* a CIA analyst were pretty interesting and decent genre books. Pretty much anything Jack Ryan did after he was promoted have been awful. What is Tom going to write about when Jack Ryan's time in the Presidency is up? Make him the Pope?
actually...for me, everything since "red storm rising" has been sad and lame.
TC seems to me to have mistaken his character for himself- some of the bits are hysterical in hindsight- for example, that part where WhackyJack saves Prince Charles and his Rent-a-Slut from an IRA attack? and Chucky visits him in the hospital, all whiny about not being a manly man, and doing what Jack did? And Jack gives him his blessing, and commiserates with him over the icky press his virginal wife is getting? And now we know she was a demented anorexic Sloan Ranger Slut?
Laughable. I can just see TC "writing himself" into the plot..."Why, if I were there, this is what I'd do..and then Chucky and UpChucky would dig me, and I'd be their friend."
I'm always glad to see popular "literary" works that support martial values, and the US military in particular. Great.
We especially needed that during the cold war, and TC should get respect for the first few books. The rest of his stuff snorkles hircinus spheroids.
And actually, as I sit here and think about it, it WAS pretty good, too.....That whole Northern Resource Area....spooky, timely, and plausible. The definition of TC's work.....
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