The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy

Tom Clancy is the world's top selling thriller writer, selling millions of copies of his novels in dozens of countries. So close to reality are his descriptions of espionage in the United States that questions were asked in Congress about who was leaking him information. His latest novel, The Bear and the Dragon, is 1036 pages of small print long. Having just finished the final page (and the preceding ones too, of course) I can tell you that I have learned the following vital facts: 1. Chairman Mao Zedung was a paedophile with a taste for 12 year olds. 2. American stuff is better than foreign stuff. 3. Abortion is very, very wrong. 4. ...  Read the complete review

My first experience of Tom Clancy, other than knowing that they were the books with dodgy covers that my father read, was the film Patriot Games with Harrison Ford. I thought it was a very good film and, having since read the book, now think it a good and fairly faithful adaptation from literary fiction. Tom Clancy writes two kind of books; those with fighty fighty shooty shooty all the way through, a little like 24 was on television recently, and those which are mainly politically based. Due to the nature of the way I read I tend to prefer the slower paced political books. Last year I was on one of my charity shop book raiding expeditions, you know the ones where you go ...  Read the complete review

~ ~ I’m a big fan of the best selling American author Tom Clancy, and have been ever since I read his very earliest novels. I can’t be alone, as this guy regularly tops the bestseller charts with his adventure fiction novels, and not just in the good old USA, but all over the world. I think there is good reason for this, because, as a general rule of thumb, you know exactly what you’re going to get with a Clancy novel. *It will be exciting. *It will grip you from page one on. *It will be meticulously researched. *It will have a good storyline. *It will have numerous good sub-plots to the main story. *It will be ...  Read the complete review

Jack Ryan is the perfect fictional president but would he be elected in the real world? How about the president on West Wing? I enjoyed the struggles, the unfamiliar routines and the everyday emergencies of the president but there was more than I ever wanted to know about army maneuvers. Navy armaments, and foreign trade. Extensive oilfields and even gold is found in Siberia not far from the Chinese border. A tragic and unplanned incident in a hospital in Beijing and the unfeeling and cruel aftermath gives China an excuse to invade Russia. Old enemies are now friends and superior equipment and one very strategically placed spy can change the world. Jack Ryan does an ...  Read the complete review

The long wait for a new book featuring Jack Ryan is over. This book, long and filled with multiple subplots, is classic Tom Clancy. Of course, Clancy's books are not literature at its best, but they are thrilling reads with some food for thought about politics, the military, world relations, and various other topics. If you have read and enjoyed the previous books that feature Jack Ryan, you will be happy with this new installment. Favorite characters from previous books are back. Once again, Clancy's forays into many topics provide great inspiration for thinking about the presidency and politics, especially in an election year (even if you do not ...  Read the complete review