430 pages?
Written: Aug 13 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Better than Rainbow Six.
Cons: Not by much.
The Bottom Line: The part of a book that it is, is pretty good. When do we get the rest?
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| baylink's Full Review: Tom Clancy - The Teeth of the Tiger Books |
"Geez", says I, "that sounds like it's only half a book, for Clancy".
Guess what?
It is only half a book.
Either that, or Tom has decided that it's time to shift his "name" books over to the sort of series format that the "apostrophe" books like Politika and Net Force. (Which themselves aren't nearly as bad as they used to be.
Now, don't get me wrong: the part of the book he *wrote* is oh, so much better than, say, R6, or that honey-bunny book, or even some people's opinion of Red Rabbit.
It's been pointed out that, having promoted Jack Ryan to President, Clancy's left himself little room to manoeuvre -- anything involving Ryan pretty much *has* to be Something Big, and Big Stories are much more difficult to tell well... even if you're Tom Clancy.
So you pick peripheral characters and promote them -- as Clancy did in _The Bear and the Dragon_ and _Red Rabbit_. In the case of _Teeth_, it's John Patrick Ryan, Jr.
Little Jack's not so little anymore; he's 23 now, and driving (gack) a Hummer H2 [gack because it's a *fake* Hummer, you understand :-)], and talking himself into a job as ... *some* kind of analyst for Hendley Associates, which seems to be a financial trading firm. The story is *rife* with surprises, and it's more difficult then usual as a reviewer to know where to quit, but let's say that an even *newer* approach to dealing with terrorism waits in the wings, and Jack -- like Dad in an earlier year -- has a lot to do with deciding where to point the spear.
The requisite amount of inter-story continuity is dealt with quite well, though you're probably not going to like it much, in a couple of cases.
But several new characters, including Jack's cousins Dominic and Brian Caruso -- a Fibby and a Marine, respectively -- are introduced, and come along nicely through the course of 430-someodd pages. Right up until the end of the last chapter... when you walk off the cliff in your sleep.
Grab it, read it... but remember: it's Matrix 2 -- a work in progress.
I hope.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
baylink
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Member: Jay R. Ashworth
Location: St Petersburg, FL USA
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 4 members
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