Tom Clancy (1947-2013)

[roywhite]

Dead at 66.

Read 6 or 7 of his books, and enjoyed them; earlier ones were the best IMO.

[aimo]

Holy crap! He spoke at my Wake Forest graduation. A great loss.

[Olympic Fan]

Big fan here ...

The best books were the Jack Ryan universe -- The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games (which was written first and has a pre-Hunt/October Jack Ryan, but was published second in the series), Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Feats, Debt of Honor, Executive Privilege, The Bear and the Dragon ... Rainbow Six was a neat spinoff.

I didn't like some of the other spinoffs -- Red Rabbit, Without Remorse and the ones with Jack Ryan Jr. as a CIA agent.

I did like Red Storm Rising about an (1980s era) Nato-Soviet war in Europe.

Interesting that one of the best-selling authors of our generation had so much trouble getting published. He was rejected by all the big publishing houses until he finally got the Naval Institute Press to publish the Hunt for Red October ... it was the first work of fiction the NIP had ever published. He was a 38-year-old insurance salesman when the NIP bought Red October for $5,000.

[SeattleIrish]

I've read Red Storm Rising multiple times. He was very good at presenting technical information in an engaging way.

I did stop reading him this past decade, as I stumbled into buying one too many of his ghost written books. Sorry to see Mr. Clancy go.

s.i.

[fuse]

I remember when Hunt for Red October was first published. It was a big deal in Annapolis. My dog got to meet Harrison Ford during the filming of Patriot Games.

Rest in Peace, Tom Clancy. You reinvigorated a genre Ian Fleming owned, and that writers like Lee Child continue. Definitely among my favorite authors.

[Olympic Fan]

Oops, forgot Cardinal of the Kremlin, which fits in between Clear and Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears.

Interesting to track his enemies list:

Red October -- the Soviet Union
Patriot Games -- Irish terrorists
Clear and Present Danger -- Columbian drug cartel
Cardinal of the Kremlin -- the Soviet Union again
The Sum of All Fears -- Arab terrorists, allied with Neo-Nazi Germans
Debt of Honor -- war with Japan
Executive Privilege -- war with a terrorist Iranian state
The Bear and the Dragon -- we allu with Russia to fight Red China
and my favorite:
Rainbow Six -- eco-terrorists

[bjornolf]

Great author. I loved most of his books. He will be missed. Thoughts and prayers to his family.

[gus]

Sad to hear. As a teenager, I loved his books. He had a talent for marrying interesting characters and lots of technical information, and was an immensely skilled story teller. He could get someone who disagrees with pretty much all of his politics to still enjoy his books and invest in the characters.

[snowdenscold]

I used to read and re-read him all the time when I was younger - I even re-did several of his books a year or two ago as well. I did stop after The Bear and the Dragon, which I didn't think was quite as good as the ones that came before (and awkward sex scenes!), so I never went past that.
Still, his books were an absolutely fascinating look into the organization and operations of the CIA and military.

I always feel like Cardinal of the Kremlin never gets as much love, possibly because it's sandwiched between 4 other early books that all became movies (and was written right as the Cold War was ending so it became quickly out of date), but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sum of all Fears is also one of my favorites, mostly due to the long, slow built-up with a bunch of seemingly un-connected plots that all of a sudden really takes off for the last 20%. Once the bomb goes off (spoiler alert!) I usually have to finish the book in one sitting.

(Of course, after my 3rd or 4th reading, I actually start skipping the plot chunks that describe the bomb assembly process. It's very technical and really slows down the pace, and while interesting the first several times, I guess my attention span has weakened over the years).



I only read Red Storm Rising one time, many many years ago - might be worth a second reading at some point, if for a 80's Cold War historical perspective than anything else.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I read Red Storm Rising first and loved it. Still my favorite. Haven't read the last one yet, just haven't gotten around to it.

[Olympic Fan]

Sum of all Fears is also one of my favorites, mostly due to the long, slow built-up with a bunch of seemingly un-connected plots that all of a sudden really takes off for the last 20%. Once the bomb goes off (spoiler alert!) I usually have to finish the book in one sitting.

Interesting sidelight on The Sum of All Fears ... [spoiler alert]

In the book, he blows up two football teams ... one of them is the Minnesota Vikings.

Very soon after that fictional disaster, Clancy tried to buy the Minnesota Vikings. He already owned 24 percent of the Baltimore Orioles.

There was some talk in the press about the fictional destruction of the team, but that proved no problem -- Clancy's ownership group won the bidding for the team and was all but approved before it all blew up -- largely due to the fact that Clancy was involved in a bitter divorce that threatened his assets. She ended up getting half of everything -- including half of all his future earnings. The NFL disqualified his group and Red McCombs, who had finished second in the bidding process, got the team instead.

[JNort]

I loved the Ghost Recon series and Op Center series... I loved the movie Hunt for Red October but found the book very dull. That was years ago however so I might should try it again.

[Bob Green]

I loved the movie Hunt for Red October but found the book very dull.

I'm of the opposite opinion. I loved the book, while disliking the movie. RIP Tom Clancy, you will be missed.

[burnspbesq]

I'm of the opposite opinion. I loved the book, while disliking the movie. RIP Tom Clancy, you will be missed.

I'm a sucker for submarine movies. Red October was good, but Crimson Tide was way better.

Clancy was great at action, and good at creating certain kinds of characters. But he was horrible at creating believable women. Cathy Ryan and Mary Pat Foley were cardboard cutouts ... and they were as good as it got. The Chinese secretary who betrayed her country for fancy underwear? Puh-leeeze.

[Matches]

I used to read and re-read him all the time when I was younger - I even re-did several of his books a year or two ago as well. I did stop after The Bear and the Dragon, which I didn't think was quite as good as the ones that came before (and awkward sex scenes!), so I never went past that.
Still, his books were an absolutely fascinating look into the organization and operations of the CIA and military.

That was the place to stop. His work took a tumble after that. Those early books are gold, though. Without Remorse remains my favorite - I always liked Clark better than Ryan.

[Dukeface88]

I've read Red Storm Rising multiple times. He was very good at presenting technical information in an engaging way.

A little too good for the CIA at times. Apparently he was questioned about his sources after some of the descriptions were a bit too close to actual classified information.

Besides the fiction work, he wrote some pretty interesting nonfiction on the organization of various military units.