Good news! After nearly a decade of silence, Clancy is getting set to release a new Jack Ryan book.

Quote: Dead or Alive, the latest techno-thriller by internationally best-selling author Tom Clancy, is due to be published by Penguin in the US and UK on December 7, according to an April 7 press release. The novel will feature past Clancy characters Jack Ryan, Jack Ryan, Jr., John Clark, Ding Chavez, and Mary Pat Foley in a story about modern-day terrorism.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...-of-clancy-characters-1938952.html

I thought he had completely retired from writing fiction.

Quoting Dreadnought (Thread starter): thought he had completely retired from writing fiction.

It should be interesting. My Guess is that Jack Ryan Sr is relagated to Grandpa duties in this book  

Good fella, but do we really need another novel about modern terrorism?
Seems the topic is the flavor du-jour for fiction writer after writer last several years. Sad to see something more original not forthcoming.

Good news.    I just finished reading all of the Jack Ryan series novels (albeit, out of order). Can't wait till December so I can read the newest one.

Great, i will add it to the complete series of Clancy on my Kindle.

Eh.... lets be honest, after The Sum of All Fears none of the Jack Ryan books were any good. Aside from being so pro-US, that they were one step removed from propaganda... they were cases in the absurd.

So I'm not sure this book will be any good. But I could be wrong, maybe he went back to his roots?

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 5): So I'm not sure this book will be any good. But I could be wrong, maybe he went back to his roots?

Personally, Red Rabbit has always been my favorite. Second was Patriot Games followed by Rainbow 6. I have all of his nonfiction novels. But after those 3, they're hit or miss for me. Oh, Bear and the Dragon was good too.

My favs from Clancy were The Hunt For Red October, Without Remorse, The Cardinal Of The Kremlin, Sum Of All Fears and Red Rabbit. That said, I have enjoyed all of his books. Looking forward to the new one!                  

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 5): Aside from being so pro-US, that they were one step removed from propaganda... they were cases in the absurd.

I really don't see a problem with that... The thing about fiction authors is that they don't necessarily feel the need to always be so P.C. or give a balanced view in their novels. It's nothing more than a fantasy... They can be out of this world in claims and assumptions and as long as it keeps the reader entertained, than that's all that maters. If for example the Russians, Koreans, Chinese, Cubans, etc. feel offended that they are always made out to be the bad guys in a particular book, they are more than free to write a book based on them being the good guys, etc. It's called "fiction" for a reason. Now if there was a "non-fiction" author giving such a one sided view of a story then there's a problem. And yes there are plenty... After all we've all probably read history textbooks while in school... There is no way that those are possibly fair and balanced...

Quoting cadet57 (Reply 6): Oh, Bear and the Dragon was good too.

Ugh, really? Personally I felt that book was the nail in coffin. The entire war was just so beyond belief it was embarrassing to read.

But I'll agree that Red Rabbit was a good book.

Quoting FRAspotter (Reply 8): I really don't see a problem with that... The thing about fiction authors is that they don't necessarily feel the need to always be so P.C. or give a balanced view in their novels. It's nothing more than a fantasy...

But the issue was that Patriot Games thru Sum of All Fears, the Ryanverse was always fairly true to military reality. Clancy always gave an accurate depiction of military technology, tactics, and personnel.

Yet starting with Debt of Honor, it increasingly became absurd. American military became this grand noble force, that could move two divisions virtually over night to Saudi Arabia to halt a massive Iranian invasion (Executive Orders), and then repel two armored corps!!! Give me a freakin' break. And don't even start with Bear and the Dragon... the US military was this invicible force, fighting against the bumbling Chinese.... flying deep AH-64 interdiction flights into China to destroy launching ICBMS.      

Look I love the military... but it's a giant bureaucracy, that does nothing quickly, and is not invincible. I appreciate that Tom Clancy is one hell of a cheerleader (god that's a scary thought... imagine him in a cheerleader outfit **shudders**), but as someone who lives and breathes that stuff... his last few books were just embarrassing to read.

I'm a big Tom Clancy style of writing fan....but only if it's done well. It seems that in addition to Clancy's over the top cheerleading, anglo-philism (I made that a word) and support for smoking, he's gotten lazy and used to people ghost writing for him.

This book evidently is being "developed and supervised" by him while someone else does the meat of the writing. I'm certain he'll have final approval, but he's not writing it. That's ok...I mean Mr Butterworth (WEB Griffin) is having his son write the books nowadays, and Cussler hasn't written anything in years, but it's not the same.

While I agree with much of what Clancy has to say politically, his books did start to go a bit over the top as Ryan ran out of realistic things to do... that said I'd have loved to see him take some of the ancillary characters to new places.

Oh, and I think he moved brigades in those books, not divisions, by air to marry up with pre-positioned equipment and I think we proved in gulf war 1 that a US armored battalion is more than a match for the average Iraqi style armored division (whichis more of a brigade as we look at it) when properly supported from the air. It's stretching it, but moving the brigades from that secluded training environment (11th ACR and that NG heavy BDE) plus the notional brigade he'd pre-positioned in Israel in an earlier book he did manage to keep that slightly realistic. but, Aharon...overall you ain't wrong. The .mil is way slow to do stuff, and flying prototype helos off submarines to attack deep into Japan is a bit much. But it was sorta cool.

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 2): Good fella, but do we really need another novel about modern terrorism? Seems the topic is the flavor du-jour for fiction writer after writer last several years. Sad to see something more original not forthcoming.

Really? Do you not remember how Clancy wrote a book about someone taking a large commercial airliner and crashing it into a big building (in this case congress rather than the pentagon)...this book came out about 2 years before 9/11! No one heeded its lessons and 9/11 happened.

Will be good to see another Ryan novel... they were some of my faves.

Nothing will ever top 'Red Storm Rising' for me. I can read that book over and over, and pray that someday some billionaire decides to make it into an 8 hour motion picture. I'd probably piss my pants if I hear that news!

We even got a little taste of just how awesome it would be with the scene in 'The Sum of All Fears' of the Backfires launching the missile attack on the American carrier group. That was the only good thing about that entire movie.

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 9): Ugh, really?

Yeah.. then again, I haven't read it in about 6 years. I haven't the slightest where my copy ended up...

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 9): The entire war was just so beyond belief it was embarrassing to read.

I'll give you that. The scenario presented for the war was so over the top.

Quoting DL021 (Reply 10): his books did start to go a bit over the top as Ryan ran out of realistic things to do...

What was the one that the President, VP and a huge chunk of congress got wiped out and Ryan became president and his buddy (the F-14 pilot) became VP? That was just silly to me.

Quoting DL021 (Reply 10): That's ok...I mean Mr Butterworth (WEB Griffin) is having his son write the books nowadays

I respectfully disagree. Some of the books written by his son are quite poor.

Quoting C172Akula (Reply 12): Nothing will ever top 'Red Storm Rising' for me

Definitely the best one out there by far.

Quoting Zkpilot (Reply 11): Really? Do you not remember how Clancy wrote a book about someone taking a large commercial airliner and crashing it into a big building (in this case congress rather than the pentagon)...this book came out about 2 years before 9/11! No one heeded its lessons and 9/11 happened.

It was a fiction novel. You can't really take lessons from that. I wrote a book once about an comet hitting the Earth as a direct response to mankinds attempts' at FTL travel. WTF are we supposed to learn from that? Stories are just that. Even stuff that's not "out there" is at best, a thought excercise, writ large. They sure can be entertaining as hell (both in the creationary and audience mode), but there usually isn't much to take away lesson-wise. Anyway, that's my read on that (no pun intended  ), and I guess I'm biased, as I really don't like "preachy" stories.

As for TC there, I'll say what everyone else has. He was great during the Red October days, but I feel that too much of his work has been farmed out or phoned in. I hardly blame him though, if I'd made what he did doing that, I'd quickly find other things to stuff my life with too. As for over the top, I think that started sometime in Sum of All Fears, as opposed to after. The whole idea that a someone survies an encounter with an 11kt nuke from less than a stadium away was a little much. Just my .02$

Quoting WildcatYXU (Reply 14): I respectfully disagree. Some of the books written by his son are quite poor.

Well, I was referring to the fact that someone is ghost writing. It's the authors character, and he's giving his son a job. It's their call about how to carry on with their characters..... I actually think that the quality of writing in Butterworths sons books is better than Clancy's or Cussler's ghosts. It's not that high a bar, though.

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 9): Yet starting with Debt of Honor, it increasingly became absurd. American military became this grand noble force, that could move two divisions virtually over night to Saudi Arabia to halt a massive Iranian invasion (Executive Orders), and then repel two armored corps!!! Give me a freakin' break. And don't even start with Bear and the Dragon... the US military was this invicible force, fighting against the bumbling Chinese.... flying deep AH-64 interdiction flights into China to destroy launching ICBMS. Look I love the military... but it's a giant bureaucracy, that does nothing quickly, and is not invincible. I appreciate that Tom Clancy is one hell of a cheerleader (god that's a scary thought... imagine him in a cheerleader outfit **shudders**), but as someone who lives and breathes that stuff... his last few books were just embarrassing to read.

I can't disagree with that assessment. And Clancy certainly makes the CIA far more honorable and less shady than what is known to be true (never mind what we don't know about).

Red Storm Rising was a pretty good book, that was fairly well-balanced with the capabilities of the US military at the time.

Quoting wn700driver (Reply 16): The whole idea that a someone survies an encounter with an 11kt nuke from less than a stadium away was a little much. Just my .02$

Are you referring to the movie, because if you are, well, the movie wasn't even close to the book. In fact if you've read the book, you realize how awful the movie is. They don't even blow up the same city in the book and the movie. (Denver in the book, Baltimore in the movie) and in the book, the President (and I believe none of his staff) are at the game either. They're all at home watching it on tv, and at first have no idea of what's going on. (Oh, and of course to be PC, in the movie, they change the Arab terrorists to "Neo-Nazis" since the movie came out just after 9/11).

Quoting FlyDeltaJets87 (Reply 18): Are you referring to the movie, because if you are, well, the movie wasn't even close to the book. In fact if you've read the book, you realize how awful the movie is. They don't even blow up the same city in the book and the movie. (Denver in the book, Baltimore in the movie) and in the book, the President (and I believe none of his staff) are at the game either. They're all at home watching it on tv, and at first have no idea of what's going on. (Oh, and of course to be PC, in the movie, they change the Arab terrorists to "Neo-Nazis" since the movie came out just after 9/11).

That movie was a complete embarrassment - a waste of two hours.

I must admit that Red Storm Rising is my preferred book of all the Tom Clancy books. Whilst the Jack Ryan books are OK to fill in some time I do have other authors that I prefer to read (Matthew Reily being one of them).

The Jack Ryan books do seem to go into a hell of a lot of details (which is good in one way but too much information makes you sometimes forget the situation you are supposed to be dealing with {in my opinion}).

Please do not take this the wrong way. I have all of Tom Clancy's fiction books (and a couple of his non-fiction as well) and all of them have been read multiple times, but I do feel that the earlier books are the better ones where Jack Ryan is concerned.

Rainbow 6 is probably the next best one (again in my opinion).

I remember reading Hunt for Red October in 1985 sitting alert with a EC-135H at Lajes and wondering who were the loud mouths who gave him the info to write that book, espicially about how AWACS worked . Later on I met Tom at ADW when he was doing research about the 89th for his book Cardinal of the Kremlin and he interviewed us Crew Chiefs about the C-137B 58-6971 which was feetured in the escape of a top KGB officer out of Moscow. When I read Cardinal I was pleased that he promoted me up to a SMSgt in the book, I was a SSgt at the time,. I wish they would better adapt his books to the screen, I think Patriot games was the best attempt.

Quoting venus6971 (Reply 21): I think Patriot games was the best attempt.

Agreed. I liked Harrison Ford's Ryan character.

Quoting Zkpilot (Reply 11): this book came out about 2 years before 9/11! No one heeded its lessons and 9/11 happened.

Actually Debt of Honor came out in 94. 7 years before.

Quoting BMI727 (Reply 15): Quoting C172Akula (Reply 12): Nothing will ever top 'Red Storm Rising' for me Definitely the best one out there by far.

I loved this one as a kid. It seemed to go slow at the beginning, but once Iceland got hit, off to the races.

First, if you're going to read Tom Clancy books, you have to read them in the unbridged version. Sure they're a billion pages long, but the technical detail was what made him so interesting.

I'm surprised everyone forgets about Clear and Present Danger... which was a fairly accurate book, in respect to small unit operations, and how we could feasibly wage a covert war against the drug cartel. The part with Ryan flying down there to man the M134 on the MH53 was a bit wacky, but it was still a decent book. It was also the last movie adaptation featuring Harrison Ford.

It seems like with the demise of the Soviet Union, came the demise of Tom Clancy's material.

Quoting FlyDeltaJets87 (Reply 18): the President (and I believe none of his staff) are at the game either.

No I think something like two of his department secretaries were at the game.

Quoting DL021 (Reply 10): 11th ACR and that NG heavy BDE

Haha that's right... deploying the 11th ACR... yeah....

Quoting Zkpilot (Reply 11): Do you not remember how Clancy wrote a book about someone taking a large commercial airliner and crashing it into a big building

It was more like 8 or so years before 9/11.

And the answer to your question, the reason why no one paid any attention to that book - Debt of Honor - is probably because so few people actually finished it!

The whole idea of Japan attacking the US, taking Guam, sailing up along side the carriers and launching torpedoes and then sailing off unmolested, was so freakin absurd.

Quoting C172Akula (Reply 12): Nothing will ever top 'Red Storm Rising' for me. I can read that book over and over, and pray that someday some billionaire decides to make it into an 8 hour motion picture. I'd probably piss my pants if I hear that news!

I'm so glad you mentioned this. I'm surprised it took so many posts before it was brought up! And I agree, someone with the amount of money like Michael Bay needs to make it into an epic multi hour film (although not suck like Michael Bay films).

Quoting casinterest (Reply 23): I loved this one as a kid. It seemed to go slow at the beginning, but once Iceland got hit, off to the races.

Agreed. I must have read that book about 3 times.

Red Storm Rising, Hunt for Red October, Without Remorse, Clear and Present Danger, and Rainbow Six are my preferred books by Clancy.

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 24): The whole idea of Japan attacking the US, taking Guam, sailing up along side the carriers and launching torpedoes and then sailing off unmolested, was so freakin absurd.

You mean like the terrorists did to the USS Cole? No appropriate retaliation there...

The US Military may well be the most powerful military on the planet, but the politicians handcuff them all the time.

Was there an appropriate response to 9/11? Hell no.
Was there an appropriate response to all the embassy bombings in the 80's? (see answer above).
Was there an appropriate response to hijacking of the USS Pueblo? (see answer above)
Was there an appropriate response to the first attack on the World Trade Center? You get the hint.

The military can be as powerful as you want, but if the politicians won't let them take care of business, then you may as well not have a military.

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 26): The US Military may well be the most powerful military on the planet, but the politicians handcuff them all the time. Was there an appropriate response to 9/11? Hell no. Was there an appropriate response to all the embassy bombings in the 80's? (see answer above). Was there an appropriate response to hijacking of the USS Pueblo? (see answer above) Was there an appropriate response to the first attack on the World Trade Center? You get the hint.

No I don't get your hint, because it's completely absurd.

Go and read the book before you try and make that argument. When you do, you would know exactly what I was talking about.  

The Japanese destroyers were peacefully participating in a US war exercise. They sailed up alongside the carriers, and in a sneak attack, from a few hundred yards away, they launched a salvo of torpedoes. The carriers were stuck and damaged, but did not sink. The Japanese destroyers then continued on their merry way, completely unmolested by any of the carrier's strike aircraft, or the half dozen ships near by, acting as carrier defense.

It was a brazen attack, that helped set up the rest of the plot: Japanese territorial aggression in the western Pacific. Now how you could possibly equate that scenario to the USS Cole, or 9/11, I simply do not understand.

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 24): Quoting DL021 (Reply 10): 11th ACR and that NG heavy BDE Haha that's right... deploying the 11th ACR... yeah....

Yeah, the Black Horse guys all had hardons over that one....it's supposed to be deployable, and they actually do have equipment for that, but it'd be an understrength unit....in the past they were rounded out by a national guard battalion from Idaho or someplace...they'd be a fairly well trained unit, though, if they ever went someplace.

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 24): I'm surprised everyone forgets about Clear and Present Danger... which was a fairly accurate book, in respect to small unit operations, and how we could feasibly wage a covert war against the drug cartel.

I liked that book, and who's to say we didn't do some of that back in the late 80s early 90s? An awful lot of stuff happened in Central and South America while the press wasn't looking down there.

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 24): It seems like with the demise of the Soviet Union, came the demise of Tom Clancy's material.

I hate to say it but I think it was more along the lines of 'he got rich, bought a baseball team and stopped giving two damns'.....I think he just got lazy and started sort of phoning it in for a while....spotty to say the best.... That said, I'll buy the book....it'll be on moral credit because I've enjoyed alot of his writing.

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 26): Was there an appropriate response to 9/11? Hell no.

We invaded Afghanistan going after the Taliban and AQ with the first combat jump happening on 19 OCT, just over a month later. We took out the terrorist supporters in that goverment within a year (not that mission of making sure they don't come back is over or anything) and went on to molest other terrorist supporters who were making noise about endangering us and our allies with all sorts of mischief.

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 26): Was there an appropriate response to all the embassy bombings in the 80's? (see answer above).

Didn't we end up bombing the hell out of Libya? And wasn't there a rash of dead PLO type tangos at the end of the 80s? Things sort of settled down on the whole embassy bombing/airplane hijacking? (of course that led to airplane bombing and building destroying as escalation when the lesser means failed, which led to us invading a couple of far off lands...but that's another discussion)

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 26): Was there an appropriate response to hijacking of the USS Pueblo? (see answer above)

Short of starting an armed conflict with nuclear armed states and upsetting the balance what should we have done there? I'm not saying it was great, or even well handled, but what should they have done?

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 26): Was there an appropriate response to the first attack on the World Trade Center? You get the hint.

Didn't we capture the people involved in that and put some in jail? Although I do think we should have hammered the blind sheik, and then taken possession of OBL when the Sudanese offered him to us....I blame President CLinton and the same assmonkey's who told him to not send the armored company from the 24th ID and the Spectre gunships our ground commanders in Somalia asked for.....that was a mistake that came back to haunt us. As a matter of fact people not only thought us too weak willed to get bloody then, but that feeling was reinforced by the perception that we were launching missiles at baby formula and aspirin factories instead of endangering our own lives and it's believed to have emboldened the terrorists who eventually brought down the Towers the Pentagon and the plane in PA. But, hey, you gotta be right sometime....right?

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 27): The Japanese destroyers were peacefully participating in a US war exercise. They sailed up alongside the carriers, and in a sneak attack, from a few hundred yards away, they launched a salvo of torpedoes. The carriers were stuck and damaged, but did not sink. The Japanese destroyers then continued on their merry way, completely unmolested by any of the carrier's strike aircraft, or the half dozen ships near by, acting as carrier defense.

Dude, that was an enjoyable book to read even if it was fairly preposterous, but don't you ever get the impression that it's possible that Clancy's writing makes him look not just a little (a lot) anglophilic, but rather xenophobic? Possibly even racist in some ways. I'm not saying he is, but the writing could easily be interpreted as such by someone who wished to find fault.

Quoting UH60FtRucker (Reply 27): Go and read the book before you try and make that argument. When you do, you would know exactly what I was talking about.

I have read the book, as well as every book Clancy has written... Many times... The Japanese launched a deliberate attack, them claimed an accidental launch, which could be a forgivable incident. The attack on the Cole is almost the same. A deliberate attack on a naval vessel, with no real meaningful response.

Quoting DL021 (Reply 28): .I blame President CLinton and the same assmonkey's who told him to not send the armored company from the 24th ID and the Spectre gunships our ground commanders in Somalia asked for....

Another way of saying the politicians handcuffed the armed forces.

Quoting DL021 (Reply 28): We invaded Afghanistan going after the Taliban and AQ with the first combat jump happening on 19 OCT, just over a month later. We took out the terrorist supporters in that goverment within a year (not that mission of making sure they don't come back is over or anything) and went on to molest other terrorist supporters who were making noise about endangering us and our allies with all sorts of mischief.

And here we are 8 1/2 years later, still pissing around... My idea? Find out where OBL is, call the head of state and tell him "You have 2 days to hand him over, or we'll remove you from the map." Like all good disciplinary actions, you'll only have to carry it out once or twice and people will get the hint that you mean business.

Quoting DL021 (Reply 28): Didn't we end up bombing the hell out of Libya? And wasn't there a rash of dead PLO type tangos at the end of the 80s? Things sort of settled down on the whole embassy bombing/airplane hijacking? (of course that led to airplane bombing and building destroying as escalation when the lesser means failed, which led to us invading a couple of far off lands...but that's another discussion)

Does Libya still exist under Kadhaffy?

Quoting DL021 (Reply 28): Short of starting an armed conflict with nuclear armed states and upsetting the balance what should we have done there? I'm not saying it was great, or even well handled, but what should they have done?

Send in the bombers, and level the place. Or at least blow the ship to smithereens. Again, give them a timeline to comply, and if they don't, give them a world class "kick in the nuts".

These idiots only understand violence. Turn your most violent trained people loose to run them into the ground... Literally and permanently. To quote Jack Ryan in Debt Of Honor: "One thing about Martyrs... They're all dead."

Quoting wn700driver (Reply 16): It was a fiction novel. You can't really take lessons from that. I wrote a book once about an comet hitting the Earth as a direct response to mankinds attempts' at FTL travel. WTF are we supposed to learn from that?

The difference is that Debt of Honor was the 2nd highest bestselling novel in the USA that year... It was also not a one shot wonder from an author... TC has had many best sellers and are not way out there... they are plausible.

Quoting casinterest (Reply 23): Quoting Zkpilot (Reply 11): this book came out about 2 years before 9/11! No one heeded its lessons and 9/11 happened. Actually Debt of Honor came out in 94. 7 years before.

Thankyou for the correction. Even more reason, 7 years to at least think about aircraft as a weapon.

Does anyone else really like Cardinal of the Kremlin. It's my all time favorite book in the Ryanverse. I'm also only two generations removed from when my family emigrated from Russia, so the history/culture element of the Soviet Union was pretty interesting to me.

Quoting C172Akula (Reply 12): Nothing will ever top 'Red Storm Rising' for me. I can read that book over and over, and pray that someday some billionaire decides to make it into an 8 hour motion picture. I'd probably piss my pants if I hear that news!

Agreed. I read that book about once a year, and I always feel like I come away a smarter person for having done so.

Quoting cadet57 (Reply 22): Agreed. I liked Harrison Ford's Ryan character.

Alec Baldwin and The Hunt for Red October were the height of Clancy movies. Harrison Ford was decent, but THFRO will forever be the best Clancy work in film.

Quoting flybaurLAX (Reply 25): I'm so glad you mentioned this. I'm surprised it took so many posts before it was brought up! And I agree, someone with the amount of money like Michael Bay needs to make it into an epic multi hour film (although not suck like Michael Bay films).

Nooooooooo Michael Bay. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, please.

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 26): Was there an appropriate response to 9/11? Hell no.

?? We're still involved in two wars that we started because of it.

Quoting DL021 (Reply 28): Dude, that was an enjoyable book to read even if it was fairly preposterous, but don't you ever get the impression that it's possible that Clancy's writing makes him look not just a little (a lot) anglophilic, but rather xenophobic?

Xenophobic, jingoistic, etc. His books definitely started hitting the "America and her leadership can do know wrong and are always right" theme after Sum of All Fears, which sucks because his earlier books certainly didn't have that theme (look at Clear and Present Danger). While Debt of Honor has some really interesting financial stuff going on (readers really need to take a few finance classes before all of that can be understood), the premise of the war and the methods in which it was waged are dubious at best.

Quoting planespotting (Reply 31): His books definitely started hitting the "America and her leadership can do know wrong

I think you ought to read a little deeper than that (not too deep..it's only Clancy after all)....he is constantly harping on how the US government can do wrong, and how easy it is for a man on the top to be a real harm. The only time he's not hammering a president is when its Ryan.

Quoting planespotting (Reply 31): Nooooooooo Michael Bay. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, please.

Of course not Michael Bay! I was saying someone LIKE Michael Bay who has a shit ton of money and can throw in whatever they want and the studio will approve, but not suck like all his films. So yeah I guess Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks could do the trick.

Quoting planespotting (Reply 31): Does anyone else really like Cardinal of the Kremlin.

I agree, it's a great book. One of my favourites as well. One pet peeve I have about Clancy's books, and it's not his fault, is when they release audio versions, they're almost always abridged, and they cut so much out of them that they can be very hard to follow, unless you have read the full version. Patrick Robinson's books get chopped pretty badly as well. Most other author's works can be obtained in either abridged of unabridged forms, so why not Clancy's and Robinson's?

Quoting planespotting (Reply 31): but THFRO will forever be the best Clancy work in film.

Uh, I'd hold off on that statement... Without Remorse is set to be released as a movie in 2011. This is my (so far) favourite Clancy book.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499097/

Quoting Don81603 (Reply 34): Uh, I'd hold off on that statement... Without Remorse is set to be released as a movie in 2011. This is my (so far) favourite Clancy book.

Maybe you should hold off, j/k. Seriously though, I've been hearing about a Without Remorse movie since about 1998 (no joke.) Personally, I hope they do it, but I'm not holding my breath. I do believe it's in some state of development hell...

Quoting FlyDeltaJets87 (Reply 18): Are you referring to the movie, because if you are, well, the movie wasn't even close to the book. In fact if you've read the book, you realize how awful the movie is

The book. I think it was a policeman or someone like that. He gets slammed into an ambulance or some such thing and escapes with only permanent deafness. I could be wrong though. It's been about a decade since I've read that book.

But yes, I agree that the movie was pretty awful. It certainly didn't mind Ciran Hinds playing Narmonov, but the rest was so drenched in PC hoopla that it was actually hard to watch. I'll bet Clancy wasn't thrilled about the sale of those rights (especially considering how the movie did in revenue...)

[Edited 2010-04-16 22:31:33]

I thought Clancy was all excited about The Sum of All Fears movie, and how it would kickstart the new "Young Jack Ryan" universe.

Without Remorse could be totally badass if done right. I've read it a few times also. The key is in who you get to play Clark, the wrong guy and the movie just won't work.

Cardinal of the Kremlin I only read once, and I really liked it. I should hit it up again soon.

Although the book was still so much better, I thought the Hunt for Red October did a pretty good job of keeping most of the major stuff from the book in the movie. Obviously the book was free to go into much more detail and some other areas than they could in the film.