A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Pros:  Harrison Ford returns (one last time) to the Ryanverse. Cons:  The novel was too complex to adapt fully, and it shows. What can I say about 1994's Clear and Present Danger?  The third film in the Jack Ryan series (and the last one to star Harrison Ford) deals with America's war on drugs and also the abuse of power in high places. As in Clancy's original novel, the plot hinges on one crucial question: how far can a President go to achieve a laudable goal, even if the means cross moral, legal and international boundaries? As in the novel of the same name, the interception of an American-flagged yacht in the Caribbean results in the arrest of two Colombian sicarios (hit men) who have murdered the American owner (along with his entire family). The resulting FBI-CIA investigation reveals that Peter Hardin, the late yacht owner and personal friend of the U.S. President (Donald Moffat), had extensive ties to the Cali drug cartel. Hardin, as Jack Ryan (For

(C) 1996 G.P. Putnam's Sons In the horrific climax of Debt of Honor, former intelligence official and National Security Advisor (and briefly, Vice-President) Jack Ryan finds himself elevated to the Presidency...and in the sights of foreign and domestic adversaries. Even as the Capitol building smolders and the late President Roger Durling is laid to rest, unfriendly eyes are watching the new and untried President Ryan for signs of weakness...and begin plotting his -- and America's -- downfall.  In Iran, Ayatollah Mahmoud Haji Daryaei (one of the opponents of the Fowler Peace Plan in The Sum of All Fears ) broods in his office and begins to set in motion a series of crises that will tie up America's already over-extended military and intelligence services. Daryaei enlists not only his own operatives in Iran and abroad, but also the leaders of two other nations with global ambitions of their own. By creating a series of seemingly unrelated crises all at once, including

(C) 1989 G.P. Putnam's Sons  Reviewer's Note: I originally wrote this review in November of 1989 for Catalyst, the student newspaper of Miami-Dade Community College's South Campus. Clancy's new novel clearly a success Alex Diaz-Granados Managing Editor What would happen if a U.S. President were to approve a covert military operation against the Medellin Cartel in the mountains and jungles of Colombia? In Clear and Present Danger, Tom Clancy, author of the best-selling novels The Hunt for Red October and Cardinal of the Kremlin, creates a scenario pitting the U.S. military's special operations assets and the CIA's stalwart Jack Ryan against the ruthless Colombian drug barons. After a seemingly routine arrest at sea of two cartel hit men who have killed a wealthy yacht owner and his family, the FBI stumbles onto a complex money-laundering scheme linked to the drug lords. When the U.S, government begins freezing the cartel's financial assets, t

(C) 1994 Warner Books The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a blessing in disguise not only for the Pentagon but for writers of military fiction. Just as the armed services have had to develop new doctrines, strategies, tactics, and weapons systems to contend with new enemies (potential and real), authors such as Tom Clancy, Stephen Coonts, Harold Coyle, and Larry Bond have had to look at the world situation, read the proverbial "tea leaves," and write plausible scenarios pitting American soldiers against foes that are very different from the by-now all-too-familiar Soviet "Ivan." The writing team of Bond and Patrick Larkin ( Red Phoenix, Vortex ) was one of the earliest practitioners of "the-Cold-War-is-ending, let's-look-at-other-story-possibilities" idea. Although the Soviet Union was still in existence when their first two novels were published in the early 1990s, its role in Red Phoenix (about a second

(C) 2001 Rubicon Inc. and Berkley Books Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces , the seventh and final entry in Tom Clancy's nonfiction Guided Tour series about America's armed forces, sets its sights on the shadowy -- and often misunderstood -- roles and missions of the men the author calls "the quiet professionals" of the Army's Special Forces command. They are sent to the world's hot spots-on covert missions fraught with danger. They are called on to perform at the peak of their physical and mental capabilities, primed for combat and surveillance, yet ready to pitch in with disaster relief operations. They are the Army's Special Forces Groups. Now follow Tom Clancy as he delves into the training and tools, missions and mindset of these elite operatives. Special Forces includes: The making of Special Forces personnel: recruitment and training A rare look at actual Special Forces Group deployment Exercises Tools of

(C) 1999 Berkley Books The late Tom Clancy is best remembered as the creator of the Jack Ryan series of novels that began with 1984's The Hunt for Red October and continues, to this day, via the works of his last co-authors, Grant Blackwood and Mark Greaney. Clancy, even in life, became a "name brand" which is used to market military-themed computer and video games ( Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy's EndWar, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell ) and book series ( Tom Clancy's OpCenter ) which consist of novels that were not written by Clancy himself.   Before his death at the age of 66 in October of 2013, Clancy was also a respected commentator on military affairs, Second Amendment rights, and politics. He was not shy about his conservative views; the Jack Ryan series often depicts liberal politicians (such as the hapless and unethical Edward Kealty, a thinly-disguised doppelganger for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts) as morally weak, idealistic-

Reviewer's Note: This review is about the original 1992 edition; Berkley published an updated edition in 2005.  Until his death in October of 2013, Tom Clancy was a best-selling novelist whose books about American intelligence and defense agencies are read by millions of readers all over the world.  Some of his novels, particularly 1986's Red Storm Rising , are even required reading at some of our prestigious military academies. Four of his novels have been adapted into popular films, and a vast array of books (nonfiction as well as his novels), video games (Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell), board games, and computer simulations is available in many marketplaces, including malls, used bookstores, and online stores such as Amazon. The Tom Clancy Companion , edited by Martin H. Greenberg (the brain behind the seven volume Guided Tour series of non-fiction books about the U.S. armed forces) is a 1992 reference book that explores the Clancy phenomenon at the popular and critica

(C) 1986 Jack Ryan Enterprises & Larry Bond “Red Storm Rising” (1986) is a technothriller by Tom Clancy about a conventional war in Western Europe between the Soviet Union and the U.S.-led NATO alliance in the mid-1980s. Like its predecessor, “The Hunt for Red October,” Clancy’s sophomore work was a game-changer in the military fiction genre. It not only told a sprawling story with multiple plot threads –including a third Battle of the Atlantic, a Soviet invasion of Iceland, and a massive land campaign in Germany –  but it also avoided the apocalyptic vision of most Third World War scenarios: a nuclear exchange between East and West. “Red Storm Rising” begins – literally -with a bang as a group of Islamic jihadis from the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan commits a destructive act of sabotage against an oil production facility near Nizhnevartovsk, Russia. Though the terrorists are killed by a Soviet fast response team, they cripple the country’s ability to produce and refine o