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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
I have read the majority of the Jack Ryan books by Tom Clancy before and he became my favourite author as a result. Nothing has changed. I loved these books and I see little to change that now. A great read and I look forward to working my way through the entire series again.
TW: Drug Abuse & Torture | i really enjoyed this book. the writing is absolutely wonderful & the story is so well told. i wish i knew more military jargon to get the full experience of the book. i would find myself having to rewind the audiobook & figure out what was going on a lot of the time. T.C.‘s style is to jump from one group & their story to the next very rapidly & it would take me a second to realize where we were & who we were focused on. my husband really enjoyed this book & wanted to talk to me about it. i understand this is a series & i’m sure i didn’t pick up on some things from previous books & characters from this universe. with that being said, i still enjoyed it without knowing a lot of detail, HA!
ANOTHER THING! i wanted to add how impressed i was at the subject matter. the sympathy for prostitution & their battles was very eye opening! i loved the way HE (a man!) wrote them & their stories. more justice for those who are in desperate need of help & can’t get out. i’m glad he painted them in this light, especially for how long ago it was written. not a common opinion or outlook at that point in time!
ANOTHER THING! i wanted to add how impressed i was at the subject matter. the sympathy for prostitution & their battles was very eye opening! i loved the way HE (a man!) wrote them & their stories. more justice for those who are in desperate need of help & can’t get out. i’m glad he painted them in this light, especially for how long ago it was written. not a common opinion or outlook at that point in time!
As much as I liked the book, I don't think it blew my mind as much I thought a Tom Clancy book would. Having never read one, I wasn't sure what to expect outside of an incredible amount of military knowledge bleeding into a fictional story line (and there was definitely plenty of that). But, to that end, there was a definite lull in much of the story due to the amount of time spent on making each aspect of the story as life-like and believable as possible. Torturing someone in a pressure tank is one thing, explaining in great detail the effects of nitrogen build up in the human body when it rapidly ascends to different atmospheric pressures is a whole new ball game (or maybe a pressure game?).
But, after reading a 700 page book that was still entertaining and captivating, I'm still intrigued enough to actually read a Jack Ryan book.... which this one wasn't. So, on the bright side, I could use my own imagination in picturing this Navy SEAL who took his training to an urban setting to seek vengeance upon a drug ring that brutally murdered his prostitute-turn-girlfriend without picturing Jim from 'The Office' as epic badass. On the sour side, I still have to make another lengthy investment into a long book to read about Jack Ryan and his tales... That is, until the chronological order of the Jack Ryan Universe brings me back to John Kelly. :-)
But, after reading a 700 page book that was still entertaining and captivating, I'm still intrigued enough to actually read a Jack Ryan book.... which this one wasn't. So, on the bright side, I could use my own imagination in picturing this Navy SEAL who took his training to an urban setting to seek vengeance upon a drug ring that brutally murdered his prostitute-turn-girlfriend without picturing Jim from 'The Office' as epic badass. On the sour side, I still have to make another lengthy investment into a long book to read about Jack Ryan and his tales... That is, until the chronological order of the Jack Ryan Universe brings me back to John Kelly. :-)
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
This was my first Tom Clancy novel and it was thick! The story has two simultaneous plot lines that intersect and come together by the end of the book. I liked the MC John Kelly, but there were far too many ancillary characters that were thrown in and confused the heck out of me. The book also jumps between plot lines without breaking it up into chapters, so that was hard to follow at the beginning. I did enjoy the last quarter of the book and felt that the ending was really well done. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in action, drug rings, Vietnam War, and extraction missions.
There's a reason why Tom Clancy is so popular, and this book shows why.... Good background story on where Mr Clark comes from.
A John Clark, de las fuerzas especiales, le matan a la chica y promete venganza. Parece el topicazo de los topicazos, pero tras esta premisa (y mucho más) hay una novela en la que Clancy, por una vez, deja de darles una capa monocolor a sus personajes y dota a Clark de profundidad. Está Vietnam y está el complejísimo mundo de las relaciones internacionales de poder y hay muchas cosas que suceden a la vez, al mejor estilo de Clancy. A pesar de estar incluida en el universo Jack Ryan, este no sale. Solo John Rambo Clark. Y la trama es más reducida que las grandes tramas globales de la serie de Ryan, pero aun así está muy bien. En algún momento alguien descubrirá esto y hará una peli de John Clark.
A back story set in the Vietnam War era of the Jack Ryan Universe. Full of Clancy's detailed descriptions of tactics and weapons this was a multi story line work centered around John Clark, before he became the deadly CIA operative of the other Jack Ryan books. There isn't much subtlety to the characters in this book, the white hats stand out from the black hats, but it was an enjoyable action adventure that answered some nagging questions about Mr. Clark.
It’s been quite awhile since I’ve read a Clancy novel. In ways this lived up to my fond memories and in ways it fell short.
What I like is the technical aspects and political intrigue. This novel is set in the Vietnam War era, and seems to represent the general perspectives of both vets and civilians in the US in the 70s. I even appreciate the personal struggle of Mr Kelly in this book.
What I don’t like begins with how the story begins. Maybe I lived a sheltered life, but the idea of picking up a random stranger on the road and having sex with them within 24 hours seems like a stretch, let alone falling deeply in love within a week. (This is all within the first couple of chapters setting up the story, so I didn’t consider it a spoiler.)
I also struggled with the choice to become a vigilante. While I’ve enjoyed superheroes who become vigilantes, in a setting that is supposed to be true to life, it feels wrong. We have justice system for a reason and I don’t like the idea of a one man judge, jury, and executioner.
One smaller complaint that wouldn’t seem as big of a deal in a stronger story is how weak and stereotyped some characters are.
Clancy novels come with a certain amount of swearing. If you don’t like swearing, don’t bother with Clancy. I get it, he’s portraying the natural language of people in a certain culture. Still, a book with this much swearing would have to be extraordinary in story to get a five star rating from me. Just my opinion, but I believe dialogue can sound real without all the swearing.
This was an audiobook, so a quick note on the audio. At first I had a hard time focusing on the reader, but as I stuck with it, I got onto the same wavelength and followed the reader easily. Only complaint is the recording doesn’t always give an obvious break when changing scenes, which was challenging in an already complex story. I didn’t always remember characters as I went along. But, I got the point of it, in the end.
What I like is the technical aspects and political intrigue. This novel is set in the Vietnam War era, and seems to represent the general perspectives of both vets and civilians in the US in the 70s. I even appreciate the personal struggle of Mr Kelly in this book.
What I don’t like begins with how the story begins. Maybe I lived a sheltered life, but the idea of picking up a random stranger on the road and having sex with them within 24 hours seems like a stretch, let alone falling deeply in love within a week. (This is all within the first couple of chapters setting up the story, so I didn’t consider it a spoiler.)
I also struggled with the choice to become a vigilante. While I’ve enjoyed superheroes who become vigilantes, in a setting that is supposed to be true to life, it feels wrong. We have justice system for a reason and I don’t like the idea of a one man judge, jury, and executioner.
One smaller complaint that wouldn’t seem as big of a deal in a stronger story is how weak and stereotyped some characters are.
Clancy novels come with a certain amount of swearing. If you don’t like swearing, don’t bother with Clancy. I get it, he’s portraying the natural language of people in a certain culture. Still, a book with this much swearing would have to be extraordinary in story to get a five star rating from me. Just my opinion, but I believe dialogue can sound real without all the swearing.
This was an audiobook, so a quick note on the audio. At first I had a hard time focusing on the reader, but as I stuck with it, I got onto the same wavelength and followed the reader easily. Only complaint is the recording doesn’t always give an obvious break when changing scenes, which was challenging in an already complex story. I didn’t always remember characters as I went along. But, I got the point of it, in the end.
I got halfway through chapter two before calling it quits. I couldn't care less about what will happen later on. I found the start of it boring and hard to get into. If I don't like the start and don't feel engaged in the story then I'm not going to continue the book.