The Sum of All Fears

by Tom Clancy

Hardcover, 1991

Status

Available

Call number

F Cla

Call number

F Cla

Barcode

3068

Publication

G. P. Putnam (1991), Edition: First Edition, 798 pages

Description

One terrible act plunges the world into an instant nuclear crisis, and, with the American president accused of incompetence, Jack Ryan calls on FBI head Dan Murray to help him avert disaster.

Original publication date

1991

User reviews

LibraryThing member csayban
Next to Hunt for Red October, this is my favorite of all of the Jack Ryan novels. It was frightening the first time I read it and it only become more so after 9/11. Clancy's attention to detail is once again evident, but unlike some reviewers, I didn't find it to be too much detail. Unfortunately,
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I feel that this book also signaled the highpoint of the Ryan character arc. Beyond this book, it became more and more cliched. It's not great art by any means, but it is intense storytelling and nobody works the details better than the technothriller master himself. More than any other book, I always wanted to see this one made into a movie - until the poor excuse for a movie was actually made. Now I wish my only memories were of the book.
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LibraryThing member fordj
DON'T see the movie! Read the book! Fantastic!!!
LibraryThing member DaveLaw
I've recently re-read this after a gap of about 10 years. It was at the time one of the best books I had read and in view of 9/11 somewhat prophetic. It is enjoyably detailed and although formularistic is difficult to put down. I would agree with other reviewers that this was the height of Clancy's
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powers and subsequent novels haven't matched the tension he was able to generate in this novel.
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LibraryThing member armysparkey
One of his best this book relies less hevily on millitary might and detail and more on the espionage/terrorist side .the film although good is not a patch on ths book.
LibraryThing member www.snigel.nu
I liked military related stuff when I was younger, so Tom Clancy was my favourite author for a while. I have rid myself of this illness since.
LibraryThing member jpsnow
Vintage clancy. As always, Jack Ryan saves the day. I liked the way this one explored the psychology within different types of government roles. Having already read his later novels, I can also see how the characters were evolved so well from their origins in previous works.
LibraryThing member nm.fall07.j.miller
The best thing about this book is that it keeps you reading. The worst thing is that all of the pages make a time consuming book. The one thing I like about this book, the action doesnt start right at the beggining of the book. So the book keeps you reading. The action in this book is very intense,
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it is a very hard book to understand, but other than that it is a good book.
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LibraryThing member Joles
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were relatable and the action intense. I don't consider myself a Tom Clancy "fan" but this book could easily make me one!
LibraryThing member ianw
I'll do the same review for all Clancy's novels because they're all pretty much the same. Very long, very detailed, and after a while, very repetitive. If you stop after just a few of his books you'd probably give them 4 or 5 stars, but beyond that they start to grate. Especially where Jack Ryan is
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involved. I mean, Clancy spends hundreds of pages getting his details just right, the settings perfect etc., then he has Ryan dodging more bullets than James Bond! I finally threw my hands up and surrendered when Ryan becomes President. I can't remember what piece of crap that was in.

I've given three stars as a compromise between my reactions when reading my first Clancy (brilliant) and last Clancy (doorstop).
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LibraryThing member Borg-mx5
The books got thicker, but not better. This was the beginning of the decline for me.
LibraryThing member Lynngood
A NEW WORLD ORDER...ON THE BRINK OF DESTRUCTION

Peace may finally be at hand in the Middle East -- as Jack Ryan lays the groundwork for a plan that could end centuries of conflict. But ruthless terrorists have a final, desperate card to play; with one terrible act, distrust mounts,forces collide,
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and the floundering U.S. president seems unable to copewith the crisis.

With the world on the verge of nuclear disaster, Ryan must frantically seek a solution -- before the chiefs of state lose control of themselves and the world.
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LibraryThing member imnotsatan
Probably my least favorite Clancy book. It drags on and on and on and on, and the many, many plotlines are far more complicated than they are interesting. When I started feeling like I needed a flowchart to keep track of everyone, I quit reading.

If I can't even bring myself to finish a book when
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I'm on a 9 hour plane ride and it's all I have to read, you know it's not recommended.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
One of my favourite Clancy books. Ryan is a senior staffer, working hard, but struggling with the politics of the system. Terrorists manage to get hold of some nuclear material and sucseed in detonating it in Denver. Ryan saves the day by shortcutting the burocracy and talking directly to the
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russians. The technical discussions over the nuclear bomb may detract from some readers enjoyment, but I thought it carried the plot well.
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LibraryThing member ctmscofr
The Sum of All Fears is yet another terrific read from renowned novelist Tom Clancy. Jack Ryan returns in his fifth novel, and is yet again at close to war tensions with the late Soviet Union. After setting up a treaty in the Middle East to ease tensions between Israel and Palestine, a group of
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Palestinian terrorists uncover an old nuclear bomb and start the process of rebuilding it. Several months later, the terrorists manage to explode the super bowl, sparking military conflicts between Russia and the United States to the brink of nuclear war.
I found this book to be intriguing, but also very dry and uninteresting. As Clancy’s longest book in the series, it was full of his usual textbook facts about everything from machine guns to nuclear bombs, and of course submarines. Despite Clancy’s sometimes disconcerting knowledgeable facts, the book was very intense and extremely exiting to the point where the last hundreds of pages kept me from sleep. I would have to warn that a reader of this book should have extreme perseverance to stay reading it, as I had put it down for some time.
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LibraryThing member tonynetone
Most remarkable novel by Tom Clancy constructs and gets a surprisingly satisfying reinvention,from forget everything you know about the literary works in this years, storyline and movie synopsis.
LibraryThing member DocWalt10
Excellent read. He keeps you wanting to read more. Edge of your seat suspense. What is possible & how easy it is today to build a nuclear bomb. We are brought to the brink of a Third World War by just a few individuals and panic by the most powerful man in the world. Jack Ryan at his best. It is
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unfortunate, we will no longer benefit from the writing of Tom Clancy who passed away in 2013.
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LibraryThing member bhabeck
I enjoyed this book after I was able to get into it...the first 200 pages or so did not grab my attention and I often put it down to read something else.
LibraryThing member Carol420
The story is of a nuclear warhead falling into the hands of very determined terrorists, it winds throughout the world, through characters that come to life, and terror and suspense that will surely amaze and satisfy the reader.
Almost too true to life to be a work of fiction, this book is more
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technical and heavily written than earlier Clancy works, but the high degree of detail and heart-stopping tension more than balances the scientific complexities in the narrative.
At times the characters a carbon copies of earlier Clancy protagonists but the brilliant use of them makes up for some of their predictability.
Ryan and crew are back with a vengance and the safety of the world are in the balance. A must read and a well and worthy effort. Not perfect, but by far, one of the finest nuclear terror novels ever written.
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LibraryThing member cathycarr1
A bomb goes off at the superbowl. Jack becomes president.
LibraryThing member EulMulot
Very slow and annoying first half.
LibraryThing member jdmichler
American, Fiction, espionage, Cold War, read
LibraryThing member subguy
Another Clancy great! Jack Ryan series where new characters emerge and eventually, they move into their own books as lead characters.

Rating

½ (1087 ratings; 3.8)

Pages

798
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