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When a terrorist leader and a drug warlord form a dangerous alliance, three new Hendley Associates agents--FBI agent Dominic Caruso, his Marine captain brother Brian, and their cousin, Jack Ryan, Jr.--encounter unexpected dangers. A man named Mohammed sits in a cafe in Vienna, about to propose a deal to a Colombian. Mohammed has a strong network of agents and sympathizers throughout Europe and the Middle East, and the Colombian has an equally strong drug network throughout America. What if they were to form an alliance, to combine all their assets and connections? The potential for profits would be enormous-and the potential for destruction unimaginable. In the Brave New World of terrorism-where anybody with a spare AK-47, a knowledge of kitchen chemistry, or simply the will to die can become a player-the old rules no longer apply. No matter what new governmental organizations come into being, the only truly effective ones are those that are quick and agile, free of oversight and restrictions...and outside the system. Way outside the system. In a nondescript office building in suburban Maryland, the firm Hendley Associates does a profitable business in stocks, bonds, and international currencies, but its true mission is quite different: to identify and locate terrorist threats, and then deal with them, in whatever manner necessary. Established with the knowledge of President John Patrick Ryan, "the Campus" is always on the lookout for promising new talent, its recruiters scattered throughout the armed forces and government agencies-and three men are about to cross its radar. The first is Dominic Caruso, a rookie FBI agent, barely a year out of Quantico, whose decisive actions resolve a particularly brutal kidnap/murder case. The second is Caruso's brother, Brian, a Marine captain just back from his first combat action in Afghanistan, and already a man to watch. And the third is their cousin...a young man named Jack Ryan, Jr. Jack was raised on intrigue. As his father moved through the ranks of the CIA and then into the White House, Jack received a life course in the world and the way it operates from agents, statesmen, analysts, Secret Service men, and black ops specialists such as John Clark and Ding Chavez. He wants to put it all to work now-but when he knocks on the front door of "the Campus," he finds that nothing has prepared him for what he is about to encounter. For it is indeed a different world out there, and in here...and it is about to become far more dangerous.… (more)
User reviews
Clancy is washed up. It's going to take some pretty good reviews for me to read a new book from Tom.
Plot summary: FBI agent and marine (twins) get picked to join a clandestine spy agency that tracks the money of terrorists. They just happen to be at the mall during a terrorist attack. This operation then expedites their recon-by-fire mission in Europe where they murder a handful of the terrorist operatives and money folks.
The hits are slightly interesting.… (more)
I read that Clancy normally punches out his novel on two year cycles, but after the disappointing sales of Red Rabbit last year, he wrote this one in quick time and released it this year. It is about half the length of a normal Clancy novel and definitely less than half the quality. It needs a lot more work, riddled with trite phrases, implausible leaps and shallow characters. What really irked me was the overly simple solutions to terrorism problems. By tracking email, they were able to somehow located physically and kill four terrorist operatives, ranging for their high profile money mover back to the super secret operation planner who never stays in one place for more than a couple days. Yet, they manage to take them all out in the last twenty pages. Even Jack Ryan Jr. gets into the act, killing the last one himself. I suspect we will see much more of these three in future novels. I just hope he takes the time to make it interesting. I only read this one because of the investment I have in the Clancy novels, but I almost wish I hadn't spent the time.… (more)
And wow. I checked Amazon reviews to refresh my memory, and there are 800 reviews with an average of 2 stars. I always get very curious when I have such a complete difference of opinion, so I read through a few pages of the reviews. The negative ones seem to focus on two things: 1) it's not like real life, and 2) the series has moved on to the next generation. News flash: Tom Clancy books have never been overly realistic. Except probably for the nonfiction. You can pick apart dozens of things from The Hunt for Red October that would never happen in real life--that's why it's fun to read. And I applaud long-running series that move on to the next generation. Otherwise, you end up with a hero that never ages, or increasingly improbable scenarios that even I won't swallow.
So, now that I'm satisfied that I didn't miss anything, on with the review.
The Teeth of the Tiger is about an ultra-clandestine government agency set up by then-president Jack Ryan. It's such a new agency that so far, all it's done is make money (it's self-funding, mostly by quasi-legal insider trading) and collect intelligence hacked from the alphabet-soup agencies. And now they're training their first operatives: twin brothers Dominic and Brian Caruso, respectively an FBI agent and a Marine officer.... and Jack Ryan's nephews.
They get a slightly accelerated course when a routine training exercise crosses paths with an actual terrorist operation in a suburban mall.
Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, Jr., a few years younger than his cousins, has used his brains and figured out the existence of the agency, and basically applies for a job.
Interspersed with the training thread and the Jack Jr. thread is the terrorists' plot.
Maybe it's because I've just been in an action mood lately, but while I did notice a few drawbacks: the twins call each other Aldo and Enzo for no good reason, except perhaps as something to trip up readers; Brian dithers for far too long about whether or not he can kill terrorists in cold blood; and there's quite a bit of repetition; they didn't bug me all that much because I loved the story otherwise.
I found the idea of a combination of stock market traders and assassin/spies irresistible. And I loved watching the development of the agency, even--or perhaps especially--the doubts and missteps. It was new, they weren't sure how it would work, but they were willing and eager to try, and that excitement was passed on to this reader, at least.
I also found the three cousins to be fairly reasonably characterized. Even Brian's crisis of conscience made sense with his character, and my irritation with him was mitigated by the fact that his brother was also irritated with him. The twins were youngish and excitement-seeking, which explains some of their less logical decisions, like renting a Porsche instead of taking an anonymous train on their mission in Europe. Jack, Jr. had grown up privileged in the shadow of his larger-than-life father, who he admires, so it's understandable that he has that sense of duty, and yet he wants to make his own mark, and to prove himself.
And, oh, yes, I did have to ignore a bit of political b.s. with which I'd have taken exception if I hadn't expected it. I find Clancy a little naive, politically (no shades of gray), but that works pretty well in an action novel. I think I'll have to see which of his books I've missed in the interim and check them out.… (more)
Please. Give us a break here Tom. We'll willingly suspend disbelief for the sake of some good fiction, but that doesn't give you license to abuse that privilege.… (more)
In a nondescript office building in suburban Maryland, the firm Hendley Associates does a profitable business in stocks, bonds, and international currencies, but its true mission is quite different: to identify and locate terrorist threats, and then deal with them, in whatever manner necessary. Established with the knowledge of President John Patrick Ryan, 'the Campus' is always on the lookout for promising new talent, its recruiters scattered throughout the armed forces and government agencies--and three men are about to cross its radar.
The first is Dominic Caruso, a rookie FBI agent, barely a year out of Quantico, whose decisive actions resolve a particularly brutal kidnap/murder case. The second is Caruso's brother, Brian, a Marine captain just back from his first combat action in Afghanistan, and already a man to watch. And the third is their cousin . . . a young man named Jack Ryan, Jr.
Jack was raised on intrigue. As his father moved through the ranks of the CIA and then into the White House, Jack received a life course in the world and the way it operates from agents, statesmen, analysts, Secret Service men, and black ops specialists such as John Clark and Ding Chavez. He wants to put it all to work now, but when he knocks on the front door of 'the Campus,' he finds that nothing has prepared him for what he is about to encounter. For it is indeed a different world out there, and in here . . . and it is about to become far more dangerous.… (more)
...but with that said, I think there may be a time when characters/world need to be left alone. Jack Ryan-esque novels may be at that place.
This book tried to capture all of the thrill and excitement of a Jack Ryan novel, but with one big exception: Jack Ryan is an aging, retired US President; he is no longer making decisions to save the world.
In fact, Jack never even entered the book. Instead, his son, Jack Ryan Jr., is entering the 'spook' world. (To which Jr. surmises his father and mother would not be happy about...)
I felt the characters were very forced and unnatural. Rather than revealing a character's nature through his actions, Clancy was very repetitive in his dialogue between his characters. Often times his characters would say the SAME, EXACT words he said only pages before.
This probably goes down as my biggest let down by Clancy, whether or not he feels the Ryan world should fade away or not, I doubt I'll read anymore....… (more)
I fully appreciate that Clancy had to move into the more modern world of terrorism and also that old Jack, or Big Jack, was getting old, and it may have been time to replace him with the new generation which of course included his son, Little Jack, Jack Ryan Junior but unfortunately I couldn't help but feel this was missing some of that old Clancy magic...
It may have been because for most of the way through the book I didn't realise that the story would be picked up in another, and this was just the beginning for Junior, Brian and Dom. I knew there were other books, I even own one (its in my to-read pile) but I didn't know it would be a 'carry-on' unlike the other Clancy I've read, which use the same characters but each storyline is wrapped up at the end. That could have been why I didn't feel like this book was getting places very quickly.
However, I see the potential and I have always enjoyed Clancy's writing. It's time for me to let go of my old favourite characters and embrace the new! I will persevere with Dead or Alive and see how it goes.… (more)
Clancy painted himself into a corner when he made Jack Ryan president. Once that happened, there was nowhere for his character to go other than out to pasture. So Jack Ryan Jr. became a young clone of Jack Ryan allowing Clancy to start over. Unfortunately, lightning really doesn’t strike twice.
What we are left with isn’t a bad book or bad characters. The Teeth of the Tiger is actually a pretty good story. But the characters are less interesting because we already know their entire back story, so there is nothing to reveal. It would have been better if Clancy had just started fresh. Instead, this feels like a print of a great painting – it is pretty to look at, but it doesn’t have the depth and texture of the original.… (more)
...but with that said, I think there may be a time when characters/world need to be left alone. Jack Ryan-esque novels may be at that place.
This book tried to capture all of the thrill and excitement of a Jack Ryan novel, but with one big exception: Jack Ryan is an aging, retired US President; he is no longer making decisions to save the world.
In fact, Jack never even entered the book. Instead, his son, Jack Ryan Jr., is entering the 'spook' world. (To which Jr. surmises his father and mother would not be happy about...)
I felt the characters were very forced and unnatural. Rather than revealing a character's nature through his actions, Clancy was very repetitive in his dialogue between his characters. Often times his characters would say the SAME, EXACT words he said only pages before.
This probably goes down as my biggest let down by Clancy, whether or not he feels the Ryan world should fade away or not, I doubt I'll read anymore....… (more)