Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
Simon & Schuster Audio (2000), Edition: Abridged
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. HTML:Don't Miss the Original Series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Starring John Krasinski! In this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan gets caught in a war between the United States and a Colombian drug cartel and uncovers a shocking conspiracy. When Colombian drug lords assassinate both the U.S. ambassador and the visiting head of the FBI, their actions trigger a covert response from the American governmentâ??a response that goes horribly wrong... As the newly named Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA, Jack Ryan should be privy to operations like the one in Colombia, but heâ??s been left completely in the dark. With the help of field officer John Clark, Ryan intends to find out whatâ??s really going on. But while they expect danger from without, the greatest threat of all may come fro… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member gschattgen
A Tom Clancy book has many characters, all whose role is important in each of his books. I found that as the story Clear and Present Danger unfolds the many characters and their individual traits foreshadow the rest of the story. The history of the drug cartels and the details that are explained
I like Clancy’s books. They explore the world providing pictures and perspectives of agents with a unique inside understanding that he creates. I like Clancy’s characterization. His description is vivid, and I feel like I was there with the characters in this book, in the jungle, feeling what they felt right along with them. I enjoy Clancy’s style of writing and how he takes realistic events and intertwines them into several different stories telling both sides of the tale.
I liked that in Clear and Present Danger there is plenty of action. Most of the activity occurs in some Columbian forest, as a specially trained unit of soldiers proceeds with a black operation. Their job is to take out the drug lords and stop their shipments before they can be moved out of Columbia. They also are to cause a struggle for power between the cartels. The operation is going fine. Fewer drugs make it into the US and the price to buy them has risen. When information is leaked and one of the US leaders in charge of the operation is eliminated on a trip to Columbia, the entire operation starts to fall apart. The soldiers then reveal their presence to the cartels, which start to fight back. When this happens, the President orders that the operation be shutdown. He stops all support going to the troops including evacuation, and then to make it harder a high ranking official makes a deal with one of the cartels to have the men eliminated. I would hope that this would never really happen to any of the men and women that keep us safe day in and day out.
Tom Clancy uses many of the same characters in each of his books. I felt that I could understand many of the major players in this book and where they were coming from. My favorite character was Ding, a Mexican-American who grew up in the Los Angeles area. He lived in an area that had rival gangs on both sides of him. This combined with his natural instincts is what helped keep him alive during this operation. Tom Clancy has a way of writing novels so that he implies something about a character but often reverses that implication in another character. Sometimes the main character is a gentle honest man, but his friend will lie and kill for a living.
When I read a Tom Clancy book I like to learn more about the characters and about the different problems that are found in the world. In Clear and Present Danger a realistic problem is portrayed. Answers and consequences to the daily issues that drugs bring are explored. This makes this particular book more fun to read. Not all of Clancy’s books end with a happily ever after, as in this story when only half of the soldiers come home. Clancy writes to always keep you on the edge of your seat as you work your way to the end of his story. I like to try to figure out how the book will end and then be surprised both when I am right and when I misjudge an ending.
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regarding the undercover operation is one of the most important parts of setting the stage. This part of the book shows how Tom Clancy chose his title. This particular story takes place in Columbia and America. In Colombia, a war is being waged against the drug cartel. This is a war that I agree with. Drugs are a huge problem in the US. I like how Clancy takes real problems, usually terrorist or drug related and mixes them with intelligence agencies in the US and in Britain as they attempt to overcome these many issues.I like Clancy’s books. They explore the world providing pictures and perspectives of agents with a unique inside understanding that he creates. I like Clancy’s characterization. His description is vivid, and I feel like I was there with the characters in this book, in the jungle, feeling what they felt right along with them. I enjoy Clancy’s style of writing and how he takes realistic events and intertwines them into several different stories telling both sides of the tale.
I liked that in Clear and Present Danger there is plenty of action. Most of the activity occurs in some Columbian forest, as a specially trained unit of soldiers proceeds with a black operation. Their job is to take out the drug lords and stop their shipments before they can be moved out of Columbia. They also are to cause a struggle for power between the cartels. The operation is going fine. Fewer drugs make it into the US and the price to buy them has risen. When information is leaked and one of the US leaders in charge of the operation is eliminated on a trip to Columbia, the entire operation starts to fall apart. The soldiers then reveal their presence to the cartels, which start to fight back. When this happens, the President orders that the operation be shutdown. He stops all support going to the troops including evacuation, and then to make it harder a high ranking official makes a deal with one of the cartels to have the men eliminated. I would hope that this would never really happen to any of the men and women that keep us safe day in and day out.
Tom Clancy uses many of the same characters in each of his books. I felt that I could understand many of the major players in this book and where they were coming from. My favorite character was Ding, a Mexican-American who grew up in the Los Angeles area. He lived in an area that had rival gangs on both sides of him. This combined with his natural instincts is what helped keep him alive during this operation. Tom Clancy has a way of writing novels so that he implies something about a character but often reverses that implication in another character. Sometimes the main character is a gentle honest man, but his friend will lie and kill for a living.
When I read a Tom Clancy book I like to learn more about the characters and about the different problems that are found in the world. In Clear and Present Danger a realistic problem is portrayed. Answers and consequences to the daily issues that drugs bring are explored. This makes this particular book more fun to read. Not all of Clancy’s books end with a happily ever after, as in this story when only half of the soldiers come home. Clancy writes to always keep you on the edge of your seat as you work your way to the end of his story. I like to try to figure out how the book will end and then be surprised both when I am right and when I misjudge an ending.
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LibraryThing member rickosborne
Clancy's "Clear and Present Danger" is still a good read, some 18 years after it was first published. Sure, the "War on Drugs" isn't nearly as sexy these days as is the "War on Terror", but it doesn't take a military historian to see the parallels.
The story moves on at an unrelenting clip, which is
The story moves on at an unrelenting clip, which is
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a nice change after the somewhat slower "Cardinal of the Kremlin". I was impressed with how nimble the story is for its girth. Even if you've seen the Harrison Ford film, the book is still worth a read -- there's plenty more excitement and detail, none of which will bog you down like "Red Rabbit". Show Less
LibraryThing member JGolomb
This was my first foray into the world of Tom Clancy (aside from seeing the film version of "The Hunt for Red October") and I thoroughly enjoyed the tale of high -tech military actions targeted at damaging the dangerous Columbian drug cartel. Clancy knows his politics and doesn't shy away from
I understood when I picked up this book that I should be prepared for some dated technology, and aside from the obvious improvements in the militarization of digital and computer-based technologies (and perhaps also the use of drones), the story read very realistically and didn't suffer an ounce in its' excitement and intensity.
I had no real background of Clancy's Jack Ryan, nor the enigmatic John Clark. I found both to be a little two dimensional, but honestly didn't care very much either. The story was seeped in political intrigue and military tactics - and these elements provided enough jet fuel to propel the story.
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exploring the ethical considerations of military action and political decision-making. I understood when I picked up this book that I should be prepared for some dated technology, and aside from the obvious improvements in the militarization of digital and computer-based technologies (and perhaps also the use of drones), the story read very realistically and didn't suffer an ounce in its' excitement and intensity.
I had no real background of Clancy's Jack Ryan, nor the enigmatic John Clark. I found both to be a little two dimensional, but honestly didn't care very much either. The story was seeped in political intrigue and military tactics - and these elements provided enough jet fuel to propel the story.
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LibraryThing member Black_samvara
Dated badly. I could read Tom Clancy novels 10 years ago with enjoyment but with the last five years of US political and military history it's impossible for even me to suspend disbelief.
Which is a shame, because I like a good techno-thriller and I'm very fond of Clark and Chavez.
US special
Which is a shame, because I like a good techno-thriller and I'm very fond of Clark and Chavez.
US special
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forces versus Colombian drug lords. This would work better if it wasn't quite so obvious that the War Against Drugs is a mind bogglingly stupid idea. Show Less
LibraryThing member Palunboy
Much more detail than the movie (of course). I particularly liked the description of the jungle battles and sneaking around. Very good, believable political / action novel.
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
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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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 santhony
Typical Clancy military technothriller, this time battling South American drug lords.
LibraryThing member JechtShot
Clear and Present Danger details a covert military special-ops mission with the goal of "impacting" the South American Drug trade. In true Clancy fashion, the technical details of the military technology, weapons and aircraft are brilliant, but do start to go stale after the first several hundred
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pages. The story starts out as quite a page turner and spends quite a bit of time with some of my favorite Clancy characters: Clark and Chavez. I am ambivalent to Jack Ryan, take him or leave him, love him or hate him, he is and always will be the "hero" at the end of the day. Overall this was a good story, though a bit long and drawn out. Show Less
LibraryThing member Borg-mx5
I stopped reading Clancy a long time ago. I did enjoy this and find it to be one of his better books. I liked the Clark character very much. I may have outgrown techno-thrillers or maybe they don't interest me as much since there is no longer a CCCP. I would still recommend this book if this type
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of thing is to your liking. Show Less
LibraryThing member Lynngood
Colombian drug lords, the assassination of American officials, and an intricate pattern of covert operations in South America and at home set off international alarms.
LibraryThing member tmstimbert
The second best Clancy book
LibraryThing member pratalife
I finally got around to reading the book having seen the movie many times. The novel is good, classic Clancy, but my lasting thought was a new-found appreciation for the art of screenwriting. Compression is the most obvious technique you think of when it comes to putting a book on screen, but this
The movie's not without its faults of course. It has some of my favourite "How Hollywood Thinks Tech Works" moments. Their attempts to dazzle the audience with high-tech computer mumbo-jumbo are especially laughable in retrospect (look for some woefully unconvincing "computer code" about 90 minutes in, not to mention hacking passwords by guessing birthdate transposition. 133t! ;-)
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is one of the best demonstrations of how playing with fundamental plot and character attributions can make for a movie that achieves greater emotional impact and clarity of character motivation and conflict than the source material.The movie's not without its faults of course. It has some of my favourite "How Hollywood Thinks Tech Works" moments. Their attempts to dazzle the audience with high-tech computer mumbo-jumbo are especially laughable in retrospect (look for some woefully unconvincing "computer code" about 90 minutes in, not to mention hacking passwords by guessing birthdate transposition. 133t! ;-)
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LibraryThing member pratalife
I finally got around to reading the book having seen the movie many times. The novel is good, classic Clancy, but my lasting thought was a new-found appreciation for the art of screenwriting. Compression is the most obvious technique you think of when it comes to putting a book on screen, but this
The movie's not without its faults of course. It has some of my favourite "How Hollywood Thinks Tech Works" moments. Their attempts to dazzle the audience with high-tech computer mumbo-jumbo are especially laughable in retrospect (look for some woefully unconvincing "computer code" about 90 minutes in, not to mention hacking passwords by guessing birthdate transposition. 133t! ;-)
Show More
is one of the best demonstrations of how playing with fundamental plot and character attributions can make for a movie that achieves greater emotional impact and clarity of character motivation and conflict than the source material.The movie's not without its faults of course. It has some of my favourite "How Hollywood Thinks Tech Works" moments. Their attempts to dazzle the audience with high-tech computer mumbo-jumbo are especially laughable in retrospect (look for some woefully unconvincing "computer code" about 90 minutes in, not to mention hacking passwords by guessing birthdate transposition. 133t! ;-)
Show Less
LibraryThing member crashmyparty
On first reading:
This is the first Tom Clancy book I have read, and I absolutely loved it. It's a fantastic book. It does demand all your attention to follow all the characters introduced at different times of the book, but in the end you see how it all intertwines. Clancy is a stickler for detail,
On second reading:
Just as good as I remember. I really enjoyed this reread of a great book by a masterful storyteller.
This is the first Tom Clancy book I have read, and I absolutely loved it. It's a fantastic book. It does demand all your attention to follow all the characters introduced at different times of the book, but in the end you see how it all intertwines. Clancy is a stickler for detail,
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but instead of slowing down the events, it provides a good insight to them that allows you to really understand what's going on. I will definitely read more Clancy in the future.On second reading:
Just as good as I remember. I really enjoyed this reread of a great book by a masterful storyteller.
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LibraryThing member writertomg
Jack Ryan AND John Clark playing major roles in the same Tom Clancy book. Very good premise and well executed. Up there with his finest works.
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1989
Physical description
5.7 inches
ISBN
0743506936 / 9780743506939
Other editions
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