True, in the large scheme of things he is just a popular spy-thriller fiction author, but he is highly thought of in conservative and military circles, and IMO combined with the General’s scalding opinions on how the war has been conducted, this has the potential be a serious blow for Bush’s Iraq justification arguments, and is going to hurt conservative support for the war far more than any 100 speechs Kerry could make.
Hell ya! Red Phoenix and Cauldron as well. Vortex has to be among the best of that genre (what is its official name?). Not to mention the Harpoon games.
I think Clancy just ran out of ideas after Executive Orders. I am rereading Red Storm Rising now, and goddamn if that isn’t a phenominal peice of literature. But that stupid book with the Chinese and the Russians going at it? Weak. And then you have the ‘Net Force’ crapshibition.
Speaking of Red Storm Rising… was the Jack Ryan line of books that much more lucrative for him, at first? Red Storm Rising was in a completely different world, and worked better because of it IMO, but he has never done that since.