# Is it just me, or does Tom Clancy's recent work blow? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 14, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699 "2004-12-14T01:07:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/41 "2004-12-15T03:43:14Z")
_Red Rabbit_ is surprisingly better than his other recent horseshit. I almost suspect it was an older manuscript he brought out of the closest, touched up, and published. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/42 "2004-12-15T03:46:26Z")
Anyone else awaiting/dreading “Brain of the Tiger” or whatever the sequel to his assassians-of-freedom thriller will be called? I hope its really bad and effectively ruins his career. I know its a lot to hope for. Yay! 200th post! ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/43 "2004-12-15T03:47:22Z")
I think _Red Rabbit_ was indeed an old manuscript, but an unfinished one. Which would explain why the first three quarters of the book are actually readable. The ending, though, is cursory and poorly written. The whole scene in Rome is just bad, and I think it might have been written in a couple of days to add on to something he had in a desk drawer to satisfy some publisher. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/44 "2004-12-15T05:33:01Z")
I abandoned Clancy right after _Patriot Games_. The vapid characters, implausible plot, and gratuitous right-wing rants just got on my nerves. So, everyone posting here seems to agree that Clancy’s recent novels (at least) are utter dreck. Anyone else care to try and defend them? ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/45 "2004-12-15T07:55:15Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Ryan has resigned, been replaced by Jackson, who is assassinated by a Klansman. Unless I was so bored that I skipped over it (possible) nothing is really said about why St Jack would throw the towel in. Simple. Clancy’s ex gets a portion of any money he makes on a Jack Ryan novel. You will notice that not once is Ryan referred to by name in **Teeth of the Tiger**. And just where does Jack Jr. get cousins? Both of his parents were only children. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/46 "2004-12-15T09:21:49Z")
I have noticed that all authors eventually lapse into the same themes…this is very obvious with the later works of Dickens, Thackery, and more recently, people like James Michener. So, is it possible that Clancy just sketches out a general theme, then has his advanced word processor put together stuff from previous novels? That would explain the repetitive themes and characters, etc. Of course, he is rich enough to have a staff of ghostwriters, who could churn out endless variations upon the tried and true HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER stuff? Anyway, can textual analysis (by computer) prove that an author is just basically cutting and pasting? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/47 "2004-12-15T11:50:21Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I have noticed that all authors eventually lapse into the same themes…this is very obvious with the later works of Dickens, Thackery, and more recently, people like James Michener. Asimov returned time and again to his “Foundation” series, mixing it in with the robots from “The Caves of Steel”. Most of the later stuff sucked. Heinein let Lazarus Long and the “multiverse” concept take over his last half dozen novels. Most of the later stuff sucked. Arthur C. Clarke? Rama, Rama, Rama… ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/48 "2004-12-15T17:31:18Z")
> [@villa](#): > > nothing is really said about why St Jack would throw the towel in., Its certainly implied that it is because he is Such A Gol-Darned American Hero Nice Guy Who Cares More For America Than For He-Self. I had also wondered about the cousins, but their surnames sounded familiar, and I let it pass, chalking it up to me having missed something in the Clancy Library. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/49 "2004-12-15T18:23:59Z")
To give the benefit of the doubt, the cousins may have been second cousins… in many families, they are just as close… ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/50 "2004-12-15T20:13:30Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Arthur C. Clarke? Rama, Rama, Rama… To be fair, the last 3 rama novels were written co-authored with Gentry Lee, super-christian extrodinare. I’m not sure what annoyed me more in the later Clarke works. The Gentry-Lee Inspired Christianized works(Cradle) or ACC’s solo “There is nothing good about religion” stuff(3001). That’s probably the reason I quit clarke after 3001. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/51 "2004-12-15T20:34:20Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > Its certainly implied that it is because he is Such A Gol-Darned American Hero Nice Guy Who Cares More For America Than For He-Self. Well of course, but what lead to it? Obviously Jack took one for the good of the nation, but why… ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/52 "2004-12-15T20:36:44Z")
> [@buckgully](#): > > with all the female characters winding up getting raped then murdered over and over again. You sure this wasn’t a Stephen King book? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/53 "2004-12-15T20:41:38Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > (There’s something wrong when the computer game has a better plot then the book, and is more enjoyable to boot.) Thank you! **I** wrote the story for _Rainbow Six_, the game. We were actually in production for about six months before Clancy decided to write the book, and many of the novel’s plot points originated in the game. I’ve always thought his adaptation was weak … . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/54 "2004-12-15T20:57:47Z")
> [@Lok](#): > > Simple. Clancy’s ex gets a portion of any money he makes on a Jack Ryan novel. You will notice that not once is Ryan referred to by name in **Teeth of the Tiger**. The name Jack Ryan isn’t used in **Rainbow Six** either. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/55 "2004-12-15T22:47:57Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > I abandoned Clancy right after _Patriot Games_. The vapid characters, implausible plot, and gratuitous right-wing rants just got on my nerves. > > So, everyone posting here seems to agree that Clancy’s recent novels (at least) are utter dreck. > > Anyone else care to try and defend them? I will. _Rainbow Six_ was a novel about a jet-setting ultra-elite international top secret black-ops counterterroism team who rappelled silently down from Blackhawk helicopters with silenced submachine guns under the watchful eyes of their concealed snipers as they saved children and hostages from both petty terrorism and Bondesque organizations bent on genocide of nearly all human life. If they’d had secret identities in which they both played professional sports and starred in the world’s most kickass rock band, it would have been perfect. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/56 "2004-12-15T23:10:59Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > petty terrorism and Bondesque organizations You forgot The “Bondesque” being crazy lefty tree-huggers. 😃 Another cheap right-wing plug. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699/57 "2004-12-15T23:14:00Z")
Including of course moderate leftists, who are only one step away from falling under the spell of the evil extremists and trying to destroy the world. Gotta stay ideologically pure - the slightest move to the left and you are on the slippery slope to genocide. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-does-tom-clancys-recent-work-blow/279699.md?page=2)