Apparently Mr. Tom Clancy has realized what a hole he wrote himself into by having his major franchise character become the President. His first attempt at solving the problem was in Red Rabbit, which he set entirely in the past. This worked (I suppose, since I haven’t read it yet), but is kind of limiting, since who cares about the Cold War anymore? Plus it’s really hard to fit extra stories into the existing multi-thousand page history. Continuity is hard.
So what’s his new solution, used in The Teeth of the Tiger?
Yes, Jack Ryan, Jr. is the new focus of the books. Uggh. This kid has had about ten pages of characterization total, in all the books. I vaguely remember him being in Patriot Games as a baby. He’s barely even a character. Plus he’s supposed to be an action hero and he’s the President’s son! Paging the Secret Service… Mr. Clancy, you’re really testing me here. Why can’t you write a new story with all new characters? You did it with Red Storm Rising way back when, and that was a good book. You have the popularity to sell anything with your name on it. Why so stuck in the rut?
OTOH, the book is short, only 460 pages. Maybe he got an editor.
A bigger problem I would think is the extent to which the Jack Ryan timeline has diverged from our own. Sum of All Fears and Executive Orders left the Middle East pretty much stabilized and peaceful. The China and India of the “Ryanverse” are rather more hostile to the U.S. than they are in our world, while his Russia is more friendly. I suppose there’s still North Korea to draw on as a recognizable troublespot, but the series is really roaming into the “Alternative History Sci-Fi” rather than “Contemporary Techno-Thriller” genre. I think that alone, aside from Ryan having professionally plateaued, is enough reason to “reboot” with a fresh world and set of characters.
Is this just another loophole to weasel around his divorce settlement?
IIRC, he didn’t use the name “Jack Ryan” at all in Rainbow Six because his wife gets a cut from the Jack Ryan books.
Oh yeah, and he supposedly changed the setting of SOAF from Denver to Baltimore because his wife lives there now.
OTOH, maybe he’s doing this because Clancy fans called “shenanigans” on the new young Ryan at the movies. Maybe he figures this will be his next movie franchise.
Actually, I think Clancy jumped the shark when Jack Ryan entered the Oval Office.
Red Rabbit was bad; real bad. It’s the first Clancy book I have no desire to read again. One theory I’ve heard was that Clancy was obliged to write it to satisfy a contract and bascially knocked it out as quickly as possible.
ElwoodCuse has it right. Clancy doesn’t want to have to give any of his money to his wife, and the creation of Jack Ryan Jr. is a good (in his mind) way to get away from Jack Ryan Sr.
(BTW, doesn’t the former Mrs. Clancy collect 50% of all profits from the Jack Ryan books?)
The main problem I have had with Clancy’s books after SOAF is that he has so fallen in love with his main characters that you never get the sense that there is any possibility they might fail, much less get killed. Takes away any suspense.
The problem with Junior, as I see it, is that he seems a clone of the Jack Ryan from the Red October era. Independently wealthy, similar job, similar gifts for analysis, same wary admiration of his superiors. I don’t see his career being particularly different from his dad’s.
I’d also like to know more about Mr. Clark. The brothers don’t really seem in his league. I can’t imagine Mr. C needing any special poisoning equipment. Just give the guy a paperclip and a shoelace.
I hated the new book. Had it read 3 days after it came out. Will not read it again. Several problems with it
[spoiler]
When reading Jack and having to remember it is Jr. not the original. Couldn’t he have used one of Zimmerman’s kids, and not have him named Jack?
Can someone explain how the two brothers are related to ‘Uncle Jack’? Are they sons of Robby or ?.
Secret private corporation to kill people? That uses insider information to make cash on the stock market? Has moles inside the CIA/NSA and nobody knows? Come on!
The ‘get out of jail free cards’ that had blank date / crime fill in the blank. Wouldn’t it be invalid if the date on the pardon was after he left office?
How dare he kill off Robby, and then just barley mention it in passing. Come on he was a big piece of the books he deserves more. At least write a book where Jack stepped down, and Robby took over then got killed.[/spoiler]
I agree I want more Clark books. My all time favorite scene in his books is when Clark meets with Oreza again years after Clark’s ‘death’. In Rainbow Six he mentions that Clark and Stanley have worked together before. Write a book about that. What did they do together?
rjung which NetForce are you talking about? The ‘adult’ version or the ‘kids’ version? Neither are bad, but never really got into them. The ‘kids’ version has some technology that is just out there.
I was thinking of the adult version. I read the first novel in the series and thought it was okay, even though the tech was a bit wobbly IMO. No idea how it stacks up to Clancy’s other stuff, though.
Clancy lost it once he got rich enough that tthe books were more about his personal political fantasies and petty gripes then about the world of Jack Ryan CIA guy. By Sum he has pretty much lost it.
This Jack Ryan, Jr. stuff seems to be more fantasy self-insertion fan-fiction for Clancy. Shame, he was good once.
To compare Red Storm Rising to any of his last 5 or so books- hardly even the same author.
