I have been playing thru a ton of TC games lately, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Rogue Spear and am interested in reading a few of his books. I have seen all the movies and find them all very entertaining until the end where they tend to just turn into action fests.
First answer this question for me. I picked up a copy of Rainbow Six as a Clancy starter and something clicked with me. I haven’t seen Clear and Present Danger in a long time but in the praises at the very begining of the book (R6 that is) some reviewer mentions John Clark and his son inlaw Dingo Chavez. It mentions that Dingo was in CaPD. After thinking back to the movie, the only latino guy I remember seeing in there was that young sniper that fought thru to the end with Jack and John in columbia. My question is: Is the mexican sniper in CaPD Dingo Chavez of the R6 games? And also, if it is, in what book does he become the son in law of John Clark?
Also while you are here, what is the best TC book? Do they all have something to do with John Clark or Jack Ryan? Is this Rainbow Six book gonna be any good?
Most TC books deal with Jack Ryan and subsequently John Clark. There are a few exceptions, such as Red Storm Rising, a what-if war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Rainbow Six was a decent book, but here’s a warning: the plot is a bit out there.
I’m rereading Debt of Honor now, and it’s mentioned in the beginning that Dng Chavez is dating Clark’s daughter Patsy. They may marry in this book, or the next one, Executive Orders.
The best Tom Clancy book is without a doubt, The Sum of All Fears. Don’t let the movie fool you, they changed it because of PC. The book is great (and doesn’t deal with Russian fascists).
The Hunt For The Red October is the only even 1/2 piece of decent writing that Clancy has ever or will ever do.
One thing that I find hilarious is that he refuses to have anyone edit his books, which would go quite a long way to explaining why they are so crappy.
I’ve read some of his books, and by far my favorite is still The Hunt for Red October. I’m currently reading Red Storm Rising, but it’s kind of dragging on…
I liked most books, but don’t read The Bear and the Dragon!!! Ahhh!!! It is 1200 pages of pure hell. The plot is terribly unrealistic, the ending sucks, and Jack Ryan totally sucks eggs as president. I’m serious, he is so bad.
If I were to make a reccomendation, I’d say Rainbow Six or Sum of All Fears. Both very good, and end-of-the-world-but-the-day-is-saved-all-of-a-sudden type books. Those or Kremlin, or Red October. Clancy’s written many good books, but a few terrible ones IMHO- so watch out.
Ding Chavez told John Clark that he was going to propose to Clark’s daughter in Debt of Honor. After DOH came Executive Decision dealing with Ryan’s fledgling presidency. In the next book, Rainbow Six, not only are Ding and Clark’s daughter married, but she’s pregnant with their first child. I seem to remember the child being born at the end of R6, but I kind of tuned the second half of the book out because it was pretty bad.
I’ll second Cardinal of the Kremlin as Clancy’s best. I think both Clancy and LeCarre’ really floundered when the Cold War ended. When the U.S.S.R. went down in flames, it took most of Clancy’s and LeCarre’s best material with it.
I agree with those who say the quality of work seems to be going downhill. My faves are Red Storm Rising, despite what I understand are some flaws in the plot (i.e. I’ve seen on this board complaints about Clancy’s assumptions that military hardware actually works most of the time) and Red October.
Rainbow SIx is pretty good until the end. When I first read it I thought the plot was out in left field but now I am not so sure. (I’d say more but it would spoil a couple of books)
Almost all of Clancys’ novels deal with Jack Ryan. My understanding is that Rainbow Six never meantioned Ryan by name due to Clancys divorce settlement. IIRC Clancy would have to give some of the money from the book to his Ex if he meantioned Ryan in it. The only book that does not deal with Ryan in some way, IIRC, is ‘Red Storm Rising’.
As far as his best books, well here are my choices:
The Hunt for Red October
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Debt of Honor
The really wacky thing is the books were not published as a series and were not published in order. For example, ‘The Hunt for Red October’ was the first published book in the Ryan series yet it is the fourth book in the timeline. And Clancys latest book ‘Red Rabbit’ is third in the timeline. At the same time you really don’t need the back story to enjoy the books.
I’ll agree that ‘The Bear and the Dragon’ pretty much sucked. Clancy rehashed a basic plot. It wasn’t very interesting.
I will also say do not read any of his 'NetOps’books or whatever they are called. They just suck.