Balance of Power (Tom Clancy's Op-Center, Book 5) [Paperback]

Tom Clancy (Author), Steve Pieczenik (Author), Jeff Rovin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1998

Spain is a nation poised to suffer its worst internal strife in centuries. Certain well-placed Spanish diplomats sense it. Op-Center intelligence corroborates it. All the United States and Spain have to do is find a way to avert it. Before they can, an Op-Center representative is assassinated in Madrid on her way to a top secret meeting. Now all fears are confirmed. Someone very powerful wants another Spanish civil war--no matter what the cost.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Another in the popular series of Op-Center thrillers, Balance of Power sets the stage in Spain, as tensions between various ethnic factions are pushing the country to the brink of disaster.

This audio version is narrated by Jay O. Sanders (JFK, Kiss the Girls) in a rich basso profundo, but the usual Clancyesque intelligence jargon, technospeak, and geopolitical shorthand prove to be more than a mouthful. Sanders does his best to keep pace with the considerable action, but it's a tall order, especially with the added complications of Spanish names, places, and dialogue, which, for him, are obviously in a foreign language.

As the story unfolds, high-level diplomatic and intelligence teams are working overtime to diffuse the crisis when their efforts are shot down by an assassin's bullet. That's when the real trouble begins: "As intelligence chief Bob Herbert had put it before Martha had left Washington, 'This will make the Spanish Civil War look like a brawl.'"

The story features a broad cast of characters, some of which may flirt with stereotype. Despite this drawback, it's interesting to find these relatively obscure politics brought front and center. While this may not be the very best that Op-Center can produce, for die-hard Clancy fans it's another chance to enter the fray. (Running time: 4 hours, 4 cassettes) --George Laney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This latest in the Clancy-Pieczenik "Op-Center" series focusing on Spanish civil strife is another well-read, nicely engineered audio offering that seems to suffer by being abridged. Jay O. Sanders does a fine job with Spanish, Italian, and several varieties of American accents, and the listener learns enough of the political and ethnic rivalries in Spain to understand how such an absurd scenario could in fact play out. It's "U.S.A. to the rescue," with too many characters, too much technobabble, and way too much in the way of incredible coincidences to be the slightest bit believable. There's not really much here for the adult listener. On the other hand, Clancy is popular, and many characters appear to be carried over from other works in the series. With that audience in mind, recommended with reservations.?Cliff Glaviano, Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425165566
• ISBN-13: 978-0425165560
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #646,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Clancy, Tom

More About the Author

Tom Clancy is America's, and the world's, favorite international thriller author. Starting with THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, all thirteen of his previous books have hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. His books, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, PATRIOT GAMES, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and THE SUM OF ALL FEARS have been made into major motion pictures. He lives in Maryland where he is a co-owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Where is this country?, October 22, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Balance of Power (Tom Clancy's Op-Center, Book 5) (Paperback)

Being from San Sebastián and living in Madrid, I was immediately drawn to this book when I saw that the action starts in these two cities. I finished the first 100 pages out of curiosity, the rest of the book out of sheer masochism.

The story is poor and full of stereotypes, the "historical facts" are wrong, the research was done without leaving the plane at the Barajas airport, and the characters are from a Scooby Doo cartoon (my favourites are the fisherman and the priest)...even at some points the book turns completely "kitsch" (asking a shepherd for directions in San Sebastian??).

There is not worse lie than a half-truth, and the book is full of them. I know it is just a novel, but I expected a bit more refinement from Mr. Clancy et al.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is a nosense, Spain is not the third wolrd., August 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Tom Clancy's Op Center: Balance of Power (Audio Cassette)

In that book Clancy translate the spanish sentences whit a computer and you can see that some are false. The "Guadia Real" is not a elite group of de Spanis army. And there are not any political problem in Spain, Catalan and Basques arel good people an we have our diferences but we won't do other civil war. And If someone wants to take the control of Sapin, he won't go to the Royal Palace it is a nosense, there are other political and military places more important than the Royal Palace.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Clancy as an example of American ignorance, June 4, 1998

By 

Dani Rubió ([e-mail]) (Sabadell, Catalonia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Balance of Power (Tom Clancy's Op-Center, Book 5) (Paperback)

I had the chance to read this book during my last business trip to the States and I was very interested to see how Clancy dealt with this story about pseudo-nazi attitudes in today's democratic Spain. I've got to say that the plot is catching enough, masterly webbed; the setting though is not credible at all and, besides that, it's insulting not only for Catalans but for the rest of Spain's nations as well. In Europe, people usually have the feeling that Americans are ignorants in many matters as long as these don't relate to the US. Some of us, after knowing lots of educated American folks, changed our minds and began to think this was another old fashioned topic with no truth behind it. Unfortunately, Mr Clancy has made me change my mind again. Sorry.