Customer Reviews

Breaking Point (Tom Clancy's Net Force, No. 4)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

For a number of reasons, I feel that the Net Force books have always been weaker than the Op Center series. I have three specific issues with this book. First, a number of recent "Clancy" books have been introducing story threads that are never used in the novel. There are at least two big ones in The Bear and The Dragon that brother me, but the same type of thing pops up on a smaller scale in Breaking Point. There is a lengthy discussion at the beginning of a handgun that takes different caliber rounds at the same time, but this was never used later in the plot. I believe that these types of wanderings keep the story from feeling tighter. Second, this plot could have been an Op Center or Power Play novel; very little about the plot made it a Net Force novel. This continues a trend in the last several Net Force novels to move away from the virtual reality plots that were initially used. While I think that this trend has actually improved the novels (I really disliked the virtual reality portions of the first novel), I would be interested in a series that more fully explored the military, economic, political and diplomatic issues of the "net."

There is also an interesting comment in this book about how virtual reality turned out to be nothing like anyone expected. This seems like a shot at people may have criticized the virtual reality sections of earlier books. I would encourage the author and other readers to look at Headcrash (winner of the 1995 Philip K. Dick Award) by Bruce Bethke or Snowcrash and The Diamond Age (winner of the 1996 Hugo Award) by Neal Stephenson for virtual reality that feels truer.

My third issue with the book is how compressed the timelines are. Both the Op Center and Net Force novels are laid out over a very short time frame. While I will not try to argue that so many major events could happen so quickly, I will take issue with the changes in the characters and their relationships in so short a time. In the Net Force novels, the changes in the relationship between Michaels and Fiorella over so quickly a period of time do not ring true to me.

I have been critical of past Net Force by suggesting that the characters do not act rationally or consistently. As someone with some experience with a troubled marriage and sharing kids, the pace of the relationship dance of Michaels and Fiorella seems unreal and re-enforces this feeling.

With so many good books to read, the final question is whether or not it is worth the investment to continue to read future installments of this series. For me, the answer is yes. One of the reasons that I read is to be entertained and, in spite of my concerns, this book accomplished that goal.

Breaking Point centers more on the personal life of the characters than any of the other Net Force books. It also tells more about what's going on with the "bad guy" than any of the others. This book however does not mention much of Megan (Alex's daughter) or his ex-wife and of what is going on between Julio and Joanna. I enjoy the VR and in this one, very little is told of it; with Tyronne now throwing boomerangs and Jay with his girlfriend Sojo.

The author must not have researached Alaska before writing this book. Chapter 20 starts off with the small community of "Paxon" which is misspelled (Paxton) and a herd of "elk" crossed the road. Believe the author means "caribou." Chapter 23 mentions Howard in Gakona and how dark it was on June 13. Would you believe Alaska doesn't get dark in the summer, especially in June. ..."save for a few mosquitoes buzzing around." Alaska has more mosquitoes than almost anything. Chapter 26 and Howard is in an Anchorage hospital, and he asked Fernandez how he got to Anchorage so fast. Fernandez said he has a friend in the Air Force who owed him a big favor. So just like that Fernandez got a ride in an F-16 or F-15? That is really hard to believe. I have read a little about HAARP and Mr. Begich, but some items in this novel are unbelievable.

This was my second book by Clancy. The first one was a major flop in my opinion. This one was not to bad. It had a few flaws, but what book doesn't. At the beginning he put in a few to many characters, and I had a little trouble remembering exactly who did what. Also some of the characters were of a type that did not seem to fit with the story.
Near the end, things started to get a bit confusing. Some of the happenings just didn't seem to fit the rest of the book.
Also, it started out with almost everyone in a one guy and one girl situation. Farther in, it started getting into the sex stuff more than I would have liked. Not as bad as some books I have read, but still more than I liked.
Even so, it was a big difference over the last one, and a very good read. I would definitely reccomend it. Read and enjoy.

The American Heritage Collegiate Dictionary defines foreshadowing as presenting an indication or event beforehand. If you use that definition, then Breaking Point is full of foreshadowing.
The first example that is evident of foreshadowing in this particular novel is in the prologue. In this particular portion, the narrator presents a character, an old man, who is a stock character, who is talking about his peaceful country, and then his thoughts drift. He begins to think about how much he loathes his family. How they are so cruel to him. His thoughts go as far as to murder. Then, very suddenly, one of his relatives comes out of the shack with a knife. The old man goes crazy, and kills everyone in the village. This ends with a man laughing over a machine. This particular event foreshadows the plotted mass destruction of the world with a machine that controls people's minds. So, this event essentially summarizes the entire work in just 6 pages. That is how critical the use of the literary device foreshadowing is to this novel. Without it, one would simply not know what on earth the doctor was doing with the HAARP device.
This event is just one of the many times the literary device foreshadowing appears in this novel. It is vital that the reader pick up on this hint. If one does, one can discover the key to this particular novel.

I think that the authors tried very hard to rush out this book. Many details and sections are not connected. For example, it talks about Tyrone is good at hacking computer codes and a good friend of Jay (a computer guru), but that is it! There is no follow up in the story. My wild guess is that, Mr. Clancy and Mr. Pieczenik wrote each of their own sections and later on tried to piece them together.

This is a typical Net Force novel, with developmment of the characters of Alex and Toni. They finally get together at the end, but the ending is so out of character for Toni. For conservative men over 50, it will satisfy. For everybody else, it will frustrate. I never thought I'd say it, but it's not worth your time. The neat VR internet stuff is minimal, and the lessons are ones that were already learned many times before. Don't bother.

This is the first time I have read a Tom Clancy book. I was interested because of the computer angle. I REALLY enjoyed this! Lots of characters and sub-stories, although most of the characters are not delved into very deeply. That was O.K. with me because I was looking for action, not emotions. This book has LOTS of action! The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because of the schmaltzy anti-feminist ending. Other than that, I would HIGHLY recommend it!

A great listen to CD in a car. I love the Net Force Series. Great entertainment

Even though the cover of the book will have in big letters `Tom Clancy's Net Force' written on it, this book is really written by Steve Perry, and created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik. This is also the fourth book in this series, so you might want to start with the first book, simply called Net Force. The second and third books are, respectively, Hidden Agendas, and Night Moves.

The story takes place in 2010. Computers are the new superpowers, and those who control them control the world. To enforce the Net Laws, Congress creates the ultimate computer security agency within the FBI: the Net Force.

Net Force Commander Alex Michaels must stop a research that involves an atmospheric weapon with the capability to drive half a country into madness using low frequency wave generation. Such a technology is actually possible, and the storyline is not farfetched. The world has really changed since the advent of computers and the internet, and more changes are on the way.

In this book, this technology has fallen into the wrong hands! One wonders what the right hands are for such a technology to fall into in the first place? Anyone creating such a technology must be evil in the first place! Are the good people the people who create such technology and the evil people those who use it?

"And who wrote the tune, you dare to ask?
You know who wrote it--
it's the Devil's own music, hot and sweet, and surely
damned will be the man who turns his ear toward it." --Sean Patrick O'Mahoney.

I did not find this book to be very captivating, and with so many good books out there to read, I stopped reading this one soon after I started it. This book is now out of print. Is this a telltale sign? Maybe I'll go back and read the first book in this series first.