Changing of the Guard (Tom Clancys Net Force) [Paperback]

Tom Clancy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2004 | Series: Tom Clancys Net Force

In the near future, the Internet is the world's central nervous system. But when terrorists want to subvert world order, this is where they will strike. Elite Net Force strike teams are needed to stop them, but this time, there are signs they may have met their match.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tom Clancy is the author of numerous #1 bestselling novels including Rainbow Six, Executive Orders, and Debt of Honor. Steve Pieczenik is the author of State of Emergency and co-creator of Tom Clancy's Op-Center series. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (March 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141011416
• ISBN-13: 978-0141011417
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,524,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm married, got kids, grandkids, dogs, all like that. Ex-hippie, long-time martial artist, duffer on the guitar.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Net Force: The Next Generation?, May 8, 2004

By 

Troy Kearney "avid reader" (Shreveport LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Changing of the Guard (Tom Clancy's Net Force, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

As a somewhat core fan of the 2 Net Force series (the regular novels and the younger Net Force Explorer series) I was more waiting to see what the latest installment would bring for the future's Net/world defense team. After reading the latest I was a little disappointed by the story but still hopeful that with all the new additions to the team future volumes will definitely keep up the good work.

The title refers to the fact that several prominent characters from past Net Force books make their last appearances as members of the Net Force, including Alex Michaels, the Commander in the first seven books. He hands down the title (hence "Changing of the Guard") to Thomas Thorn, while the field unit is handed from General Howard to Abe Kent, a former Marine.

Not too soon after the changeovers does Net Force find itself involved in a case where a disc containing the names of former Russian spies falls into its hands. The disc leads to an attempted kidnapping of one of Net Force's top computer agents, Jay Gridley. We learn that the attempt was perpetrated by a hitman assigned by a multibillionaire who is afraid the disc's information will reveal him to be a former spy himself and will stop at nothing to make sure that the info never sees the light of day. But when the kidnapping gets bungled and Gridley ends up in a coma, Net Force has to stop the attacker and find out what is hidden on the disc.

The story is a seeming partial re-treading of a previous Net Force story that also sent Gridley into a coma, but this time it isn't as engrossing as before. As for the new Net Forcers (Thorn and Kent), they get a rough first start in the mission field but hopefully their next adventure will definitely give them time to flesh themselves out to the reader.

Overall, this was an alright chapter in the Net Force legacy, but not all that satisfying to those who have been with it since book 1.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little too far from reality, March 22, 2005

By 

Mike (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Changing of the Guard (Tom Clancy's Net Force, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

Okay, I'll admit I knew before I picked up this book that I was leaving the real world behind and taking a trip down the road of great imaginations, but come on... a guy teaching himself control his own brain waves? While the majority of this book has some good sub plots and suspense, I found the outcomes a little to predictable. The "good guys alwarys win" seems to hold true with this series and while I like to see the good guys win, this particular book doesn't offer much to leave you guessing about what might happen next... though I'll still pick-up one of the other books in the series in anticaption of a better plot.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quality control needs improvement, March 16, 2004

By 

andris virsnieks (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Changing of the Guard (Tom Clancy's Net Force, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

It is an interesting story but there are some errors that will distract the reader from the fiction that the author is creating. I can't believe that Clancy does not know the difference between the Baltics and the Balkans (see page 121). I hope it is a big oversight or a super-sized typo. Or could it be that Clancy is going to have the Serbs and the Croats who live in the Balkans go looking for oil in the Baltics where the Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians live? Is he creating a new fictional ethnic conflict for a future book? Or is it lack of geographic knowledge? Also, when Eduard is escaping from the mansion, at times I visualize him on a bicycle, and at other times on a motorbike. Do I have a reading problem, or is there a writing problem here? Note, this is not to criticize the book as a whole, but just to criticize specific instances of lack of quality control that caused me to deduct one star.