Customer Reviews

Clear and Present Danger

5 star:		(100)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

The book begins like modern headlines and top stories in the news: a Coast Guard boat discovers several dead bodies on a drifting boat out at sea ... piecing together the scenes ... the Captain and his crew understand the grisly details which became all too clear. Before the discovery, they announce their intention to board the boat, only to find two Columbians who speak little and look guilty as sin. The Captain and crew have the presence of mind to record on film permanently what the encountered. They nearly gag at what they find. Contrary to usual procedure, they create a "justice at sea" bogus trial based on some ancient mariner's manual. It is just the right scenario to create fear in their prisoners which extracts a confession from them that the Coast Guard believes will stand up in court and get them prosecuted.

In Washington, DC clandestine operations are executed for a secret American plan to use the most talented night warriors the US Army has ever produced to fight the drug cartel in Columbia, on their own turf. The select group all have Spanish roots and were salvaged from a life on the streets, where they would surely work against the system, to build a clean life in the Army ... the better alternative.

This book shows how power politics, secret hand-shake decisions, and behind the scenes operations occur which could shake up the core values of a country. Clandestine activities work outside the boundaries of national and international law. If they were made public, there would be a huge outcry from USA citizens and of the world judgement. It is at this time that Jack Ryan becomes Acting Director of the CIA. The CIA Director is in the hospital with a terminal illness ... The current president has not a clue of how the drug war is being fought and won. He is only aware of the results: drug cartel airplanes are being shot down and the US is winning. It is an election year, his main concern is gaining a positive standing in the polls and with world opinion. He knows very little of reality ... Meanwhile when the second in command of the drug cartel is discovered to have acted on *highly* classified information, known only to a *select* few, the accusations in Washington, DC fly. An insider investigation begins to discover where the leaks occured ... This book is nonstop action and difficult to put down. Each chapter reveals another complex episode which adds another layer of under-handed deals and shady activity, all of which make this a most satisfying reading experience.

Although at times this novel is difficult to follow, the subject matter is contemporary and the unfolding events are highly plausible, making it one unstoppable page turner. The planning and execution of the ninja-styled warrior commandos is superb, the covert operations highly ingenious, the political subterfuge and communications are labyrinthine, shocking in their believability. Expect only the best from Tom Clancy ... you will never be disappointed.
Erika Borsos (erikab93)

I'm a huge Tom Clancy fan, so I won't mind if you think this review is a little biased. I do want to mention, however, that, having read all of his works of fiction, that Clear and Present Danger is one of my favorites. There's lots of action, intrigue, and plotlines in this one, just like his other fine books, but at 650 pages, he's put it all in a tighter package. (For the unintiated, Clancy books have been known to exceed 1000 pages.)

Two of my favorite characters, John Clark and Ding Chavez, get a good amount of airplay (readplay?) here. Other books with the characters, including Without Remorse and Rainbow Six, were lackluster, but they really shine here. One can't help but feel a sense of loyalty between these two after reading their stories here.

This was the first Clancy book I re-read...it's really that good!

(I could also add at this point how the movie didn't do justice to the book....but you knew that already, didn't you?)

"Clear and Present Danger" explores the ramifications of leaders who use their office as a platform for personal agenda: This is a fictional account of the lives lost as a result, and the moral courage neccessary to counteract cowardice at the highest level of government, which finds its corallary in the countless historical accounts of leaders who's moral failures led to massive destruction.

The book also raises some good questions about covert international intervention, and fleshes out the personal character-centered nature of such endeavors. Similar covert action is present in many of Clancy's other novels, but here the crucial nature of motive is most clearly presented.

This is a good study in leadership, as well as an excellent patriotic thriller and an entertaining read.

I haven't read too much Tom Clancy up until this point, but this was the best of the ones I've read so far. I picked up Clear and Present Danger because the movie based on this novel is one of my favorites. Going in, I was expecting this to be similar to the movie, so I was pretty surprised to find that while some of the situations are the same, most of the action is quite different. The book is quite a bit more realistic, which of course means that the film is immensely more entertaining. My only real complaint about the story is that the beginning scene with Red Wegener and the Coast Guard goes on too long for its overall impact on the story. I did like reading some beefed-up rolls for both John Clark and Domingo Chavez, who are two of my favorite Clancy characters.

If you've seen the movie and want to read something akin to the screenplay, this is the wrong place to look, but if you're looking for a more realistic, and more special forces-intensive version of that story, this is a great read.

Murder, covert operations within the government, drugs, and the few risking their lives to stop it all are what you'll find in Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger. Drugs are being imported into the U.S. and the American people aren't very approving. In an attempt to stop the influx of narcotics and increase his popularity for the upcoming election, the President has begun a series of covert operations. There is one man the government is out to get, Felix Cortez, and just how they're going to do it isn't quite clear yet. Dr. Ryan is out to stop the operations before they get out of control and out to the public, but just how and why would he do something like that? Clancy stories, many about government and military operations, range from futuristic (Net Force) to present, it-could-happen type novels (Rainbow Six, Clear and Present Danger). His style is to explain every last word and situation in the beginning and leave you to fend for yourself towards the end. He is deep into detail and dedicated to giving you all the background information. This causes the stories to start off slowly. As you continue on in the book, references become less and less explained and the story picks up faster. Even when he explains in his novel some of the military terms and procedures, if you're not familiar with them on an intimate level, it can get pretty challenging. Clear and Present Danger is no exception. Clancy is, nonetheless, an expert writer and storyteller. His ability to surround you with the sights and sounds within the book are extraordinary. I would give this book about an average score of three out of five. The beginning gets a rank of about two, not for detail and clarity, but for lack of suspense or action. Clancy has created catchier openings. The end of the book gets about a four for suspense and interesting twists, but again, he's created more absorbing closings. Clear and Present Danger, in my opinion, was only middle of the road. Tom Clancy, though talented, has written better works.

'Cause I think there's a LITTLE more to say! This is not a super-patriotic book; on the other hand it IS heavy in detail and there are just a few too many plotlines, IMHO. If you have the patience to skim through a bit of technical jargon, however, this is a great action novel!

The facts behind this story are these: in the late '80's Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar blew up a plane with 3 American nationals aboard. He wasn't interested in them but in a Columbian who had crossed him! George Bush responded by creating a secret unit of Colombian commandos dedicated to taking out the druglords. Despite many casualties Escobar was finally cornered on the roof of his Bogata mansion and riddled with assault-rifle bullets. The squad went on to mop up the Medellin and Cali drug cartels - but of course, new narco-trafficers simply stepped in!

Clancy gives us a fictional version with perhaps a few too many reasons to consider military intervention, and his commandos are U.S. Army Rangers, using satellite uplinks to call in laser-guided missile strikes - this is definitely a novel for techno-freaks! CIA agent Ryan's (almost) single-handed rescue of the survivors, and a U.S. Secretary of State flying down to hobnob with a rogue Cuban Colonel, are a bit hard to swallow; still, this is a ripping yarn!

this man is amazing. I have read 5 of his books and this is the best (RAINBOW 6 comes close). I love how he builds up the plot and blows you away with a few hundred pages of pure action. if you can stay with the names (i got Cutter and Ritter mixed up a few times) this is a great book for you.

This book has its problems, but over all, it's pretty good. I really like Tom Clancy's style of writing; he never goes more than a page or two without spicing it up with dialogue. The story was a kind of slow to get going, although some of that is excusable by the size of the book (half of Clear and Present Danger is a lot more pages than half of your average novel). I like the large number of sub-plots, and during the last hundred pages I could barely put it down. Actually, I finished the book in less than a week.

The main problems I have with this book are the cursing (Tom Clancy really went overboard), and the overuse of the word "bastard". I know it seems strange, but it really distracted me from the story to have people from all over the world using this single word to denote someone who is disliked.

A word of warning - this is a LONG book. A total of 656 pages, it is not a short read.

Like I said above, this is a good book. I have read a number of classics ranging from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings to King Rat by James Clavell, but Tom Clancy is my personal favorite. Be sure to read this book.

As Terry Pratchett said, a Tom Clancy novel is an essential piece of equipment for a flight to Australia. Not only are you still reading it when you get there, but you can use it to hit snakes with afterwards.

This isn't a negative comment. It's a positive one :)

Some people complain about the amount of technical detail in Mr. Clancy's books, but I find it adds realism. You're never worried about not understanding how a peice of equipment works in one of his books!

As for this particular one, I've pretty well managed to read the Jack Ryan series backwards, starting at Red October, then Executive Orders and so on back down the line. This book answered so many questions for me it was incredible.

The characters are realistic - even though I wasn't entirely sure who the hero was until I realised it was Ryan. And Clark. And Chavez. And occasionally Moira Wolfe, Captain Wegener, Colonel Johns. And various others I can't remember at the moment. The equipment is lovingly detailed, the locations lavishly described, the total effect quite bewitching.

However...don't try to compare this book to the film. Not only does Dan Murray (look away if you don't want spoilers), who becomes director of the FBI in the last book of the series, get killed (look back now), but Bob Ritter is the semi bad guy who devolps a conscience in the book, versus the snarling, gloating, ruthless ba...person in the film, and so on down the line.

Basically: This book is GOOD! Read it!

The fourth installment of the Jack Ryan series (its plot overly simplified in the 1994 movie) moves its stalwart protagonist, CIA analyst Jack Ryan, into new and more dangerous territory as he rises up the chain of the Agency's command structure.

It's also a new challenge for Clancy as his novels shift their focus from U.S.-Soviet confrontation and international terrorism to the more shadowy worlds of drug smuggling and the nature of covert operations. It also explores such notions as the rule of law, the proper application of military force, the niceties of international law, and the need for good men to stand up for their beliefs, even if it means standing up to the President of the United States.

Clear and Present Danger is a very complex work. It starts with the interception of a drug-carrying yacht whose rightful owners have been murdered viciously by two Colombian "sicarios" employed by the Medellin Cartel. From this seemingly routine event, a chain of escalating events culminating with the Cartel's bold attack on three American envoys in Bogota (Colombia's capital)leads to a Presidential decision that will have dire consequences both at home and abroad.

Here, too, Jack Ryan must face the pitfalls of his ascent up the ladder at Langley. His mentor and surrogate father, Admiral James Greer, is suffering from cancer and Ryan must step into his post, not knowing that the President's new and shifty National Security Adviser, Adm. James Cutter, has dragooned the Directorate of Operations and CIA Director Arthur "Judge" Moore into carrying out a covert and illegal scheme to combat the drug cartels using military assets and the talents of CIA paramilitary operative John Clark. By the conclusion of this novel, Ryan, too, will be caught in the tangled web of Cutter's scheme, and the repercussions of the "Colombian Affair" in both Ryan's professional and personal lives will linger on in later novels of this series.