Cold War [Hardcover]

Tom; Preisler, Jerome Clancy (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Penguin Books (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140294937
• ISBN-13: 978-0140294934
• ASIN: B001KTK514
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,592,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good genomic thriller, may be more detailed than understood!, December 4, 2000

By 

K. L Sadler "Dr. Karen L. Sadler" (Freedom, Pa. USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bio-Strike (Tom Clancy's Power Plays, Book 4) (Paperback)

First off, with a book like this, who is the author? I assumed it was Clancy, but now I am not so sure. What does it mean when two other men are the "creators" of a thriller? Did they come up with the concept and the first listed person is the actual author? If so it is very difficult to know who to give praise or critism to, or maybe that is the idea? I have enjoyed Clancy's books for several years. They make a good intelligent change of pace from my usual readers diet of science, education, ethics, mysteries, and history. He is a good writer even though I think he churns out the books too fast. However, since I am not sure who wrote this book, I don't know to whom to give the credit.

The near completion of the human genome and the emergence of diverse infectious diseases which are new to us make for plenty of possible and scary scenarios. Obviously this group of men has tapped into this large reservoir. The problem is when someone who does not have the science background reaches for a book like this, and it is a middle of a series...the authors make assumptions about what the reader knows about genetics and disease, and where they have come in in reading the series. For me it wasn't a problem because I worked on HIV and am working on the ethical implications of the Human Genome project for the disabled. However, most of the people who I know who read this type of book for pleasure, would have definite problems following the back-and-forth writing of the plot, and a lot of the genetic information is going to seem very improbably to those who do not read Science on a regular basis.

This is a good book, with a good plot and decent characterization. The science is pretty good, and I hope the authors don't give the wackos out there any new ideas. Probably not...like I said, this is currently an area of immense concern and immense discussion. This is definitely more intelligent writing than say Robin Cook (who started this genre), but it is not easy reading for those who are looking for something that does not require a few active brain cells (which I sometimes want too!) Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It just gets better, November 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bio-Strike (Tom Clancy's Power Plays, Book 4) (Paperback)

Bio-Strike was a great book. It tied in all the important material. I definitely reccommend it to anyone that is in for an adventure. But read them in order or you will be lost. Jerome used great suspense and action to making this a great story and plot.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really a Clancy novel... maintains status quo., February 1, 2001

By 

Tom Sanderson (Lisle, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bio-Strike (Tom Clancy's Power Plays, Book 4) (Paperback)

First of all, don't let the giant TOM CLANCY printing on the cover fool you... this book wasn't even written by Tom Clancy. Evidently, the series was a brainchild of his, but the author is another person in little print at the bottom of the cover. Poor guy, he writes the novel, and Clancy gets the credit (at least in consumer's eyes if they don't take the time to read the whole cover)... the upside of this is that Clancy will also take the hits if the book is generally considered to be a flop, which is nice for this guy too, I guess. :)

I need to clarify that this is the only book in the Power Plays series that I have read. I don't believe that it is critical for you to read EVERY book in a series in order to be able to enjoy each individually. A great author will craft each book in a way that makes it possible to read any book in the series and still feel like you've absorbed a complete novel with no huge hanging plot holes or the like (i.e. Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles).

This book was, in my opinion, too long-winded. Some people appreciate that style of writing, but I felt it wasn't entirely appropriate for this story... I have a limited amount of free time, and I spent about twice the time I should have reading this book. The story was a good idea, but the length of the book was taken up with inane details of the story and dialog, and too little time was spent on character development, and on the villain, especially. The villain remains an anonymous and vague character, which works sometimes, but in this book we are left wondering and wanting more details about his motives, his methods, and more real world information about his role in the story to accompany several pages of his demented psychoanalysis of a painting. Don't get me wrong... he was INTRIGUIING, but never given life. The Lathrop character was by far the most interesting... a classic double agent, but with extra ego, self-interest, and intelligence thrown in for good measure.

As far as the science of the book goes, I'm not a biochemist. As a result, I don't know if the author actually knows his stuff (a la Crichton but less arrogant with his knowledge), or if he just read a few books and made it sound convincing. I don't much care, either... the story worked, even if the details clouded it.

Bottom line is this: If you read the book just because you see Tom Clancy's name on the cover, you're in for a bit of a disappointment, because it's not the Tom Clancy we've all come to know and love who actually authored the book. That's not to say the author did a bad job, either... the book just seemed to drag on too long in my understanding of the story. It could've been trimmed by about 100 pages, and the ending could have been a little LESS OBVIOUS. Yes, unfortunately, the ending is not-even-a-challenge obvious long before the end of the book, but that doesn't detract from the end of the story as much as you might think. It's a good book if you enjoy Sci-Fi/Action hybrids, but if you're not a huge fan of the genre, then you won't feel it's time well spent. 3 stars because it did what was expected, nothing more, nothing less. Not outstanding in its field, but I don't think it totally sucked either, unlike other reviewers who wrote it off out of hand.