Customer Reviews

Cutting Edge (Tom Clancy's Power Plays, Book 6)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This book wasn't even written by Tom Clancy (a fact made clear on the cover in much smaller print than the rest).
The book is remarkable in that so little happens in the first 400 pages of the book that you think that there will have to be a sequel to sort out the problems that have been set up. In the event nothing is ever really sorted out and threads are left dangling.

I know that many people don't associate TC with fine literature, but his books have a rhythm and pace that few others match. This book has nothing of the sort.

Mr Clancy, I am surprised that you allow such a book to be written by someone else and have your name on the cover.
You have lost a reader.

I hope that Mr. Clancy was the victim of identity theft and he did not willingly sell his name to this book.

I have to give it a one star because there is nothing lower.

I actually gave up on this book after 150 pages because it was so horrible. These 150 pages could have been more effectively written on 30 pages. After reading 1/3 of the book there was no continuity, no direction and no plot that I could find.

This is an absolute sell out of an authors name. If you closely read the cover you will see that Tom Clancy has little or nothing to do with this book. He has obviously just sold out his audience for a few dollars. I wonder if he could even stand to read this book.

THIS IS A BAD BOOK..............

I have just finished reading the other reviews and it seems odd that 8 people rated this book as the lowest possible rating and 1 rated it as a 4 and 2 as a 5 star. I was puzzled about the 4 and 5's until I realized that the publisher, the author and the author's mother probably wrote the reviews and even one of those could only give it a 4. I don't think Tom Clancy himself could read this book and give it a good review.

I'm not sure why some of the reviews for this book have 4 stars, but I thought this was the most incoherent book I read. It was like inflicting torture on yourself to continue reading this book. Stay away from it!

And to you John Robertill, in defense of Adam from WI, it's his opinion, let it go. 95% of your review was spent raving about how he made typos instead of giving your thoughts on the book. Obviously you've been deeply wounded by his comments and you have some personal link to the authoring of this ghastly creation called a book!

I knew full well that Clancy was not the primary author of this book - that he and Greenberg created a formula framework that Preisler just had to follow. Yet this book still disappointed - the author truly seemed to be just plugging stock spy thriller components into a "choose your own adventure" framework, and was left with a choppy book with a poor plot, insufficient character development and a climax that was boring at best.

Sure, they make him tons of money, but Clancy should really rethink putting his name on books like these - they diminish his reputation and "brand".

To follow up on a previous reviewer's comments about being puzzled by some of the negatives, I think you have to look at their tone and quality to understand where they're coming from. One person says he'll pick up a "dog book" if he wants to know about the "plight of greyhounds" -- referring to a relatively small plot element to say something nasty about a story that centers around intrigue and action in Africa and a related kidnapping by a team of trained international assassins. Presumably, he has something against dogs. Also presumably, this genius would say the same thing regarding Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES . . . he wants to read about bulls, he'll read a "bull book." He'd also better stay away from Crichton, and read "dinosaur books" . . . but you get my drift. Consider the source and weigh it appropriately.

The same goes for those who use catch-all phrases like "no characterization" and "no plot", etc. without writing a single word to back them up. This is not thoughtful criticism. Ridiculous claims, too, since the signatures of this series are multiple plotlines and complex characters. Again, consider the source(s) . . .

If you want a great, intelligent, well-written thriller read this novel. If you can't exercise your brain, or don't have a brain to exercise, stick to video games . . . and easy ones.

This book is a very poor book with a very poor plot and is devoid of any imagination. It is badly written and the characters lack credibility. The only reason it merits a 1 in my opinion: no lower score was listed in the choices available to this reader. I am disappointed that Tom Clancy would lend his name to such drivel. I will be more judicious in future purchases.

I just read all the reviews on this book I finished a couple hours ago...interesting. Well, to be honest, I listened to it during a long trip (a great habit to consider for anyone who doesn't do this!) and I presume the story didn't change significantly in translation.

The book didn't, in my opinion, "suck". But it wasn't good either. My feeling is that a good book is either character driven or event driven. This book is neither. In fact it's fully unmotivated. Sure, there are characters, and there are events, but you don't much care for either. I don't care about Uplink corporation, and I don't care about those people inside that organization. There is no clear protagonist, though there are several interesting special ops type characters. There is no clear antagonist. Well, I guess there is, but he's not particularly interesting and his motivations are COMPLETELY unclear and not well resolved even in the "riveting climax". (I put that in quotes because I can imagine something to that effect is probably written in all capital letters on the dust jacket).

I got this because I made a mistake and thought it was actually WRITTEN by Tom Clancy. A mistake I won't repeat. It was written by a techno-thriller Clancy wannabe and Clancy sold out...again.

I didn't give it a single star because it *did* have some interesting bits. Several times my wife and I looked at one another knowingly when a transparent plot point came to light. When we figured out the "mystery" (far too easily done, unfortunately).

The main thing that gives it a star above rock bottom is what Adam from WI seemed to dislike most about the book. The word play. This was a pretty bad book that was bogged down by lots and lots of extra wordage. That's not a compliment, but it made for some fun "reading" nonetheless. This author has a talent in his use of vocabulary, and he actually writes good dialog. I'd be willing to bet he'd make a great screen writer. But, at least at this point in his career, he's no novelist.

To really enjoy this book you need to have some idea in your head of whats going on and where, and it doesn't matter if its wrong you need to make this happen in your mind. Believe me it enhances the story - which is pure genious and incredible stuff by Priesler. A struggle for power in which an impressionable hostage is taken. MAGIC.However, the book may not appeal to a wide audience so deserves 4 stars. To be honest I don't understand why everybody -except on guy- has rated it badly.

The plot setup takes too long to get a good mystery or combat scenario (which is part mystery, as in _Hunt for Red October_) going. What results then is a sick daytime TV-style romp through the lives and drama of these characters, but it's halfhearted, as are the few combat scenes. The technique of using multiple characters to tell a story falls flat. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

I tried to listen to an audio tape and found myself repeatedly losing interest. Half way through I returned the tape to the library.