Customer Reviews

Ruthless.com (Tom Clancy's Power Plays)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(39)

 

 

I have read every book Written or inspired by Tom Clancy up to the Power Play's series. I have been horribly dissapointed by this series and specifically with Ruthless.com The plot is underdeveloped and the characters are terribly introduced and explained. It seems as if the authors tried to cram all of the intrigue of a Clancy book into 400 pages, which if you are a true clancy fan you know his usually run into 600-700 pages. If this book were given the attention it needs on the characters and plot then it would be an excelent read. Unfortunately as it stands this book is absolutely pitiful. I had to force myself to finish it by telling myself it would get better in the next chapter. Don't read this.....

I've liked some of Tom Clancy's previous books such as "The Hunt for Red October", "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger". For those not familiar with his books, Tom Clancy writes "techno-thrillers", books where a lot of high-tech stuff, mostly military hardware, has a central role.

"ruthless.com" is billed as involving computer technology and high drama in the IT business so I was looking forward to enjoying it. Unfortunately, I found it poorly written and totally unrealistic. Furthermore, the leading character comes across as a bit of an idiot and the leading bad guy is very unfairly based on Bill Gates. In other words, I didn't like the book at all.

The basic story is about the hero, Roger Gordian and his company, UpLink International, being targeted for a hostile takeover by the nasty Marcus Cain, who runs Monolith Technologies. But big business conflicts aren't exciting enough for a Tom Clancy book (even though Marcus Cain is into all sorts of dirty tricks including murder attempts) so there's a sinister over-plot involving some really nasty Asians who are using Marcus Cain as a pawn in their bid for total world domination.

And how do Microsoft-like companies find themselves involved in an international military power struggle? It has something to do with encryption technology... For example, the bad guys break into a privately-run high-security "crypto key repository facility" to steal the encryption keys for a US Navy nuclear submarine's communications links! This is ludicrous, both because modern encryption systems do not use "back-up keys" stored in any kind of "repository" and because the US military would never place such keys, if they did exist, in a privately-run repository.

In addition to finding the plot totally unbelievable I also didn't like the two main characters. Roger Gordian is supposed to be the hero but how are you supposed to identify with someone who's so dumb that he thinks that he can keep encryption technology out of the hands of terrorists by refusing to export it from the good ol' USA? The fact that some of the best encryption technology comes from Israel and is based on work done by Russian scientists isn't mentioned in the book. Then there's the plot-line about a hostile takeover attempt to which Gordian has stupidly made his company vulnerable, and his supposedly very clever way of getting out if this problem which basically involves him stopping being quite as stupid as he has previously been.

I also found it distasteful that the badies Marcus Cain and his Monolith Technologies are obviously based on Bill Gates and Microsoft. Marcus Cain went to Harvard but dropped out (was expelled), built up a company based on operating systems for computers, stole most of the ideas that his company's software is based on, is into philanthropy (but only as a PR trick), and is willing to do just about anything to crush a competitor. Anyone who knows the Bill Gates and Microsoft story can see the large number of similarities, but with everything distorted and exaggerated.

All-in-all a total waste of time. It should have been called "mindless.com".

Rennie Petersen

I bought this book because I thought it was written by Tom Clancy. The people that sold me this book are still laughing at me for buying it. I will be glad when Tom Clancy starts writing his onw books again. Roger Gordian falls termendously short in his role as a hero.The plot for this book is very weak. The evil plot of a corporate takeover nearly takes off but falls short also. This book series has so far been very bad. I wish they(Tom and his ghostwriter) would start writing quality books.I have nearly gotten to the point where I donot buy these books with cowriters. Maybe I will find a book that is really written by Tom Clancy

Bad book. Clearly not written by Tom Clancy. I will have to watch Clancy write his next book before I buy it.

Hardcore non-stop Excitement.never wanted to put it down. Well worth the money. Time well spent.

A gunfight in the Hyatt?! I live here. Even toy pistols resembling the real thing are banned.

Either Tom or Martin should spend some time here before even trying to emulate "Singlish", some of the dialogue made me wince.

Finished the book in less than 24 hours. Not too engaging. Thanks to Steve who lent me the book, 3 years here and your "lahs" are still wrong. :-)

I really liked this book. It was fast moving, thrilling and not at all boring. The plot was a bit predictable but i really didn't mind; I enjoyed it! As for character development, Get over it people! Its an action thriller, not an indepth look at the human psyche!

Bullets are flying, people are screaming, and men are saving damsels in distress. The scene that has been described is the basic format for ruthless.com, the latest work of literature by Tom Clancy. This book provides an adequate sequel to Politika by having Roger Gordian, the hero of the previous book, come back and face yet another challenge to his vision of world peace. In ruthless.com the author provides an exciting story with a slightly far-fetched plot. In this book, Tom Clancy tries to show the average person how dangerous dealing with software can be. For example, Clancy uses murders, sabotage, and infiltration's from the bad guys to get hi-tech encryption codes. These codes are held by Roger Gordian who must fight back if he is to keep them safe. The author has very pronounced values which are displayed in his books. One of his values would be that to achieve peace and harmony one must go through war and chaos. This is brought out when Roger Gordian must defend himself from attacks on himself and those around him, but in the end the wrongs have been righted, and justice reigns over the land for a time. The Author writes in a third person point of view. He never uses I or we and he never uses he or she, unless spoken by the characters. Anything that Clancy writes down seems to be knowledgeable and accurate. For instance in several occasions, he describes a gun or a piece of machinery that can not be mistaken as wrong. The situations and information that Mr. Clancy writes down may not be accurate and so depict and inaccurate picture of what happens in the real world. The author has a unique method in writing his works of literature. Mr. Clancy probably gets his information from his hobbies in politics and Science/Nature. The sources he uses in his books seem to be believable and up to date. Although these can not be taken for granted and could be misleading. In this book, Mr. Clancy poses many questions about the characters and the plots, Although in the end he manages to provide answers for each one of them. He does present one question that remained unanswered could this happen to America. Although in his book the hero discovers the evil doers in time and manages to save his company as well as the American president, can we be sure that their will be someone able to handle such a situation in the real world. The book is extremely well written, in a way that runs linearly although sometimes overlapping. He has his characters traveling from scene to scene, and rarely going back to finish or start a plot. This book does not provide any passages of eloquence, but they are presented in a form that can be read and enjoyed by everyone. The book is well argued and their exist few places that are left without an answer. The Author provides scenes with suspense, where the reader is put in a state where he/she can't wait to turn the page and find out what happens next. All the scenarios and plots that are created in this book have the capability to come true, and that is how Mr. Clancy captivates his audience. This book is accessible to all readers, there are some terms and phrases that are bizarre but through simple deduction can be deciphered. This book gives me a new way to look into the real world. Mr. Clancy provides an excellent description of far off lands and an amazing description of the people who inhabit them. His books manage to transport the reader into those scenes of action and suspense; he describes all the scenes so accurately that one may think he/she is actually there. This ability to captivate the audience and make them gasp in awe can be considered to be Mr. Clancy's greatest strength in literature. The only weakness which I can see is that Mr. Clancy creates so many plots and sub-plots that the reader may find himself lost and not know where to proceed. This book gives me a greater understanding of another culture, and of other people which inhabit this Earth. Mr. Clancy Somehow seems to provide a greater understanding of the world around us. In short, Mr. Clancy has written another fascinating work of literature that can be enjoyed by all. In his book he asks many questions and describes horrifying situations, but in the end everything works out just as it should. Mr. Clancy is able to captivate and engage his audience with his accurate descriptions of the scenes and situations in this book.

Tom Clancy's works are carefully researched, intricately plotted, compulsively exciting right-wing propaganda. This ghostwritten monstrosity is merely right-wing propaganda; the most difficult research done must have been to find an FBI/CIA/NSA spokesman to dictate the back-to-front explanation of crypto policy.

It's not as if this issue isn't thoroughly and widely discussed, even in the mainstream outside techie circles, so there is no excuse for totally misrepresenting non-spook opinion.

It is amusing that the book tries to promote crypto regulation for Clancy's spook chums, but that even dramatic necessity dictates yet another case for deregulation.

Tom Clancy does have a clear style; it can't be that hard to duplicate it. In this case it seems the publisher considered it enough merely to use his name. This will turn out to be a commercial mistake, as readers will now learn to avoid books "created by" Tom Clancy.

Predictable, disappointing, dull.

The Roger Gordian business conglomerate is threatened by impending hostile takeover from the wiles of archrival Caine and his evil underworld conspirators. Intrigue follows intrigue as one plot after another is foiled.

This work, while typical of the style familiar to most Clancy works is atypical in that less than adequate detail is given to technical editing and character development. It seems like the writer was trying to "crank out" a story to go along with the accompanying software. Several words were repeated ("There was WAS even a small...." pg 184, "...UpLink company has been BEEN marginal..." pg 225), and other words used inappropriately for the sentence ("...all of which were controlled by his seemingLESS endless...." pg 183 "...agents pretending to be demonstrators AND dispersed throught the..." pg 184) (Capitalization mine).

All in all, it was a good book. Some of the characters could be developed a bit more, but considering it is an accompanying book to a software program, I feel it met its intended effect.

For readers not familiar with Tom Clancy, I recommend it as a must read. For those familiar with, and avid Clancy fans, it might be somewhat disappointing. For both groups, be sure to read POLITIKA first!