4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horribly Dissapointing, September 24, 2003
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.....
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
mindless.com, January 26, 2001
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
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Cashing In On Clancy's Name!, October 22, 2000
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
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