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47 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rainbow Six is a chilling, thrilling action novel...., October 5, 2003
Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy's 10th novel and ninth in the Jack Ryan/John Clark series, once more focuses on the ex-CIA paramilitary field officer known in the Agency as Mr. Clark. This time, the focus once again turns to the challenges of fighting global terrorists and the menace from extremists determined not only to reshape society, but the entire planet's environment.Clark is close to retiring as a paramilitary officer in the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Operations when Agency executive directors Ed and Mary Pat Foley, with the tacit approval of the recently elected President John Patrick Ryan, ask him to run an elite team of antiterrorist Special Ops fighters from several NATO countries. Their mission: to act as an international 911 team in hostage and other terror-related situations deemed too high-risk for local law-enforcement agencies. Based in England, this so-called Rainbow Team will be deployed mainly in Europe, but with support from U.S. and other allied nations, can operate anywhere in the world. Clark, who was an enlisted member of a SEAL team in Vietnam, is given a rank equivalent to a full colonel and the call sign Rainbow Six. (In military parlance, the designator "six" after a unit's call sign is assigned to a commanding officer.) Rainbow Six opens with a tense incident high above the Atlantic as a small group of Basque terrorists attempts to hijack the plane carrying Clark, his wife, his protege and new son-in-law Domingo "Ding" Chavez, and Alistair Stanley, his British second in command, to London. Using their wits and finely honed skills, the three Rainbow members overwhelm the hijackers and save the crew and their fellow passengers. With this introduction to the job, Clark then turns his attention to training the various members of the several Rainbow teams, not knowing that the airliner incident was simply one of many terrorist incidents being bankrolled by a mysterious and wealthy individual with a darker, more terrifying agenda. With the assistance of a former KGB officer and inspired by one of the most horrible aspects of the Iranian plot against the U.S. (as chronicled in Executive Orders), a group of environmental extremists is plotting to reverse centuries of man-made damage to the Earth's biosphere by committing the most horrible act of mass murder in history. Clancy's novel paints a troubling picture of what happens when a noble idea (such as promoting global conservation) is twisted and perverted by charismatic and cold-blooded individuals, and its action-oriented plot inspired an ongoing series of computer games.
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40 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent read, just one or two flaws, March 10, 2000
Let's face it. Shakespeares' pants, a load of plays copied straight from older storylines. But anyway, Tom Clancy is probably the best author in the world for this sort of book. However, he has fallen once again on his two main flaws to receive a perfect 5/5. These flaws are simple ones: 1. Americans are the best, superheros who are better than everyone, even the SAS, which I doubt. 2. Storylines leading to nowhere - very frustrating However, he still accumulates all the key elements for a brilliant read. In some of his books, particularly Executive Orders, I found myself sat reading for days before I read that a tiny US task force obliterated a steamroller style Iran/Iraq army defending its own ground. However, in Rainbow Six, the action comes at appropriate times so that my interest did not attenuate as I went along. Also, the action is simply fantastic, with suspense, careful planning and perfect takedowns that you would expect from such men in real life. The weapons used are awesome in power, particularly the sniper's rifles, and I was fascinated to read how such men trained. It's been made into an excellent computer game. Might we be getting a film just as good? I think we should.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
this rainbow's just missing a few colors..., January 17, 2001
By A Customer
Besides the length, I like to think of this as a sort of action movie in a book...it's worth reading because of a series of sequences that make it fun, but if you're looking for good literature, "Rainbow" has no hidden pot of gold. Clancy gives us almost no sense of his characters, presenting them as all-powerful, invincible human beings, just like a modern-day Bond thriller. Of course, you could argue, who cares? That's what I said. This thick mother of a book is replete with 007-styled shoot-em-up sequences, where the pages turn a mile a minute. So how is this book 800+ pages? Come on. It's Clancy. He gives us his usual military specifics and detailed descriptions of obsolete or unusual devices, used as filler space between his truly well-written action scenes. Another thing. This book has no plot. What plot there is, however, nicely serves as a device to bring on Clancy's thrilling terrorist take-downs. I think he should simply exclude all "plot," simply write a series of random exciting action scenes, because this book's attempt at plot is surprisingly pitiful. Makes you feel sorry for poor Tom. Now, I've heard folks tease him for "getting paid by the word" but...seriously, no one really cares, this book still made the top spot on The NY Times, because it's Clancy, and everyone loves him. This book might be too verbose; so what? At the very least just skim over the boring stuff, or simply skip it entirely. The rest is too good to miss. By the way, "Rainbow Six" the game is even better...
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