The Archimedes Effect: Net Force 10 (Paperback)

~ (Author), Larry Segriff (Author), Tom Clancy (Creator), Steve Pieczenik (Creator) "Every time he had to work guard duty on a night like this, Stevens's respect for the pioneers in their covered wagons went way up:..." (more)
Key Phrases: bug game, much gun, Net Force, Jay Gridley, Rachel Lewis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"At one time, Tom Clancy was an obscure Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history and only a letter to the editor and a brief article on the MX missile to his credit. Years before he had been an English major at Baltimore-s Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, The Hunt for Red October-the story of a Russian submarine captain who defects to the United States-sold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it -the perfect yarn- and -non-put-downable.- Since then Clancy has established himself as an undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense. Clancy-s next novel, Red Storm Rising, took on U.S./Soviet tension by providing a realistic modern war scenario arising from a conventional Soviet attack on NATO. Other bestsellers followed: Patriot Games dealt with terrorism; Cardinal of the Kremlin focused on spies, secrets and the strategic defense initiative; Clear and Present Danger asked what if there was a real war on drugs; The Sum of All Fears centered around post-Cold War attempts to rekindle U.S./Soviet animosity; Without Remorse took on the rising U.S. drug trade and Vietnam War era POW-s; and Debt of Honor explored the hazards of American/Japanese economic competition, the vulnerability of America-s financial system, and the dangers of military downsizing. In light of the events of September 11, 2001, Debt of Honor demonstrated once and for all Clancy-s cutting-edge prescience in predicting future events. The novel ends with a suicide attack against the U.S. Capitol Building by a terrorist flying a 747 out of Dulles airport. Clancy-s uninterrupted string of best sellers continued with Executive Orders, which combined the threat of biological and conventional terrorism with the instability of the Persian Gulf region; Rainbow Six, which explored the dual threats posed by former Soviet intelligence operatives willing to sell themselves to the highest bidder, and genetically engineering bio weapons; and The Bear and The Dragon, which posited a limited war between China, the U.S. and Russia. Clancy-s nonfiction works include Submarine, Armored Cav, Fighter Wing, Marine, and Airborne-a series of guided tours of America-s warfighting assets. He has also written three books in an extraordinary nonfiction series that looks deep into the art of war through the eyes of America-s outstanding military commanders. Into The Storm: A Study in Command, written with armor and infantry General Fred Franks Jr., and Every Man a Tiger, written with Air Force General Chuck Horner, won unanimous praise for their detailed exploration of traditional war-fighting from the ground and from the air. The third book in the Commanders series, Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces, written with General Carl Stiner, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, tells the story of the soldiers whose training, resourcefulness, and creativity make them capable of jobs that few other soldiers can handle, in situations where traditional arms and movement don-t apply. " --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (February 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425204243
• ISBN-13: 978-0425204245
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #163,211 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What're they doing now?!?, February 11, 2006

By	H. Bana - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After reading my first Net Force book, I immediately fell in love with the characters - the nerdy Jay Gridley, the courageous Alex Michaels, the sexy Joanna Winthrop and the amazing Toni Fiorella.

These characters were my friends, and I could really relate to some of their situations.

And then Clancy and Perry decided to change characters. Understandably, the Michaels' had live their lives out. Tom Thorn, Marissa and Abe Kent seemed very cool - but they had no depth.

In this book, Thorn has resigned from Net Force after what? two appearances?!?

So what's going to go on next? Is Clancy ending the Net Force series? Who's going to take over next? Where is Gridley going to go? Honestly... what was the point of this novel? To make everyone get married, say they're going to live happily ever after and not really do anything to the Net Force saga itself?

I miss Alex and Toni Michaels!

Please don't read this book if it's your first Net Force book. Read the first one. You'll enjoy it, you really will. If you're a diehard Net Force fan like I am, purchase it and read through it. Add it to your collection... but please don't expect very much. It shall leave you disappointed. In fact, the publishers have made an offer that if you didn't like it, you can send it back and get a refund. That's definitely a possibility.

Looking for a quick read? You've got it.
Looking for the depth of the original Net Force novels? Go read Net Force 6: Cybernation again.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible , March 26, 2006

By	T. Mikov (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is simply so awful, that I don't know where to begin. I recently wasted a few hours of my life (stuck in an airport) reading it, and boy was I angry! I was much better off sleeping. This book is a marvel of bad writing and banality.

First of all, it isn't interesting. From the very beginning it describes in detail what the "bad guys" are doing and who they are. Then you get to wait as the protagonists stumble around trying to find out what you already know. Annoying. The premise of the book itself isn't engaging and is completely unrealistic, not to mention full of plot holes, so it is all very very boring.

Perhaps I would care more about the characters, if they weren't so one-dimensional. There is nothing beyond a name, function and a description of a couple of banal qualities or hobbies. Some ridiculous combinations are attempted probably to make it look more realistic, but all it does is make it look even stupider. Here is an example - one of the protagonists is a very successful native american who got rich from running a software company (but of course!), who is going to marry a black girl (also very successful, working for the CIA or something), and he likes fencing. Another protagonist is a military who came into possession of an expensive guitar (by killing the spy who owned it) and sentimentally decided to learn to play it, and of course fell in love with the female music teacher and married her (of course!). I am not going to spoil it by describing the antagonist, but suffice to say it lives up to the rest of the book. Weep, Dostoyevsky, weep!

Many events in the book happen in "Virtual Reality" - people are wearing electronic goggles and full body suits creating artifical environment with 3D video, sound, touch and even smell. Not a bad concept, if it wasn't abused so terribly. First of all, the author keeps insisting that doing basic office activities in Virtual Reality is easier or more convenient. Let me explain - in Virtual Reality doing an internet search, for example, means actually, physically, searching, with hands and feet across rooms, sometimes even killing "virtual bad guys". In the book an internet search is very similar to a session of Doom or Quake. Realizing the monumental stupidity of this idea takes some time. Let me clarify - the results of the search are obviuously already available in the software, but they are artifically obscured in a game-like virtual environment so that the user may lose a couple of hours "looking for them".

Virtual Reality is abused in other ways too - whole chapters of the book are filled with pointless adventures in Virtual Reality. The protagonist is doing an Internet search for something and we get to follow his progress in a mini game, created purely for his amusement (he chooses the plot himself). Why should we care about any of that ? I could write a book describing a session of playing a game, but why would anybody want to read that ?

I mentioned that the premise of the book is not engaging, but I should go further than that. It is also idiotic. I hesitate to spoil the fun by describing it here, but believe me it makes no sense whatsoever. It is as if the author(s) couldn't figure why the bad guys would be doing whatever they were doing, so in the end they just picked something at random. Later in the book the plot breaks, but who cares at that point.

I don't know if other Tom Clancy books are like this one. I hope not.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The decline of The Clancey Novel Continues, April 12, 2006

By	Jimr "Jim" (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This book is a knock off a formula writing based on the adventures of who cares. Partly dime store romance and partly computer geek without the computer knowledge.
There is a very week plot with hints of romance and sexual suggestion to attempt to get the reader interested.

By far one of the worst of the recent Clancey production line novel writing approach.
Save your money and buy a comic book instead. It will appeal to the same reader.

If I could have rated it -1 star I would have done so.

To sum it up. This book sucks.