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Friday, March 11, 2011

Dead or Alive- a book review

Do you remember the first time you were introduced to a Tom Clancy novel? Was it The Hunt For Red October like it was for me? Did you get hooked by the intricate detail, suspense and character development and tear right into Red Storm Rising? I sure did! I was an avid fan of Tom Clancy's work and his main character, Jack Ryan, right up until Tom started writing books that read like video game, first person shooter scripts. At that point, I decided that Tom had sold out to the video game producers and I gave up after Rainbow Six.

But let me tell you, Tom Clancy is back to his former skills with Dead or Alive! I picked this up a couple weeks ago and loved every one of the 848 pages! Jack Ryan is back as the now retired, ex-president but his son, Jack Jr, is the main character here, working in a non-governmental, off the books, self-supported terrorist hunting agency, The Campus. This group is intercepting CIA and NSA communications and making their own analysis and then sending out field agents to track them down. John CLark and Ding are back from their service with Rainbow Six and involuntarily retired from their government service and quickly picked up The Campus for their unique skills.

What terrorist are they chasing? Well in this story, he's called the Emir but he's the guy responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001, so you can draw your own conclusions. The Emir has a grand scheme that The Campus gets wind into his plans and the story takes place all around the world tracking down counterfitters, snitches and couriers. The Emir, long sought in the mountains of Afghanistan has departed the area and taken up temporary residence in Las Vegas of all places!

It gets bloody. The story is intricate, detailed and suspenseful. Jack Ryan Sr decides he can't stand the direction that the country is headed under the new president and declares his candidacy for election to replace the soft, unskilled, wishy-washy president currently in the White House...

Clancy really hits a homerun with this book and I heartily recommend it. It is dense but if you remember the adventures of John Clark and Ding and Ryan, you must give this book a read. Look past those disappointing video game script stories and give this one a chance, you will quickly fall under Clancy's amazing story telling spell.

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