skykiii
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
I'm sure you've at least heard the name Tom Clancy, particularly if you're a gamer: Since the 1990s there's been dozens of "Tom Clancy's Something-or-Other" games of varying quality (the original Rainbow Six was quite good, but I can't speak to anything else).
But before that, Tom Clancy was a stockbroker-turned-novelist whose first big hit was the 1986 novel The Hunt for Red October, later turned into a movie starring Sean Connery. The book was an immediate success and gave Clancy a career, and also immediately established what he was most known for: an almost obsessive-compulsive attention to detail.... and a capacity for making really good guesses (some of the stuff he described in Red October was so close to actual existing-but-Classified technology that Clancy actually got interviewed by government agents who thought he might have inside information).
I was actually a fan of Clancy for a long time. I first discovered his books in high school, and rediscovered them a decade later, though at the time I also became aware of the other thing Clancy was (in)famous for.... being a massive sell-out who uses ghost writers.
So, best I can figure out, the following books are actual Clancy:
The Hunt for Red October
Red Storm Rising
Patriot Games
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Clear and Present Danger
The Sum of All Fears
Anything that isn't one of these six has a high chance of being ghostwritten, even if it does not say so on the cover. And all the "series" books (Op-Center, Net Force, etc) outright admit to being ghost-written right on the cover. (That said, I've heard some of these are actually good regardless, so take a chance if you want).
What I can say is.... Red October is definitely worth reading, but Clancy's style can be a mixed bag for people. He's very detailed and technical, and sometimes it can be hard to follow (I recall not really having a clear idea what The Cardinal of the Kremlin was even about at times). However, at his best, Clancy is an interesting read.
The main thrust of his books is basically, "what would happen if X occured?" Like "what would happen if a man with a powerful prototype submarine wanted to defect to the United States?" He details how the world governments might respond, from the departmental wrangling to the on-the-field action. His novels, basically, give you an idea how the machinery of government actually works.... and somehow managing this while still having human drama along the way. As confusing as Cardinal of the Kremlin was, a certain scene near the end still made me well up a bit.
I'm gonna say this right now... the films based on his books usually suck, and part of that is because its impossible to do justice to the scope of his books in that format.
There is another thing though.... I might get a "politisperging" sticker for mentioning this, but: Clancy was conservative, while Hollywood is and always was notoriously left-leaning. I actually remember last time I watched the film version of Red October that you could totally tell the story was being re-interpreted through a liberal lens.
..... Anyway, it saddens me that a lot of people have technically heard of Tom Clancy but have never read any of his actual books, and usually only know him for video games or movies that he actually had basically no involvement with.
Have you ever read a Clancy novel? Which one? What did you think of it?
But before that, Tom Clancy was a stockbroker-turned-novelist whose first big hit was the 1986 novel The Hunt for Red October, later turned into a movie starring Sean Connery. The book was an immediate success and gave Clancy a career, and also immediately established what he was most known for: an almost obsessive-compulsive attention to detail.... and a capacity for making really good guesses (some of the stuff he described in Red October was so close to actual existing-but-Classified technology that Clancy actually got interviewed by government agents who thought he might have inside information).
I was actually a fan of Clancy for a long time. I first discovered his books in high school, and rediscovered them a decade later, though at the time I also became aware of the other thing Clancy was (in)famous for.... being a massive sell-out who uses ghost writers.
So, best I can figure out, the following books are actual Clancy:
The Hunt for Red October
Red Storm Rising
Patriot Games
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Clear and Present Danger
The Sum of All Fears
Anything that isn't one of these six has a high chance of being ghostwritten, even if it does not say so on the cover. And all the "series" books (Op-Center, Net Force, etc) outright admit to being ghost-written right on the cover. (That said, I've heard some of these are actually good regardless, so take a chance if you want).
What I can say is.... Red October is definitely worth reading, but Clancy's style can be a mixed bag for people. He's very detailed and technical, and sometimes it can be hard to follow (I recall not really having a clear idea what The Cardinal of the Kremlin was even about at times). However, at his best, Clancy is an interesting read.
The main thrust of his books is basically, "what would happen if X occured?" Like "what would happen if a man with a powerful prototype submarine wanted to defect to the United States?" He details how the world governments might respond, from the departmental wrangling to the on-the-field action. His novels, basically, give you an idea how the machinery of government actually works.... and somehow managing this while still having human drama along the way. As confusing as Cardinal of the Kremlin was, a certain scene near the end still made me well up a bit.
I'm gonna say this right now... the films based on his books usually suck, and part of that is because its impossible to do justice to the scope of his books in that format.
There is another thing though.... I might get a "politisperging" sticker for mentioning this, but: Clancy was conservative, while Hollywood is and always was notoriously left-leaning. I actually remember last time I watched the film version of Red October that you could totally tell the story was being re-interpreted through a liberal lens.
..... Anyway, it saddens me that a lot of people have technically heard of Tom Clancy but have never read any of his actual books, and usually only know him for video games or movies that he actually had basically no involvement with.
Have you ever read a Clancy novel? Which one? What did you think of it?
