I'm actually surprised, given all the insightful reviews here, that no one else is irked by his characters' "Hollywood" dialogue. As much as I admire Tom Clancy's story development and research, his characters' conversations are stilted and 1950s Hollywood. In his earlier novels, his work has been a sort of antithesis to Stephen King's universe: in Clancy's world, all men are overachievers, Decidedly Republican, and if not in possession of a Master's Degree, most assuredly working on one! Conversely, in King's realm, all men are drunks, given to child molestation, and of course had abusive parents! But I'll give it to Stephen King: his characters' dialogue is so true to life as to be, well, a bit scary. Contrast that with a typical exchange between Clancy's ongoing protagonist Ryan and his wife:
"Hi, Honey. Do anything today?"
"Went to the mall. Didn't buy anything."
"Bargains?"
"Didn't see any. Came on home."
Earth to Tom: having spent a few years in the United States Army, I can confidently say that there are very few guys in or out of the military that actually talk that way ( clipping pronouns and articles in speech )...and absolutely NO females I've encountered that do it! However,
like so many avid Clancy readers, I absolutely love his meticulous attention to detail ( Earth to Stephen King: stay away from the military and UFOs!! ). Nobody does his research quite like Tom Clancy ( although I've always thought the Late Michael Crichton came very close, plus some very realistic conversations between his characters ). So I too was disappointed with this gargantuan effort. As to political leanings, the not-so-subtle digs at the Clinton administration didn't surprise me, although I also wondered just who, other than President Fowler in Clancy's universe, represented the token Liberal Democrat...Clancy probably would like to go back and reissue his novels, substituting Fox News in place of every reference he made to CNN.
One more point on the dialogue critique, Mr. Clancy: Please stop assigning stereotypically poor grammar to enlisted folks! I've met more than a few NCOs throughout my tenure in the U.S. military with very eloquent speech...and quite a few officers who were never taught the finer points about employing double negatives in speech, much less pronoun/antecedent agreement. Characters in Clancy's universe fall into one of two categories: Overachievers ( the vast majority of every American he introduces, along with his educational resume ), and the token wino/terrorist/criminal. Where are ordinary, average people in Clancy's world? Nary a store manager or public school teacher is introduced. Oh, they live; just working out their underachieving lives as best they can...but, in Navy parlance, just "below the radar".
If you approach a Clancy novel as one more platform for Tom showing the world just how smart he is, you won't usually be disappointed...I only wish he could find a way to be less didactic about it ( something Mr. Crichton achieved in virtually every one of his novels ). And one final note, Mr. Clancy: very, very few people actually "chuckle" anymore. Most of us Laugh, sometimes Uproariously!

A pathetic, narcissistic excuse of a story line with cardboard characters. The storyline is entirely unbelievable...all good ideas are from one side, all sagacious leaders are from one side, all heroes are from one side, all mistakes are from the other side... I suppose the claptrap about the weapons may interest some but anyone looking for a realistic description of international intrigue by evenly matched players is wasting his time here...

I think this novel is where Clancy stumbled. He as taken Ryan from being a CIA officer to President of the United States. I think that was too much of a leap.

But I think Clancy is trying to end the Ryan-verse series and the only way to do that, other than killing him was to make him President, which equals out to the same thing.

The plot of a China war with Russia is a very plausible one and this is where Tom Clancy shines, he created a very credible story, of corrupt Chinese officials staging a plan that will lead them, in their view, to a more powerful China and that would mean a war with Russia. The history between Russia and China is not the friendliest and that could mean at anytime they two could go to war, especially during the cold war era.

What I found to be very implausible was the ending, America airlifting Tanks that arrive just in time to repel China from Russia and a Nuke being shot down by Jack Ryan before it explodes over Washington.

But overall, Clancy does weave a good story and it is worth the 1,0000 page read.

For President Jack Ryan, things have never just rolled along smoothly. After the Russians discover great mineral wealth in Siberia, the CIA discovers that China is casting greedy eyes to the north. America is in a race to block China from grabbing the wealth that is just across the border, but will they succeed?

OK, when reviewing books, sometimes you are with the majority, and sometimes you are with the minority. For this book, I am definitely in with the minority. I am a big fan of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series, and I really enjoyed this book. As with the others in the series, the author does a great job of running a number of parallel storylines, keeping each one interesting and avoiding confusion and chaos.

Now, this book has been criticized for a number of flaws, including its length, which is a valid complaint. Mr. Clancy definitely wanted to include many details and sub-stories, but personally I thought he kept the overall story interesting. This is not a quick read, and just looking at its fatness, you know you are in it for the long-haul.

But, that said, I really enjoyed this book. As in real life slower moments punctuated moments of exhilaration and drama. Many a time, I was totally gripped by what was happening, unable to put the book down. Was it totally realistic? Perhaps not, but the action and adventure make for a great ride. I really enjoyed this book, and don't hesitate to recommend it.

A reel disappointment. Four a book to bee enjoyed it helps if it does knot contain sew many speling and typograffikle errurz.

I usually enjoy TC's books---but this one was indeed a disappointment. Decent story, but the typos and errors became tedious. Halfway through the book I started circling the obvious errors for entertainment value alone. Obviously the publisher opted to use an automated spell-checker because the book was filled with typos---some funny, but most were annoying and detracted from the reading experience. Just because a word is spelled correctly does not mean it's the right word to use! Next time the publisher might consider having real people proofread TC's novels.