buffoonery's Full Review: Tom Clancy - Executive Orders: Internatinal Editio...
. . . typically do not include a kidnap attempt on your daughter and an assassination attempt on your person. If I were Jack Ryan, I would be suing Hewitt & Associates or whatever miserable executive comp consulting firm drew up this crummy contract with the government.
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read "Debt of Honor" and plan to, READ NO FURTHER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
"Executive Orders" is the eighth novel in the saga of Jack Ryan, who is author Tom Clancy's gift to guys (and some women) who have time on their hands and really wish they were off killing Commies, terrorists, socialists, advocates of the capital gains tax, and whoever else is getting in the way of Republicans, instead of being stuck sitting around selling bonds or litigating pointless insurance coverage cases or doing whatever mundane thing they do for a living.
Guys like me, in other words.
For those who have recently returned to Earth after completing their sojourn on the starship Enterprise and are somewhat disoriented, in the early 1980's ex-insurance salesman Tom Clancy revolutionized the male-oriented thriller genre with the publication of "The Hunt for Red October", a novel about the attempted defection to the United States of a Soviet ballistic missile submarine. What separated this novel from the run of the mill spy thriller-Le Carre, Higgins, Price, et al-was an apparently strong grasp and use of military technology and related technical details. In other words, all those guys who had played war games and had made crashing and zooming noises with army guys all their lives got to see their toys used in really cool books that you could read about and stuff.
The novel was a splendidly unexpected hit and spawned a succession of prequels and sequels, plus some movies, PLUS some tough negotiations between Clancy and his former publisher, the U.S. Naval Institute Press, when he wanted a better deal with someone else, so some lawyers got to make money, too.
And so, the techno-thriller genre was born. Some of these books are good; a lot of them are bad.
After all these years, Clancy still remains at the top of this craft, narrowly holding off competent competitors like Larry Bond and Stephen Coonts and far outdistancing a ton of hack writers who are providing to men what Harlequin novels provide to women. "Executive Orders" brings us to where we perceptive few saw Ryan ultimately sitting, in the President's chair in the Oval Office. Now, granted, his method of assuming that seat was a tad unusual: it's not often that someone crashes an airliner into the Capitol Building and wipes out the Congress, Supreme Court, and not incidentally the President. (Granted, I've sometimes dreamed of doing such a thing, but the legal penalties being what they are I have sought other diversions.)
So Clancy has realized his dream of making Ryan POTUS (President of the United States, don't you know), and the question is, what to do now? Unfortunately, Clancy doesn't quite know the answer to that interrogative, so why not have a whole BUNCH of things happen? Let's see, now:
Well, we can have a bunch of bad guys from, uh, let's see-yeah, the Middle East, that's the ticket-try to do bad stuff like spreading a terrible virus in the U.S. and trying to kidnap Ryan's little girl and blow Ryan's brains out so they can take over the Middle Eastern Oil and build a bunch of nice colonial houses in the suburbs. And, then, we can tie in those bad, awful Chicoms-Chinese Communists, for you non-John Birchers-and stage a fight with the Taiwanese just to stir up trouble. And we can get the Indians-the sub-continent Indians, not the Native-Americans-get involved and sail their ships around an make threatening noises. Plus, we can get the bad guy liberals in the media to do awful things to the President, and fire up the ex-Vice President to mount a legal challenge to Ryan's authority as Head Guy in Charge. And finally, yep, we can get Laurel and Hardy to go on a cross-country journey to blow up the White House with a truck full of fertilizer.
Whew!
Let's get to the point: this novel is way too long and disjointed. There's simultaneously too much and not enough happening. There's umpteen plot strands going umpteen ways and he takes too long to get to the punch line. The confusion is exponential.
Earth to Tom: Get an editor, OK?
It's not until the last third of the novel that things get rolling. The virus breaks out, chaos ensues, dogs and cats start living together, the bad guys start their offensive in Kuwait, and there's some run of the mill ground and air action, the conclusion of which is never in doubt. Clancy also gets to show off his knowledge of military history by talking about Civil War generals like Buford and Grierson so we know he's a hip guy. There are a few good action scenes, granted. I liked the kidnapping scene, that was fun, and the part where he tells off the Indian Prime Minister, that was good but if I talked to my wife like that I'd be on the street. Still, one can dream…. But the rest, well, there's a novel here somewhere, but I had a hard time finding it.
I don't want to seem too hard on Clancy. I like-nay, love his books-but more isn't necessarily better. This one is a C-minus. Too long, too disjointed, and in the end, too fantastic. I suppose that it's primary virtue is that it's better than "Rainbow Six", review to come.
If you haven't read Clancy, try "Red October" or "Patriot Games" first. If you have read Clancy and like him, by all means, read this, what the heck, lots of stuff goes kablooey, but mow the lawn first-and get that leaky faucet repaired, too, will you already?
Here is a complete listing of my Jack Ryan reviews:
Debt of Honor ended with Clancy s most shocking conclusion ever--a joint session of congress destroyed, the president dead. Dazed and confused, the ma...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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