[CaptainCrunch]

I admit it, I'm a junky for Tom Clancy, not as much the books that were published after his desk or even some of his later books, but there are very few authors with the depth of detail and ability to build tension like he did. So I hadn't done a list for a while, and thought I would put together a list of my favorite Tom Clancy books and why. So without the further ado, here goes


1) Sum of all fears - The movie was terrible and they changed everything which made it worth. But the book centered around a nuclear bomb exploded in DC by Middle Eastern terrorists has it all. A plot centered around a middle east peace plan, the terrorist plan to start WW3 with a found nuclear weapon was a great story. We see a gradual build up of optimism in this book followed by a rapid and incredibly tense escalation to the pushing of the button. Tom Clancy shows his expertise in naval and submarine operations which leads to a secondary cat and mouse chase between an American missile sub with a bad commander and a Russian Hunter Killer. The book flows well, and the Jack Ryan character is incredibly flawed in this book. We also get a lethal dose of John Clark who is a great secondary character.


2) The Hunt for Red October - A great book that for the most part takes place in submarines. Its always been rumored that this is loosely based around a true story of a Russian Golf submarine that tried to defect I think in the 70's. The characters are great, the details around submarine technology and operations at the time are amazing. As well there is a subplot based around a high level American spy in Russia that is explored in later books.


3) Red Storm Rising - A book written with Larry Bond that is based on the video game Harpoon. Its a theoretical WW3 that mainly focuses on armor battles in Europe, naval battles in the Atlantic and the political intrigue in Russia. Really well written and very deep, the ending feels somewhat rushed though.


4) Cardinel of the Kremilin - Based around the cold war and the race for a effective anti-nuclear missile defense between the Soviets and the Russians. A really well done book that focuses around espionage and counter espionage. Jack Ryan really comes into his own here.



5) Without Remorse - I love this book a lot, its focused on the origin story of John Clark formerly John Kelly. It features him on 2 fronts, one is a personal war against Drug Dealers, and the other is a rescue of POW's in Vietnam. Really well written with a lot of innovated murders.



6) Rainbow 6 - A side shuffle from the Jack Ryan story line as he authorizes Rainbow 6 a international anti-terrorist group run by John Clark and Domingo Chavez. It follows up the Ebola plague of Executive Orders and puts in a radical environmental group that wants to massively depopulate the world through plague. The ending shows Clark at his ruthless finest. There's lots of action in this book as well. For the most part really well done.


7) Carrier a guided tour - Non Fiction, and I loved this book, it was written in 1999 so a lot of the technology and aircraft info is dated. But you get a sense of the day in the life on a carrier, how carriers are used tactically and how a Carrier is built.


8) Submarine - A guided tour - Same as above but it studies submarines. For the most part again it touches mostly on the Ohio and LA class though it touches on the Seawolf and Virginia Class boats. It also looks at the British Naval submarines and their very stringent command training school.


9) Patriot Games - This was an establishment story for Jack Ryan and deals with a radical offshoot of Irish Terrorist Groups. There's a lot of interesting story to unpack, but it goes a bit over the top with Ryan as the hero. There's lots of hidden opinions from Clancy in this book, but his attention to detail is impressive.


That's my list, 9, yeah 9. I did like Executive Order and The Bear and the Dragon, but Jack Ryan as President, was never as good as Jack Ryan CIA.