Clear and Present Danger - Tom Clancy > Reviews > clear and present, wheres the danger though....

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?	Yes
Story	Good
Characters	Satisfactory
Listenability	Pretty compelling but not addictive
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?	Very good

Advantages:	Very in depth .
Disadvantages:	2d characters, slow plot

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I first read this book (yes i am semi-literate!!) after I saw the adaptation to this novel staring Harrison Ford. In my experience, in order to get the crowds in, directors of such movies always strip the novel down to its basic plot and characters, and then slap on as much action onto this framework as possible. How right I was...

While understandable (after all, most books are made up of characters thoughts etc, and you cant really convey that on screen), it doesnt really do much justice to the novel, as the film pretty much transformed this, the most politically sophisticated and philosophically complex novel Tom Clancy had written up till that point, into what seemed to me as a rather dramatisised and contrived plot which concentrated on bringing in Harrison Ford's character "Jack Ryan" who in the book, didnt reall figure prominantly much until about three quarters of the way into the book!! Anyway, on with the book review:

Clear and Present Danger is the fifth novel by Tom Clancy, a renown 'technothriller' author, and the sequel to 'Patriot Games'. Basically the brief plot (without giving away too much of the plot) is that the US government have finally lost their temper with the Columbian druglords, after the assasination of the American Ambassador and the visiting head of the FBI. Light Infantry (basically infantry without all the heavy equipment and weapons) Units are inserted deep into enemy teritory to target specific airfields etc, planes carrying drugs are shot down instead of boarded, and drug dealers caught are interogated, then sent to court in front of a biased jury and judge and given a harsh sentence (i.e. death). The only catch is that the US government has done this without informing the public. If this were to get out into the open, they would get in deep ****.......Inevitably things go badly wrong!

It is a surprisingly successful cautionary tale. Using force against the drug lords might be a good idea, especially since nothing else seems to work, but as Clancy shows when the government tries to do it secretly and without popular support it is sure to backfire badly. Possibly the best novel Clancy had written since the internationally acclaimed 'Hunt for Red October' (incidentally also a huge box office smash), his writing is astoundingly indepth. While it is obvious that he has brushed up on his technical know how (he is, as always, mind numbingly obsessed with describing all the Armed Forces weapons), he has also stepped into new terrain by showing the vaguaries of politics when conflicted with human morals.

All is not well in this book though. While i read fast it took an inordinate amount of time to finish this book. Not so much because its that long (only about 800 pages) but because the plot moved so slowly at times, that I just couldnt be bothered to carry on for a while. It seems to me that while Tom Clancy has tried his best to create a realistic world, his narrative style has led to a distinctive stop-start style, which is, frankly, annoying at times. I suppose it would be doing him an injustice to say that this doesnt have its advantages. The fast (relatively speaking) pace of the action scenes contrasts well with the slower paced action in Washington, highlighting perhaps the way in which polititians, and generally other people who are not on the field, do not seem to feel the same urgency to act as soldiers - presumably because they aren't in the immediate danger of being shot :p

Having said this, the plot while slow to build up, reaches an impressive climax in the last 100-odd pages which captures well, the emotions of all characters concerned. Which brings me onto the next topic, characters. The main characters are:

Staff Sergeant Domingo 'Ding' Chavez: The action is pretty much always centred around him. A lightfighter, he takes pride in his ability to move in enemy teritory without being spotted or heard. He is the 'pointman' in the insertion team which the story is mainly about, meaning he is basically the scout. His favourite phrase seems to be "Ninja's own the night", a saying he picked up from his last posting in the army...while mildly amusing at first, after the 20th time, it starts getting a little annoying!

Staff Sergeant Julio Vega: Another member of the team that Tom Clancy focuses on. the machine gunner. Favourite phrase: "F***ing A!!!". unfortunately this catches on and the entire team says this over and over again........

Captain Ramerez: leader of the team, performs a pretty significant action late in the plot.

Ernesto Escobedo: Main leader of the Columbian Drug Lords. Basically anything that happens is authorised by him

Felix Cortez: The main bad guy in the book. A trained KGB spy, now working for Escobedo for obscene amounts of money. Very smart, and manipulative. While he is the bad guy, he does have morales. Its interesting to see his profesionalism overpower these emotions.

Jack Ryan: Eventually important in the plot. cant really say why without ruining it though!!

Red Wegener: Search and Rescue boat captain. He starts off the chain of events that leads onto the main plot

Obviously there are others, but the ones above are the REALLY important characters.

So, (you awake still?? good good) what do i really think of this book? Well, the plot is gripping after a while, although it does take a while in order to get interested. He raises a number of interesting issues in the book, but as with so many of his other books, the dialogue is suprisingly flat, and the characters are pretty much two dimensional machines (their backgrounds are extensively covered, and yet they have little shows of emotion, and are almost too perfect. ok i know this is a story, and they are soldiers, but still!!). Its quite ironic that Tom Clancy has produced yet another ponderous thriller, and although the last 100 pages are quite fast paced, realistically, the rest of the book is slow moving.

Ok, i may be putting this book down a little bit, but it is a good read on a rainy day. having said that, its summer, so i dont suppose itll rain any time soon :p