I first heard of Tom Clancy in 1990, when a coworker told me about this author who'd become the darling of military specialists (sonar guys on submarines, for example) because his books displayed an in-depth understanding of their work.So I read The Hunt for Red October, which was fairly satisfying, and Red Storm Rising, after which I was pretty much Clancy-ed out for a while.After all, these are fairly hefty books, and with all those pages I'd prefer to see more character development. In The Bear and the Dragon, which I've subsequently heard on audio tape while driving, the characters tend to be mere caricatures or puppets.I think Clancy is a writer who is much improved when others process his stories to enhance the drama and trim out most of the esoterica. For example, to my recollection Red October is at least as good in movie form as in print. Also, the two Harrison Ford movies (Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger) work fine as thrillers. I have no desire to check the originals to see how much other stuff was deleted. The John Ryan character in the books is highly unlikely to have the depth that Ford brings to the role.Anyway, more recently I came into possession of a well-worn copy of The Sum of All Fears, and knowing what I'd likely find, I approached it reluctantly. True to form, the paperback is over 900 pages long, and before getting far into it I knew it could easily have been boiled down to half that. The reader has to accept frequent jumps as the author weaves in a seemingly infinite number of story lines and a vast procession of characters, some of whom never reappear, and trust that eventually coherence will emerge.And, of course, it does. To simplify things drastically, we have (a) disaffected terrorists who are in possession of a nuclear bomb that they plan to use in order to spoil the world’s post-Cold War rush to peace and (b) incompetent politicians and government bureaucrats who are preoccupied with enhancing their careers and ruining the career of John Ryan. If these latter are the good guys, one might almost root for the terrorists. Well, not really, since the ultimate losers would be (or rather, are) thousands of innocent civilians.I didn't identify the perspective that makes the book worthwhile until page 306:"'You know what's the hard part of recognizing the truth?'" Jack asked. 'What’s that?' 'Knowing that something just bit you on the ass.'"By that point in the narrative, the terrorists have already shied away from recognizing the obvious -- that facts prove they have always been wrong and are still on the wrong side of history. And in the pages that follow we see the same willful blindness on the part of numerous highly placed people in Washington. After the terrorists do their work, creating a nightmare of confusion that foreshadows the real events of 9/11, panic-striken officials continue to act on the basis of poorly thought-out assumptions. In other words, the real story is about the drive people have to find fault with others and their resistance to consider the possibility of being wrong themselves. Ryan spells this out for a neophyte on page 452: "'I am not always right. I make mistakes. But I am smart enough to know that, and because I'm that smart, I look for people with opposing views to backstop me. That's a good habit to get into. ... If you can prove to me that you are no more a prisoner of your views than I try to be of mine, then you have a future here. Objectivity isn't easy. You have to exercise it.'"Clancy redeems himself at such points, but this story has the same flaws as the others. It's far from being great fiction. (Particularly bad is the part where Ryan's wife suspects him of infidelity and then has a cat fight with the hussy who'd made her doubt her man.) However, in the years since this was written, the human failing demonstrated here has become far more obvious to me in America's increasingly polarized society. It's much more satisfying for us to demonize the other side (i.e., whichever political party we happen to hate) than to consider the admittedly slim possibility that we might be going off half-cocked.
Segala-galanya bermula dengan satu peristiwa yang tidak dijangka dengan penemuan sebuah senjata nuklear yang tertimbus di dalam tanah pertanian milik seorang petani tua di Syria. Senjata itu merupakan sebuah bom nuklear milik Israel ketika Perang Arab-Israel 1973. Penemuan tersebut menyebabkan sebuah kumpulan pengganas Arab merancang untuk menggunakan senjata tersebut untuk menyerang Amerika Syarikat!The Sum of All Fears merupakan novel ke-5 di dalam siri novel yang menampilkan Jack Ryan sebagai watak utama (juga dikenali sebagai Ryanverse). Di dalam novel kali ini,ditampilkan beberapa elemen baharu yang tidak terdapat di dalam novel-novel yang sebelumnya. Pada hemat saya,elemen-elemen ini merupakan daya penarik utama novel ini. Terdapat dua elemen yang didapati iaitu:a) Konflik antara watak-watak - Pada novel kali ini,penekanan diberikan kepada konflik hubungan antara Jack Ryan dan isterinya,Cathy Ryan. Selain itu,konflik antara Jack Ryan dan Elizabeth Elliot,Penasihat Keselamatan Kebangsaan kepada Presiden Amerika Syarikat,juga diketengahkan dan diperhalusi serta diangkat pada tahap yang baharu. Konflik ini sebenarnya sudah bermula sejak dari novel The Clear and The Present Danger. b) Adegan pertempuran tentera - Sebelum ini,walaupun terdapat babak-babak yang menggambarkan pertempuran antara dua buah tentera,tetapi ia dilakukan pada skala yang kecil. Pada novel kali ini,adegan pertempuran digambarkan agak besar yang melibatkan tentera darat,laut dan udara. Namun,malangnya,kedua-dua aspek di atas tidak diberikan perhatian yang benar-benar memuaskan dan mendalam. Sebaliknya,penulis lebih menumpukan perhatian kepada aspek-aspek teknikal dalam pembuatan bom nuklear. Penjelasan yang begitu teliti oleh penulis kadang-kala membosankan pembacaan saya. Malahan,saya berpendapat,terdapat beberapa situasi di mana penulis,Tom Clancy,boleh melakukan langkauan atau 'skip' untuk mengelakkan penjelasan yang terlalu panjang berjela dan membosankan.Akibatnya,saya sedikit berasa kecewa pada novel ini. Malahan,saya terasa seolah-olah penulis agak tergesa-gesa menghabiskan penulisan novel ini. Oleh itu,saya hanya memberikan 3/5 bintang untuk novel ini pada kali ini. Pada asalnya saya ingin hanya memberikan 2 bintang sahaja. Namun,adegan-adegan aksi pada bab-bab akhir berjaya menyakinkan saya untuk menambah satu bintang lagi. Agak malang sebenarnya,kerana novel ini boleh menjadi novel yang lebih baik jika kelemahan yang saya nyatakan di atas diatasi.
What do You think about The Sum Of All Fears (2002)?
This probably has to be the biggest book by Tom Clancy I've read since Rainbow Six. While getting through the first couple of chapters, it was a little hard to follow, but as I read more, it started to make sense. The book was a lot better than the movie starring Ben Affleck, who played Jack Ryan, the movie was decent but the book was better, and also very different from the movie.There were parts in the book that my heart started racing because of the suspense, I literally couldn't put it down. Even though it was lengthy, it was definitely worth reading. Highly recommended to Tom Clancy fans!
—Corey Tardif
The Sum of All Fears Tom Clancy After the discovery of a damaged Israeli nuclear bomb which had gone missing in 1973, Arabs, who got their hands on this weapon of mass destruction, seek the help of a German scientist who helps them replicate the bomb in order for it to be used against the United States, after a treaty which is meant to settle the war against Israel and Arabians displeases them. As the engineering process of the weapon is complete, the Arabs, plan to use the weapon in a Super Bowl game in Denver, where hundreds of thousands of people will be killed, and will start a nuclear war between the United States and Russia, since suspicion always arouses on the largest competitor. Its up to DDCI Jack Ryan to uncover the most threatening terrorist acts of all time, and stop this crisis from occurring, or else, a third world war will begin. The Americans suspect the Russians for this act of terrorism. The Russians deny any involvement in the whole affair, however, the situation calls for immediate inquiry. Jack already has enough on his head, but he must also save his marriage, as well as save himself physically.
—Shawn
This book was very exciting, just like the film, but more. It starts off with a protest gone wrong in Israeli. Palestinians begin to use peaceful protests but a protestor is killed and therefore, U.S. cannot support Israel. But U.S. manages to resolve the situation and create long lasting peace. However,there is a group of Muslim terrorists who are looking at this lasting peace as a failure in their campain for their anger is toward the U.S. They retaliate by detonating a bomb in a stadium located in Colorado. The results are devastating and the plan is thwarted by Jack Ryan who proves with evidence that bomb in fact came from the U.S. I love how the author uses these events and makes it incredibly fast paced. You have to keep up with everything that is going on, with the terrorists and those trying to diffuse the situation. The author uses advanced vocabulary and many characters which is interesting because you can see it from many points of view. I enjoyed this book very much.
—Jhon(Original)
