Estimados lectores, debo reconocer que Tom Clancy [TC] me encanta. El autor de La caza del Octubre Rojo me parece uno de los escritores más verosímiles que existen. Vale que está hiperespecializado en escribir sobre Defensa Nacional, en cualquiera de sus sabores, desde los marines al FBI, pero es que este hombre las clava. Por si alguno de mis lectores no lo sabe, en el año 1994 (remarco la fecha), TC andaba pensando, para su novela Deuda de Honor, en un ataque desaforado contra el gobierno de los EE.UU. Y adivinen qué se le ocurrió. Pues estampar un avión de pasajeros contra el Capitolio, seguido de una ola de propagación por todo el país de un virus de la familia del Ébola. 1994, estimados lectores. Pueden leer esta historia repartida entre Deuda de honor y Órdenes ejecutivas, dos de sus mejores novelas (mucho mejor la segunda). De hecho, se ha sugerido que Osama y los demás leyeron sus planes de ataque en los libros de TC. TC es un hombre que se pone a pensar y le salen ideas plausibles, realistas y verosímiles, no como a la mentecata de Matilde Asensi. Por eso tras los ataques del 11-S le llamaron al Pentágono para que diera ideas de por dónde podrían seguir atacando los terroristas.En este libro, que es la primera parte de una serie de dos (el segundo se llamará The brain of the tiger, el cerebro del tigre), TC vuelve a reflexionar acerca de cómo podrían los terroristas islámicos volver a atentar contra los EE.UU. Y cuenta una historia muy detallada sobre el paso de doce terroristas por el coladero de la frontera mexicana, cómo se reparten y cómo llevana a cabo los atentados. Simultáneamente, narra, a mi parecer con gran acierto, la vida de un agente de inteligencia, (el hijo de Jack Ryan), que se dedica a localizar terroristas internacionales a base de estudiar el sistema bancario y las transferencias de dinero.Al final de cada libro de TC está previsto que el lector se ponga en pie y entone Barras y Estrellas con una mano en el pecho, de eso no cabe duda. TC es muy, muy patriota. Si hacemos caso omiso a las opiniones personales que ocasionalmente mete en el texto, queda un libro excepcional. Si no omitimos los comentarios, queda un libro excepcional y republicano (republicano de los USA). En cualquier caso, mi nota es : Excepcional.
When a group of terrorists carry out a brutal terrorist attacks on mainstreet America, three rookie operatives of a secret organization established off the books by former President Jack Ryan are set on the trail of the men who organized the attack. While two of them, the Caruso brothers, are trained killers (an FBI agent and a marine), the other, Jack Ryan Jr, is nothing but an analyst. As the scope of the conspiracy becomes clear, however, all three men realize that nothing they have been through up until now has prepared them for the reality of the new world order… and that their lives are about to become far more dangerous. A follow-up to Tom Clancy’s beloved Jack Ryan series, this first book follows three members of Ryan’s family – his two nephews, Dominic and Brian Caruso, and his son, Jack Ryan Jr – as they become involved in a black ops organization that Ryan set up just before leaving office. Although Ryan himself does not appear, he is omnipresent throughout the book, his own actions leading directly to the situation the three younger men find themselves in. Clancy spends as much time as usual on technical description of the world of espionage, and he creates a very realistic situation here for his characters to encounter – an alliance between Columbian drug cartels and Muslim terrorists, leading to an attack on a series of malls. Clancy’s conservative politics and pro-espionage stance are once again obvious here, a fact that sometimes detracts from the likeability of his main characters. While there seems to be an effort to show both sides of the story, the Caruso brothers especially seem to be two-tone cowboy type characters, with a hint of racism and misogynism thrown in. The book moves at a fair pace, however, and the pages turn almost by themselves. I look forward to the follow-ups which bring the original hero of the series back to the forefront. I gave The Teeth of the Tiger 3 stars.
What do You think about The Teeth Of The Tiger (2004)?
Tom Clancy created a tough act to follow with his Jack Ryan series. The end of the cold war and 9/11 reshuffled the deck of threats to the United States and The Teeth of the Tiger attempted to do the same for Clancy. As spy thrillers go, The Teeth of the Tiger is good. It actually has better pacing and less techno-drag than his late Jack Ryan novels did, coming in at a nearly anorexic 431 pages. The problem is that good is never good enough for Clancy fans and Jack Ryan can never be duplicated. In his place are his son and even more family members. Honestly, Jack Ryan, Jr. could have been any young recruit and probably should have. Besides, is it at all believable that the son of a President could ever go anywhere without a herd of paparazzi following behind them? Clancy painted himself into a corner when he made Jack Ryan president. Once that happened, there was nowhere for his character to go other than out to pasture. So Jack Ryan Jr. became a young clone of Jack Ryan allowing Clancy to start over. Unfortunately, lightning really doesn’t strike twice. What we are left with isn’t a bad book or bad characters. The Teeth of the Tiger is actually a pretty good story. But the characters are less interesting because we already know their entire back story, so there is nothing to reveal. It would have been better if Clancy had just started fresh. Instead, this feels like a print of a great painting – it is pretty to look at, but it doesn’t have the depth and texture of the original.
—Chad Sayban
I continue to enjoy Tom Clancy books. This one wasn't particularly fast paced, but it was informative and interesting. The way it was written the story moved along, but for all the "adventure" it wasn't written in a very exciting manner. The characters were true to life, and this was the introduction of Jack Ryan Jr.. Clancy continues to give us an inside look of the clandestine services (CIA, NSA, etc.), and to some extent our federal government. In this book he also gives us an idea of how some terrorist groups interact with one another. I found it very interesting for this day and age.
—Kim
As a long time reader of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series, I avoided reading Teeth of the Tiger for several years because I knew it wouldn’t live up to the original series. Unfortunately, my fears turned out to be totally justified.The original Ryan novels, all of which I gave at least four stars here on goodreads, were some of the most complex and suspenseful books I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. In short, they were the gold standard of the international thriller genre—imitated by many, surpassed by few.Unfortunately, all of what made the original series so excellent--multifaceted plots, exhaustive detail, and intrigue—were, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent in Teeth of the Tiger. The plot was extremely one-dimensional, the pace was agonizing, and there was a distinct lack of any form of exciting conclusion or ultimate event—something at which the Clancy of old was a master. The only saving grace for me was the nostalgia factor. It was fun catching up with familiar characters, though only via conversations between newer characters. The closest we come to Jack Ryan the elder, for example, is knowing he is on the other end of a phone call—wholly unsatisfying, for those of us who craved Ryan books of old.What’s more, the quality of Clancy’s writing has gotten drastically worse. His attempt to capture how young people talk was simply painful. The majority of the dialogue between two of the main characters was horrible, reading both as unrealistic and forced. The same conversations seemed to take place repeatedly, many times using the exact catch phrases and themes over and over again. It seemed like extraordinarily lazy writing, especially for an author of Clancy’s caliber.On the whole, I’d advise any long time Clancy reader to skip this installment. Your time would be better spent reliving some of the moments that made the original Ryan series so great, none of which you’ll find in this novel.
—Paul S
