The Teeth Of The Tiger (Jack Ryan) | Tom Clancy

The Teeth Of The Tiger (Jack Ryan) | Tom Clancy | Could this book be any more cliched

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The Teeth Of The T...

	The Teeth Of The Tiger (Jack Ryan) Tom Clancy Berkley, 2004 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 811 reviews view larger image
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A man named Mohammed sits in a café in Vienna, about to propose a deal to a Colombian. Mohammed has a strong network of agents and sympathizers throughout Europe and the Middle East, and the Colombian has an equally strong drug network throughout America. What if they were to form an alliance, to combine all their assets and connections? The potential for profits would be enormous-and the potential for destruction unimaginable.

In the Brave New World of terrorism-where anybody with a spare AK-47, a knowledge of kitchen chemistry, or simply the will to die can become a player-the old rules no longer apply. No matter what new governmental organizations come into being, the only truly effective ones are those that are quick and agile, free of oversight and restrictions . . . and outside the system.

Way outside the system.

In a nondescript office building in suburban Maryland, the firm Hendley Associates does a profitable business in stocks, bonds, and international currencies, but its true mission is quite different: to identify and locate terrorist threats, and then deal with them, in whatever manner necessary. Established with the knowledge of President John Patrick Ryan, "the Campus" is always on the lookout for promising new talent, its recruiters scattered throughout the armed forces and government agencies-and three men are about to cross its radar.

The first is Dominic Caruso, a rookie FBI agent, barely a year out of Quantico, whose decisive actions resolve a particularly brutal kidnap/murder case. The second is Caruso's brother, Brian, a Marine captain just back from his first combat action in Afghanistan, and already a man to watch. And the third is their cousin . . . a young man named Jack Ryan, Jr.

Jack was raised on intrigue. As his father moved through the ranks of the CIA and then into the White House, Jack received a life course in the world and the way it operates from agents, statesmen, analysts, Secret Service men, and black ops specialists such as John Clark and Ding Chavez. He wants to put it all to work now-but when he knocks on the front door of "the Campus," he finds that nothing has prepared him for what he is about to encounter. For it is indeed a different world out there, and in here . . . and it is about to become far more dangerous.

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4.5 stars

I used to read all of Tom Clancy's books until I got annoyed by the Op-Center series, and bored by Into The Storm: A Study in Command and Every Man a Tiger (Tom Clancy's Commanders Series) (which were interesting, but dry as dust) and quit reading them altogether. Then I found this in the bargain bin, and remembered why I liked his books so much.

And wow. I checked Amazon reviews to refresh my memory (it's been 3 weeks since I read this), and there are 800 reviews with an average of 2 stars. I always gets very curious when I have such a complete difference of opinion, so I read through a few pages of the reviews. The negative ones seem to focus on two things: 1) it's not like real life, and 2) the series has moved on to the next generation. News flash: Tom Clancy books have never been overly realistic. Except probably for the nonfiction. You can pick apart dozens of things from even The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan Novels) that would never happen in real life--that's why it's fun to read. And I applaud long-running series that move on to the next generation. Otherwise, you end up with a hero that never ages, or increasingly improbable scenarios that even I won't swallow.

So, now that I'm satisfied that I didn't miss anything, on with the review.

The Teeth of the Tiger is about an ultra-clandestine government agency set up by then-president Jack Ryan. It's such a new agency that so far, all it's done is make money (it's self-funding, mostly by quasi-legal insider trading) and collect intelligence hacked from the alphabet-soup agencies. And now they're training their first operatives: twin brothers Dominic and Brian Caruso, respectively an FBI agent and a Marine officer.... and Jack Ryan's nephews.

They get a slightly accelerated course when a routine training exercise crosses paths with an actual terrorist operation in a suburban mall.

Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, Jr., a few years younger than his cousins, has used his brains and figured out the existence of the agency, and basically applies for a job.

Interspersed with the training thread and the Jack Jr. thread is the terrorists' plot.

Maybe it's because I've just been in an action mood lately, but while I did notice a few drawbacks: the twins call each other Aldo and Enzo for no good reason, except perhaps as something to trip up readers; Brian dithers for far too long about whether or not he can kill terrorists in cold blood; and there's quite a bit of repetition; they didn't bug me all that much because I loved the story otherwise.

I found the idea of a combination of stock market traders and assassin/spies irresistible. And I loved watching the development of the agency, even--or perhaps especially--the doubts and missteps. It was new, they weren't sure how it would work, but they were willing and eager to try, and that excitement was passed on to this reader, at least.

I also found the three cousins to be fairly reasonably characterized. Even Brian's crisis of conscience made sense with his character, and my irritation with him was mitigated by the fact that his brother was also irritated with him. The twins were youngish and excitement-seeking, which explains some of their less logical decisions, like renting a Porsche instead of taking an anonymous train on their mission in Europe. Jack, Jr. had grown up privileged in the shadow of his larger-than-life father, who he admires, so it's understandable that he has that sense of duty, and yet he wants to make his own mark, and to prove himself.

And, oh, yes, I did have to ignore a bit of political b.s. with which I'd have taken exception if I hadn't expected it. I find Clancy a little naive, politically (no shades of gray), but that works pretty well in an action novel. I think I'll have to see which of his books I've missed in the interim and check them out.

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Could this book be any more cliched

Ugh, this is probably the kind of book that destroys careers. Had this been his first book you never would have heard from Tom Clancy again. It seems that Tom has been reading too many of his old reviews and not those for his last few books. Granted his books still sell well, but that's because people see in his books what they want to see. This one is soooo transparent that it can't cover the weaknesses of the characters and stories.

The idea of involving Jack Ryan, Jr and his twin cousins in murder plots is about a hokey as you can get. Put the boys in a Porche and let them drive it off a cliff a la "Thelma and Louise". Say goodnight Tom!

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