Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've always enjoyed Clancy novels, but the whole Jack Ryan-as-President thing is getting old. And how many times is Mr. Clark going to save the world? How many times do I need to hear that Jack Ryan hates being President (it was great the first hundred times, but I really don't need to be reminded every other page - I get the picture now move on!) There are also several anti-Clinton side-references in the book, making subtle condemnations of some of the more outrageous Clinton escipades. But in Clancy's world there never was a President Bill Clinton, so his obvious references really corrupt the plot. You know what the author is trying to say, but a fiction-novel is not the format for a manufactured political diatribe. Usually I'm amazed by the subtle way Clancy brings all the sub-plots together, but in this book everything feels contrived. It's painfully easy to figure out what's going to happen next, and one of the better sub-plots in the book just fizzles out in the end. The chilling tension that is the hallmark of a Clancy novel just isn't there. The characters felt contrived as well; cookie-cutter. Sometimes I felt like Clancy was preaching (at one point quite literally)through the mouths of his characters. Overall, The Bear and the Dragon was a great disappointment. Any serious Clancy reader knows about the "Clancy Experience" - the nail-biting tension, the total immersion in his world, that keeps you reading until beyond 3am. I've read through the night many times with a Clancy novel in hand. Sadly, The Bear and the Dragon didn't capture me at all. I found myself wanting to skip to the end just to be done with it, but I plodded through because I owe Clancy that. I hope the next one will be better because Tom Clancy is a great writer, and it pains me deeply not to recommend this book.