Tom Clancy (1947-2013)

Sad to hear of the death of Tom Clancy (1947-2013). He died last night in hospital - 1 October 2013 aged just 66.

More from the Huffington Post here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/02/tom-clancy-dead_n_4029876.html

The Hunt for Red October is the only Clancy novel I've finished, but I own and have read a great many of his books, and The Sum of All Fears is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's a shame I'll never get to meet him some day.

Saddened to hear of this. Red October is the better of the books, indeed that whole early range. There was an element of realism, of it could happen to his books (especially Debt of Honour with a 747 crashing into Capitol Hill killing the government effectively).

RIP.

I have a number of his books but I was wondering if anyone here could recommend some of his best titles - I'm particularly interested in any of his novels with plots to take over the White House and the US Government.

Executive Orders should fit your bill.

Agent007391 wrote:

Executive Orders should fit your bill.

Thank you very much indeed for the recommendation. I don't have that title currently so I shall have to seek it out.

Never read a book of his, but own three flicks based on his work. I enjoy them, even if one or two might have taken a lot of liberties.

RIP

All four films took a lot of liberties. I'm still trying to decide if it was Patriot Games or The Sum of All Fears that took the most, however.

I thought that Patriot Games was a brilliant film, though. I assume it was not much like the novel and that this is what you mean by it taking liberties?

I believe the opening is similar to the novel, but then the rest of it bears no resemblance.

Agent007391 wrote:

I believe the opening is similar to the novel, but then the rest of it bears no resemblance.

Thanks for that. I only saw the film once on TV, and not all of it - I missed the start.

To be honest, I've only seen the film once. I've been meaning to buy it on DVD (along with Red October, as those are the two I don't have), but I've been grabbing other things that I've been more interested in buying.

The Sum of All Fears is still, I feel, the best movie based on a Clancy novel. Plus, the audio commentary is now the only way I have to actually hear Clancy speak, apart, probably, from YouTube videos.

I really enjoyed Clancy's THE SUM OF ALL FEARS - not nearly so keen on the film, although I recall Clancy's audio commentary being quite interesting.

As far as the films go, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER are masterpieces.

Looking forward to JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT.

I'm a little nervous about Pine playing Jack Ryan, but I'll certainly give Shadow Recruit a watch. I hope Clancy got a chance to see a rough cut before his last days.

Agent007391 wrote:

To be honest, I've only seen the film once. I've been meaning to buy it on DVD (along with Red October, as those are the two I don't have), but I've been grabbing other things that I've been more interested in buying.

The Sum of All Fears is still, I feel, the best movie based on a Clancy novel. Plus, the audio commentary is now the only way I have to actually hear Clancy speak, apart, probably, from YouTube videos.

It sounds like I really need to get thoose DVDs too, then. I'm especially interested in hearing Tom Clancy speak about his works on the audio commentary. I wonder if Clancy could have written a Bond continuation novel?

It would have been 800 pages long, had numerous plot threads that don't even try to align until the 3/4 point of the book, would set up future sequels that, considering current Bond continuation author status, would have been left loose because Clancy wouldn't have written the next one.

I see. Not good for Bond then.