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The Sum of All Fears (Jack Ryan #6)

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 · rating details · 22,454 ratings · 305 reviews

Peace may finally be at hand in the Middle East -- as Jack Ryan lays the groundwork for a plan that could end centuries of conflict. But ruthless terrorists have a final, desperate card to play; with one terrible act, distrust mounts, forces collide, and the floundering U.S. president seems unable to cope with the crisis.

With the world on the verge of nuclear disaster, R

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Paperback, 928 pages

Published May 7th 2002 by Berkley (first published 1991)

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May 07, 2012 Jerome rated it 2 of 5 stars

While this book was not terrible, I found it much worse than other Clancy works. Clancy has always been a bit "long-winded," but I never noticed it quite like in The Sum of All Fears. Clancy's penchant for throwing endless trips to Carol Zimmer's store (and that annoying way he writes her accent), endless football banter between the "SecDef" and others, and other tedious paragraphs (he must have Marvin Russell fantasize about revenge for his brother's death at least 5 times - in nearly the exact...more While this book was not terrible, I found it much worse than other Clancy works. Clancy has always been a bit "long-winded," but I never noticed it quite like in The Sum of All Fears. Clancy's penchant for throwing endless trips to Carol Zimmer's store (and that annoying way he writes her accent), endless football banter between the "SecDef" and others, and other tedious paragraphs (he must have Marvin Russell fantasize about revenge for his brother's death at least 5 times - in nearly the exact same way - throughout the book) contribute extra pages to the book, and in the same way, takes away from pages that could be used to improve the book. This leads to my first complaint about the book.
The ending of The Sum of All Fears does not justify the nearly 800 hardcover pages that lead up to it. At all. It is quick (bang bang bang - and the book is over), and it simply does not do justice to the characters that are woven throughout the story. Furthermore, it is unclear. I don't want to give away anything, out of respect for a reader considering laboring through this enormous book, but when I turned the last page, I left quite unsatisfied. This ties in to my above theory: Clancy wastes so many valuable pages on meaningless tangents and the inclusion of too many details that he leaves himself without enough maneuvering room at the end to bring the book to a satisfying conclusion. Two examples: the whole Ricks USS Maine submarine tangent of the story is barely related to the plot of the book. It is merely thrown in to show us that Clancy knows submarines, I suppose; it wastes pages. Also, while impressive that Clancy did much research about how to build an H-Bomb, unless you are a budding third world terrorist/scientist, you might find yourself simply turning past the endless pages detailing H-Bomb construction.

Next, besides Ryan and maybe Clark, Clancy cannot develop a character. Elliot, the NSA in the book, is a prime example. She hates Ryan, but we never know exactly why, other than she is a petty academic, without the real-world experience of Ryan. Perhaps that is enough, but that is a cliché, and it cheapens the book in that we never really know why the NSA has such a thing against the DDCI.(less)

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Feb 10, 2012 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: popular-culture, murder-thriller, spy-thriller, usa

Tom Clancy likes to write big stories with huge events that involve the whole world. His style of writing is totally based from the mind set or view point of a citizen of the United States of America. This is fine in many ways. He weaves a drama with multiple plot-lines and disparate events with numerous characters.
The central character of the story is Jack Ryan, deputy director of the CIA, and USAs answer to James Bond. Ryan in this book is weary, over worked and mired in the political games o...more

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Nov 23, 2010 Richard Wright rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Oh thank God. Thank God it's over. I picked this up en route to Goa a few weeks ago, and I seem to have been reading it forever. As always, Clancy's world is incredibly detailed and credible, in many ways all the more impressive for its sometime parallels to the world we live in today. As ever, the central plot is great. As ever, there's just too bloody much detail for anybody outside of the military to maintain much interest. The characters are for the most part the same seven or eight core peo...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Shawn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: q42009

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...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a Tom Clancy novel where the movie is better than the book (like The Hunt for Red October). The Sum of All Fears is so crammed full of everything Tom Clancy learned about building a two-stage nuclear weapon and about submarines and submarine warfare that it really detracts from the interesting plot, which could have been pulled together in half or one third of the space. And if you haven't read earlier Clancy books you won't get some of the references to hero Jack Ryan's earlier adventur...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Sejongkhan rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy was a fairly disappointing story. Although it featured a powerful plot and highly realistic scenarios, the heart of the story was lost midway through the book. The story became too enamored in the personal life of the main character, lost its momentum after too many chapters of inaction, and became riddled with too many mature themes to be enjoyable any longer. The story's demise begins as soon as the focus shifts from a moving plot concerning a potential nucle...more The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy was a fairly disappointing story. Although it featured a powerful plot and highly realistic scenarios, the heart of the story was lost midway through the book. The story became too enamored in the personal life of the main character, lost its momentum after too many chapters of inaction, and became riddled with too many mature themes to be enjoyable any longer. The story's demise begins as soon as the focus shifts from a moving plot concerning a potential nuclear holocaust to the story of a hapless CIA worker.
Although this character, Jack Ryan, has been in other novels by Clancy, his personal life is not as emphasized as it is in The Sum of All Fears. Jack plays a leading role in the story, but when the story turns its focus from a gripping plot concerning what could very well be a nuclear war to the life of a man who is slowly falling apart because of his work at the CIA leads the reader to wonder at the sense of the story any longer. Once the reader is caught up in the plot of a world that may soon come to an end, he cannot help but feel betrayed by the story at the point when the reader realizes that the book no longer cares for the fate of the world at this time. Although it is important to acknowledge both a wide view and how that affects a personal view in a story in order that it is more likely to be understood, this story went too far in describing the personal life of the main character that the reader eventually forgot what was happening in the other parts of the plot. This book consisted of nine-hundred pages: at least three hundred of those had absolutely nothing to do with the development of the overall plot.
Eventually, the story had lost its pull on the reader during a period of several chapters that had little to do with the plot at all. This can be partly blamed on the focus on Jack Ryan’s life, which most often did not have anything to do with the plot. At one point, several chapters of the story focused on Jack Ryan being investigated by a private eye for what was suspected to be adultery on Ryan’s part. These chapters did nothing for the story in the long run except to take away from it. Sometimes, the story would become confusing because the story would take on a new plot that would no longer have anything to do with a nuclear war. For instance, a relationship between the president and his national security advisor, Elizabeth Elliot, became the new plot that the book was centered around, thus making the story more of a romance novel than that of a realistic fiction war story. Much of the story is like a puzzle with pieces from other puzzles thrown in that the reader needs to sift through in order to identify the actual plot. It is one thing to build suspense in a story, but putting off a major element in the storytelling in order to tell a different story will lose the author’s audience.
Perhaps the most disappointing part of the story was its shameless portrayal of blatantly adult themes. Much of the audience would understandably be adults, but young adults should not be discounted, especially if those same young adults enjoyed the cleaner stories of the same author. Surely it came as a surprise to most readers when they came across first the language, which could be argued as providing for the atmosphere of the story. But when themes such as adultery and acts of malicious intention are introduced, the story is no longer friendly. It becomes a corruptive force that either draws in the curious or repulses the knowledgeable, thus losing a sizeable audience in the process. Not only was it the inclusion of such things in the story, but the sheer amount of it. Such things that would be considered dishonorable and above all wrong seem to hold the places of recurring themes. These elements were certainly not needed in this story, for they do absolutely nothing to make the book more interesting.
Overall, The Sum of All Fears was quite a disappointment. My expectations from one of my favorite authors of realistic fiction were not even approached by this book. The mature themes, lack of coherency, and focus on irrelevant plots ultimately made this book less than it could have been. Had such things not have been included in the story, not only would the book look less daunting in physical size but it wouldn’t prove to be a moral challenge in a family household. The author, however, has a lot of good works, so for now this story can be interpreted more as an experiment. Hopefully, such reactions as this from readers will provide adequate data that such an indecent story will not be made again.

(less)

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Jun 01, 2011 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: clancy-jack-ryan

Arab terrorists find a nuclear weapon that had been lost by Israel, and use it to attack the United States. Denver is devastated by the nuclear explosion that could have been worse if the terrorist wouldn't have prematurely killed their scientist in an effort to cover their tracks. This nearly triggers a war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, due to the incompetence of the new President and his mistress with an anti-Ryan agenda who blame the Soviet Union. Ryan intervenes and stops a nuclear...more

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Oct 21, 2007 Khairul H. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

I liked this book. However, I cringe every time the bad guys talk to each other. It's just not...real. Clancy loves to describe military hardware but when it comes to writing realistic conversation, he fails. Still, not a bad book.

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Jul 25, 2011 Justin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dear Penthouse Letters:

You'll never believe what happened one day when I was sitting in the library, flipping through the latest copy of "Jane's Guide to Military Technology"--let's just say that my passive sonar went active!

Ping-ping-ping went my heart at the thought of sturdily-designed hardware like the Israeli Merkava tank...the shaft of its 120mm MG253 smoothbore gun, capable of firing APDS as well as HEAT rounds looming over me, making me quiver...I couldn't help but imagine the feel of i...more

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Dec 22, 2008 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll do the same review for all Clancy's novels because they're all pretty much the same. Very long, very detailed, and after a while, very repetitive. If you stop after just a few of his books you'd probably give them 4 or 5 stars, but beyond that they start to grate. Especially where Jack Ryan is involved. I mean, Clancy spends hundreds of pages getting his details just right, the settings perfect etc., then he has Ryan dodging more bullets than James Bond! I finally threw my hands up and surr...more

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Feb 01, 2009 Brett rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: popular-fiction, foreign-relations

You pretty much know what you are getting with this Tom Clancy novel. I had already seen the movie before reading this so I knew that there would be a detonation of a nuclear device on American soil, which did take some suspense out of it, though of course I can't blame Clancy for my having seen the movie.

As usual Clancy seems to have an iron grasp on the technical know-how of weaponry and tactics; that's what makes these things tolerable. However, he has a real tin ear when it comes to dialogu...more

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Dec 11, 2008 John rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: novels

Jack Ryan, plauged by problems both marital and political is immersed once again in an international crisis as a terrorist plants a nuclear bomb in the US and it is blamed on the Soviets.
Tensions are mounting as the National security Advisor, who is part of the plot, tries to undermine Ryan by leaking incrimminating 'evidence' both to the President of the US, and to his wife.
Of course Ryan comes through again with the help of the amazing 'Mr. clark', the dark and shadowy CIA operative and Rya...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Darren Burton rated it 5 of 5 stars

It has been rumored that permission to publish this book had to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and ever since then there is a standing court order that the CIA, FBI, and NSA receive advance copies of every Tom Clancy book a month before it goes to the publisher. Why? Well this book tells you step by step, in layman's language, in exacting detail how you build a hydrogen bomb. About the only thing that is left out is the exact amount of plutonium you would need. This did not sit well wi...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Badiss rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is about a nuclear war going to break out the protagonist of Ryan and his FBI counterpart Dan try to come up with a solution to stop the war from happening. The try to stop the world leaders from joining the war and they try to save the world.

I liked this book overall, it was interesting and had a good story relating to nuclear warfare. This story talked about FBI work force which made it much more interesting. I really did enjoy reading this book.

If i were to rate this book out of fi...more

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Aug 30, 2008 Lance Howell rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think I now know how to make a nuclear bomb...

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Feb 25, 2013 Matthew Woodrow rated it 4 of 5 stars

Do not read Sum of All Fears if you haven't read at least a few of the preceding novels, or if you are expecting it to be like the movie. These novels do stand-alone somewhat, but not a lot of time is spent rehashing the same characters, so if you jump right in you may be lost to the point of frustration.

Also quite a bit of the novel is technical or political, but Clancy brings the pieces together stunningly and the last 300 pages are too gripping to put down.

The only reason this didn't get fiv...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Like most of his work, Clancy's "The Sum of All Fears" starts pretty uneventful. The events have played out pretty much as you would have expected from the end of "Clear and Present Danger" and the new president and his cabinet have settled into their new roles and with Ryan's help are looking towards a more more peaceful future. As you can expect that doesn't go as planned.

The biggest criticism I've seen/heard/read about "The Sum of All Fears" is how long it takes for any real action to takes p...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Hilmi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tom-clancy

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...more 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.(less)

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May 23, 2012 Jess rated it 1 of 5 stars

I finally got interested at about 600 pages - no kidding - for about 75 pages.

This was the worst book I've ever read (there've been some other bad ones, but I had the common sense not to finish them). If I could take stars AWAY from a book, I would. At about 700 pages, it got so tedious that I thought I wouldn't finish; why was I wasting my time? (I had this thought a number of times while plowing through it.) After that, I was saying, 'Oh, come on!' because it became so outrageous. A better ti...more I finally got interested at about 600 pages - no kidding - for about 75 pages.

This was the worst book I've ever read (there've been some other bad ones, but I had the common sense not to finish them). If I could take stars AWAY from a book, I would. At about 700 pages, it got so tedious that I thought I wouldn't finish; why was I wasting my time? (I had this thought a number of times while plowing through it.) After that, I was saying, 'Oh, come on!' because it became so outrageous. A better title would have been 'The Sum of All Ridiculousness'.

A convoluted plot with numerous sub-plots that I just knew would come to a logical conclusion, instead came together in a contrived conclusion. and some didn't come together at all. There were sub-plots about Ryan, his wife, Caroline, who was called Cathy (don't ask me why) & Dr. Ryan (as was Jack/Ryan/Dr. Ryan). Another sub-plot included President Fowler (Bob/Robert) & Elizabeth/Liz/Dr. Elliot. There were high & low level Arabs & Russians, German military & civilians, the U.S. Navy (submarine & destroyer officers & enlisted), Air Force (pilots & Pentagon personnel, Israelis & White House staff. Oh, & the Japanese. They had a small part too. and the Mexicans. Have I missed anyone? Chinese? No, I don't think there were any mentioned.

The sub-plots were confusing, but Clancy didn't think the story was complicated enough, so he spiced it up by referring to people, at various times, by their first names, last names, full names, nicknames, titles(multiple, & sometimes just their informal roles), middle names, terms of endearment & the reader was supposed to remember who he was talking about. Russian names? Forgetaboutit! I soon lost interest in keeping up with them (not just the Russians).

Several hundred pages, I'm sure, were spent describing the inner workings & ingredients of bombs, submarines, aircraft, facilities for making them & other dull stuff. Who cares? Dozens of pages were spent describing football plays & players, which were background for the bombing, but really, dozens? An entire chapter was devoted to describing the inner workings of a bomb which fizzled.

Goodley/Benjamin/Ben/Dr. Goodley was sent in by Dr. Elliot/Liz/Elizabeth to spy on & sabotage Jack/Ryan/Dr. Ryan, then suddenly became his ally. What was with that?

'Why did she finish this book at all?' you ask. At first I thought it would get better (not), then I felt I'd invested so much time in it I might as well finish, then I wanted to finish it so I'd have good cause for writing this scathing review.

Tom Clancy is a pompous know-it-all (language cleaned up). I won't be reading another of his books.

The almost five months spent reading this garbage were not entirely wasted. I read almost 30 other books concurrently with this one, most of which I enjoyed. I'm not exaggerating. I keep track of them on Goodreads.(less)

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Mar 22, 2011 Brett rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is full of action, from start to finish. It is also an interesting look at how American politics might work. The big takeaway, I think, is that you don't have to be a powerful nation to build a hydrogen bomb, and it wouldn't be that difficult to get such a bomb across our borders.

Although I don't foresee complete disarmament of the worlds nukes any time soon, the idea that these devices should not exist, even in the hands of world leaders, is compelling. How can even the President of t...more

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Aug 29, 2008 Stephen Gallup rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 Be...more

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Apr 25, 2008 Silvana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: military-espionage, used-to-own

Sorry, Mr.Clancy, you know I love your books, but not this one. Well, at least this book does not deserve a usual 9 or 10 out 10. A 7 would suffice.

The story is actually interesting. A nuke dropped by an Israeli fighter during the Yom Kippur War - it didn't explode obviously - was found by a Syrian farmer in his land almost twenty years later. Terrorists from three corners of the world (Palestine, Baader-Meinhof, Indian-American), all with vengeance in their hearts, united to establish the ultim...more Sorry, Mr.Clancy, you know I love your books, but not this one. Well, at least this book does not deserve a usual 9 or 10 out 10. A 7 would suffice.

The story is actually interesting. A nuke dropped by an Israeli fighter during the Yom Kippur War - it didn't explode obviously - was found by a Syrian farmer in his land almost twenty years later. Terrorists from three corners of the world (Palestine, Baader-Meinhof, Indian-American), all with vengeance in their hearts, united to establish the ultimate plan using the nuke to create havoc where the Satan (the US) will suffer the most loss.

Meanwhile, Clancy's poster-boy, Jack Ryan, who was the Deputy Director of CIA, came up with a plan to reach the long-sought peace in the Middle East. Despite its over-the-top, wishful-thinking nature, the plan turned out to be a success. Yes, ladies and gents, this only happens in fiction. In the real world, there has to be an Armageddon, or some meteor hitting the earth or something.

Back to the story, those United Terrorists were so pissed with Russia who succumbed to the peace plan. So, they decided to detonate the nuke in US soil, near football stadium during the Superbowl, and put the blame on Russia.

As usual, political and military conflicts became the menu served by Clancy. For some reasons, I did not really enjoy them. The political intrigues only evolved around the incompetency of the state officials, notably the President, the NSA, and the DCI himself. Pfff.

For the military side, it was not as exciting as in the other Clancy works, like The Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising and The Bear and the Dragon. I want more Bart Mancuso! Him being a boomer squadron commander was a bore. However, I did manage to find out some new knowledge on submarine warfare. A submarine can evade a US Mark 50 torpedo because it can use the waves and water surface as a decoy due to their similar nature of water and air border, which would finally cause the torpedo heading to the wrong way, leaping out of the water like a salmon and finally detonate by itself. Cool, huh?

This novel has another interesting thing, that could serve as its strength or its weakness. Ryan, was a man after all. He's not perfect, he could be a jerk who put his job above all else, including his family. He also showed vulnerabilities in crisis. However, of course, he's the one who took all the initiatives, who thought all the solutions and who saved the world. Gosh, so typical. Too much, it annoyed me far beyond other Ryan-verse novels. He could be the next Captain America for all I know. Well, trying to objective, his vulnerable parts might be aimed to balance this superhero status.

Did I mention that this book is way different from the movie, starring by Morgan Freeman and Ben Affleck? Almost no similarity.

To continue my bitching here, the details of the nuke device and its making were so boring. The tritium and shits, they're cool but my simple mind just could not handle them. I'd prefer to read the explanation in Forsyth's The Fourth Protocol.

Speaking about the nuke, yeah it's so friggin' scary right, imagining the terrorist have such a weapon. But now, the states are also frightful. Everybody seems to have it nowadays. The nuclear proliferation agreements, like the NPT, CTBT, etc all just, sorry to say, bulls. Look at the current nuke states. Iran, North Korea, the US, France, India, Pakistan, who could guarantee the 'safety' of their nukes? Except for the Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) concept, I mean. Nuclear is not an instrument of peace. It was created to destroy, to annihilate. Screw all the justifications. Humans, with all their frailties, can not be trusted.

The Manhattan Project of the World War II still represent the most remarkable congregation of scientific talent in human history, never equaled and perhaps never will. Let us all pray to the almighty Lord that Hiroshima and Chernobyl would not repeat themselves, just like history often does.(less)

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May 04, 2008 Jhon(Original) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: advisorybookshelf

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 locat...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Adellet rated it 1 of 5 stars

Oh my god i couldn't finish it, sorry but it made me cringe so much in such a short space of time that i had no choice. Tom Clancy made his characters so repulsive that i couldn't even concentrate on the plot. All the men were arrogant, chauvinistic assholes and all the women (even those in powerful positions) were worth nothing but a good lay. I'm not a vocal feminist or anything but this was seriously a joke. Clancy is nothing but a pig, i won't touch anything he's written ever again.

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Jul 12, 2011 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 03, 2011 Terry Koressel rated it 3 of 5 stars

The last third of the book was vintage Clancy....a compelling, exciting mix of 8 to 10 plot threads all converging into a shared climax. It was on par with Red Storm Rising and The Hunt for Red October in my opinion. However, the character and plot development in the first part of the book was uncharacteristically long and slow in my opinion. It was tough to stay involved at points. So I would not give this book my normally high overall rating for a Clancy novel. But...I still enjoyed the book....more

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Feb 18, 2013 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just re-read this book (about 15 or so years after reading it the first time), and I need to warn those who are thinking of reading it or who have just begun: stick with it through all the different story lines! Make notes if you have to, but Clancy doesn't tell you something that isn't going to come into play in the story later. Also, it may seem to go slowly for the first half of the book (which is a big book, admittedly), the second half of the book is nearly continual action and drama.

Basi...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Bksgal51 rated it 5 of 5 stars

It has been a long time since I have read any of Tom Clancy's books...too long. In 'The Sum of All Fears,' Clancy employs his usual writing style to keep the reader focused on the many different scenarios--switching from one to the others as he weaves his tale, culminating in the coming together of all aspects and the climax is mind boggling and seems so possible to have this happen to us again. It is a real 'page turner' and I couldn't put it down til I finished.
Excellent read!

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Nov 20, 2012 Justin Finkelstein rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good character set-up and portrayal (I didn't feel I needed to have read any previous Jack Ryan series book to fully appreciate this one); good story, quite plausible. I found it quite long, though and think it could easily have removed 100-300 pages by reducing some unnecessary stuff. Loose ends weren't tied up, so finishing the book raised a few questions.

Overall, pretty good and (IMHO) much better than The Hunt for Red October.

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Feb 23, 2012 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am working my way through the entire Jack Ryan series by Clancy. This one wasn't as good as the others. Probably for two reasons. I stopped halfway through to take a different book on vacation. And I got bogged down in the minutia of building an nuclear bomb. Sometimes he can go into way too much detail. But as always, I loved the characters and action and background. And it is fun to see characters from prior books pop up.

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About Tom Clancy

From www.loc.gov: Best-selling author Tom Clancy was an English major at Baltimore’s Loyola College and he had a dream of writing a novel. As a Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history, his dream came true with his first effort, The Hunt for Red October (1984). He has since written more than a dozen novels, which have a blend of realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and r...more

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The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan, #3)

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The Sum of All Fears (Jack Ryan #6)

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