Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
5th out of 19 books
—
69 voters
Clear and Present Danger (Jack Ryan #5)
by
Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy, the all-time master of the techno-thriller, is back with his newest, most controversial bestseller. Its theme: America's war on drugs. Its subject: The assassination of three American officials in Columbia ... and the covert --- and shocking --- U.S. response. Its title: CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
Paperback, 688 pages
Published
July 1st 1990
by Berkley
(first published 1989)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
4.0 to 4.5 stars. Excellent Tom Clancy novel in which Jack Ryan and the Mr. Clark take on the Columbian drug cartels. This was a terrific read from beginning to end and confirmed by opinion of Tom Clancy as a master of the political thriller.
This is the last Tom Clancy novel I absolutely loved. With this one, I felt like he was at peak performance, generating a focused, plausible storyline that could stand on its own, rather than just being an installment in an increasingly outlandish saga. Clear and Present Danger is a grand techno-thriller, and a fine outing for Jack Ryan, Clancy’s all-American CIA analyst turned reluctant field operative. The story is lengthy, but moves at a brisk pace. There are a great mix of supporting charact...more
One of Clancy's best.
The story follows the exploits of a secret cadre of soldiers trained & sent out to fight the war on drugs in enemy territory(eg. to the cocaine processing plants in South America); they treat it like an active war, as the president has declared the drug growers/smugglers.etc. to be a "clear & present danger" thus making them a legal target for the USA's military.
You'll recognize some of the main characters from other Clancy novels, especially Bing(Chav), a dedicated...more
The story follows the exploits of a secret cadre of soldiers trained & sent out to fight the war on drugs in enemy territory(eg. to the cocaine processing plants in South America); they treat it like an active war, as the president has declared the drug growers/smugglers.etc. to be a "clear & present danger" thus making them a legal target for the USA's military.
You'll recognize some of the main characters from other Clancy novels, especially Bing(Chav), a dedicated...more
The book begins like modern headlines and top stories in the news: a Coast Guard boat discovers several dead bodies on a drifting boat out at sea ... piecing together the scenes ... the Captain and his crew understand the grisly details which became all too clear. Before the discovery, they announce their intention to board the boat, only to find two Columbians who speak little and look guilty as sin. The Captain and crew have the presence of mind to record on film permanently what the encounter...more
This book written by Tom Clancy is a realistic fictional tail about America dealing with the drug cartels in Columbia. Some major characters in this story are Felix Cortez a former Cuban DGI spy who is working for the Cartels, Jack Ryan a military annalist who attains a promotion, and "Ding" Chavez a soldier who is sent in with a special forces team from America to locate Cartel air flights so that they can be shot down and cause general havoc to their enemies.
At first the battle with the Cartel...more
At first the battle with the Cartel...more
Buku ini menceritakan tentang balas dendam presiden amerika serikat atas kematian senator yang merupakan sahabat karibnya dan dibunuh oleh kartel narkoba di amerika latin. Untuk menutupi aksi balas dendamnya presiden mendeklarasikan perang terbuka dengan kartel narkoba tersebut.
Jack Ryan seorang analis CIA yang idealis, terjebak kedalam persaingan dalam merebut kekuasaan di CIA dan dia juga harus berhadapan dengan kartel narkoba termasuk berhadapan dengan presiden amerika serikat.
Tom Clancy memb...more
Jack Ryan seorang analis CIA yang idealis, terjebak kedalam persaingan dalam merebut kekuasaan di CIA dan dia juga harus berhadapan dengan kartel narkoba termasuk berhadapan dengan presiden amerika serikat.
Tom Clancy memb...more
I wanted to really like this book because I've heard such good things about it. Also, I like action and military stories, etc. So I went in very excited. But, I got a bit more than 200 pages into it when I just had to stop. I probably could have made it, had it not been for the massive amounts of swear words; specifically F-words. I really, REALLY hate swearing. Maybe it's the father in me, or the saint lurking somewhere within, but it just grates on me. I used to work in a factory making styrof...more
2 likes · like · see review
I was big into Tom Clancy's novels in junior high, and after reading Killing Pablo thought it would be fun to revisit one of my favorites. The film is as great as the book, but the basic story is the President and his men, fed up with the abuse of drug cartels and an election around the corner, decide to take the fight to Colombia without the authorization of Congress.
Clear and Present Danger was just as great as I remember it, although I'm guessing I missed half of what was going on when I rea...more
Clear and Present Danger was just as great as I remember it, although I'm guessing I missed half of what was going on when I rea...more
Clear and Present Danger is Clancy's fourth novel about CIA agent Jack Ryan. The book deals with a covert government operation sending a hand-picked and highly-trained group of soldiers into the hills of Colombia to fight a secret war on a ruthless drug dealer. Unbeknownst to Ryan, an enemy agent has compromised a CIA contact and is maneuvering to take down the leader of the drug cartel so that he can become its new leader.
In the meantime, Jack must figure out how to save the soldiers after the...more
In the meantime, Jack must figure out how to save the soldiers after the...more
this is the second Tom Clancy book I read this year. as previously mentioned, I typically don't consume popular literature. but perhaps I've learned something important about my reading habits this year.
The Clancy books are very easy to read -- and I mean that in a charitable way, not in a belittling way. I finished Of Mice and Men and literally went a month without feeling the urge to pick up a book. enter Tom Clancy. tore through it in a couple of weeks.
the description is rather vivid and rat...more
The Clancy books are very easy to read -- and I mean that in a charitable way, not in a belittling way. I finished Of Mice and Men and literally went a month without feeling the urge to pick up a book. enter Tom Clancy. tore through it in a couple of weeks.
the description is rather vivid and rat...more
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was my first time reading a Tom Clancy book. I can understand what others have said about his over-detailed style, but I didn't feel that it slowed the story down much. The first half was full of details that I thought might not have been completely necessary, but by the end it was fairly obvious that the author was just laying out all the pieces to the puzzle before he put them all together. The second half of the book definitely flowed better, and it became...more
This one was a little tough to get through. It followed the film (or vice-versa) very closely, so it was somewhat taxing since I'd seen the movie first. There were times when this book was tons of fun; easy to read, entertaining, engaging, and very Clancy-ish. However, there were many other times when I was just trying to get to the next chapter. The end sequences were a treat to read, but, as is the case with most of the early Jack Ryan novels, Jack is in barely 35-40% of this story. As I'm ent...more
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
1 like · like · see review
May 05, 2009
Robert Reinke
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who plays the Tom Clancy's video games
I loved this book. It related to what I used to want to do for a career in the military. The main characters are the same as a few of the video games I play. I like the idea of that. It was unlike the other Tom Clancy books I have read in the past. Red Storm Rising was "out there". This one was more straight to the point and related to realistic tactics with espionage/military activities.
I think the author wanted to make a point about the drug industry. Which, I believe he did an amazing job of...more
I think the author wanted to make a point about the drug industry. Which, I believe he did an amazing job of...more
Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy is truly a book that will keep you reading throughout the story, whether your interest is piqued by the seemingly unending question, "what will happen to Chavez?" or whether you wondered if Jack Ryan was going to learn of the plan, and what he was going to do about it, or if you wanted to see just how all of the story would finally collide, and what part would come out on top when it did. No matter what kept your interest, all should agree, Clancy is the ma...more
Around the time this was a newly released book, I had read other Tom Clancy novels and had enjoyed them, however I do not believe I read this one. Decades later I have a better understanding of the technology, jargon, etc. than I did at that time which gives me a different appreciation towards this book.
This book is about the war on drugs and a fictional way Clancy's characters handled it during an election year. This is not the first book with Jack Ryan as a character, however it could be read...more
This book is about the war on drugs and a fictional way Clancy's characters handled it during an election year. This is not the first book with Jack Ryan as a character, however it could be read...more
I've always wondered what the CIA actually does. This book tells a story of a CIA operation that started out as an attack on the huge drug cartel in Colombia. But as an agent working for the cartel figures out what is happening, things go downhill. The cartel's man decides to use the attack to his advantage use it to take over the cartel. The only problem is that this involves killing the U.S. soldiers stationed in the country. He makes a deal with an unloyal CIA man that allows him to do just t...more
Jack Ryan, now in the administration of the CIA, uncovers a plot by the President of the US to send covert operations into Columbia to destroy the drug cartels.
But the presidents mission is changed in the middle because of political pressure and the troops he sent are left to die in the jungle.
Jack, along with the missions leader (and one of Clancy's best characters), Mr. Clark, have to track down the reason for the deaths of American soldiers, and at the same time finish the destruction of t...more
But the presidents mission is changed in the middle because of political pressure and the troops he sent are left to die in the jungle.
Jack, along with the missions leader (and one of Clancy's best characters), Mr. Clark, have to track down the reason for the deaths of American soldiers, and at the same time finish the destruction of t...more
This has to be among the Clancy classics. I recommend this to any military or political buff. Clancy definitely rocks the house with this one.
Dec 22, 2012
Nick
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2009-challenge,
read-but-unowned
Clear and Present Danger details a covert military special-ops mission with the goal of "impacting" the South American Drug trade. In true Clancy fashion, the technical details of the military technology, weapons and aircraft are brilliant, but do start to go stale after the first several hundred pages. The story starts out as quite a page turner and spends quite a bit of time with some of my favorite Clancy characters: Clark and Chavez. I am ambivalent to Jack Ryan, take him or leave him, love...more
Jan 07, 2009
Brett
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
popular-fiction,
foreign-relations
I read the first few of this series when I was in high school and thought I might return to it for some more mindless entertainment. Unfortunately, I forgot how mindless it really is.
Clancy's reputation, as the blurb on any of his novels will tell you, is for writing "techno-thrillers". I guess it's true that there is a degree of military technology that he seems to have a good handle on, but the man really can't write a pleasing sentence to save his life, his characters don't have depth, and hi...more
Clancy's reputation, as the blurb on any of his novels will tell you, is for writing "techno-thrillers". I guess it's true that there is a degree of military technology that he seems to have a good handle on, but the man really can't write a pleasing sentence to save his life, his characters don't have depth, and hi...more
Tom Clancy never disappoints. I have decided to go back and go through the Jack Ryan series in the Chronological order of the story's events, rather than the order they were released and it is like I am getting to know an old friend all over again.
When Columbian Drug Lords assassinate the director of the FBI on the street of Bogota,the CIA and the president (without the knowledge of Acting CIA Intelligence Chief Ryan) decide to take extraordinary action.
Chavez, Ryan and Clark take center stage...more
When Columbian Drug Lords assassinate the director of the FBI on the street of Bogota,the CIA and the president (without the knowledge of Acting CIA Intelligence Chief Ryan) decide to take extraordinary action.
Chavez, Ryan and Clark take center stage...more
2 likes · like · see review
This is the book that really put me off Clancy. It's where I realized that his books could be cut by a third of their length, and the story would not be affected in the least. Clancy spends too much of his time focusing on the technology of the soldiers, and that bogs down the reader, and doesn't lend itself to character development. Also, it saddens me that editors these days don't have the balls to tell a bestsellling author that they need to trim their books and cut out the all the extraneous...more
Another great one in the Jack Ryan series. My only qualm with this one is the excessive profanity. While the rest of the books I've read by Tom Clancy have included bad language, this one is absolutely filled with it (because of the military aspect, I assume?), so much so that I even found myself swearing (at least in my head) a time or two. I don't consider that a good thing. I really prefer to be uplifted by a book. That being said, I really enjoyed the varied storylines in this book and how t...more
At 700 pages, it took me almost a month to get through this one. It was worth it. Clancy breaks the chapters down into segments of various sizes. This is a very nice way to read a novel. You can bite off as many segments as you have the time or motivation for.
This was my first Tom Clancy book and quickly it became clear that he really knows the military and military technology. This book was published exactly 20 years ago. So all of the tech mentioned is now 20 years old, with much newer stuff...more
This was my first Tom Clancy book and quickly it became clear that he really knows the military and military technology. This book was published exactly 20 years ago. So all of the tech mentioned is now 20 years old, with much newer stuff...more
Meh, I don't get all the fuss about Clancy.
The story is spectacularly researched, but all the tech talk gets in the way of developing real characters and building true tension. Combine that with way too many characters to keep straight (much less care about) and you've got a messy, meandering plot that drags from the Gulf of Mexico to Washington DC, to Brussels, Panama, and the mountains Columbia.
Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting story, but I had to force myself to finish it. I just didn't...more
The story is spectacularly researched, but all the tech talk gets in the way of developing real characters and building true tension. Combine that with way too many characters to keep straight (much less care about) and you've got a messy, meandering plot that drags from the Gulf of Mexico to Washington DC, to Brussels, Panama, and the mountains Columbia.
Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting story, but I had to force myself to finish it. I just didn't...more
My first audio book, and it is abridged so i cant help but think there was something missing from the other Clancy works ive read. The action sequences seemed a bit clipped and overall it sounded more like a movie screenplay than a book. On the up side the entire story appears to have been told in just 3 CDs so there is not nearly the same amount of content. But a story of a new stealth bomb being used by a covert light infantry squad sent in to enemy territory while political stuff happens back...more
Reviewed by Jared:
Overall a pretty good book. The one downside to it all is the length of the novel, weighing in at nearly 700 pages. I can't say that it was fluff either, the book was absolutely dense with plot development. Having not seen the movie, I don't know what was (MUST HAVE) been cut out to bring the movie in under 4 hours. But it seems one or two of the outer storylines could've been cut, dropping about 5-10 characters (or making some of the infantrymen sub-characters) and this would'...more
Overall a pretty good book. The one downside to it all is the length of the novel, weighing in at nearly 700 pages. I can't say that it was fluff either, the book was absolutely dense with plot development. Having not seen the movie, I don't know what was (MUST HAVE) been cut out to bring the movie in under 4 hours. But it seems one or two of the outer storylines could've been cut, dropping about 5-10 characters (or making some of the infantrymen sub-characters) and this would'...more
Overall a pretty good book. The one downside to it all is the length of the novel, weighing in at nearly 700 pages. I can't say that it was fluff either, the book was absolutely dense with plot development. Having not seen the movie, I don't know what was (MUST HAVE) been cut out to bring the movie in under 4 hours. But it seems one or two of the outer storylines could've been cut, dropping about 5-10 characters (or making some of the infantrymen sub-characters) and this would've easily garnered...more
Mar 19, 2013
Eddy Allen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-and-westerns
At the end of the prologue to Clear and Present Danger, Clancy writes, "And so began something that had not quite begun and would not soon end, with many people in many places moving off in directions and on missions which they all mistakenly thought they understood. That was just as well. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected, illusory finish lines were things fated by the decisions made this morning--and, once decided, best unseen." In Clear and Present Danger n...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| If you coulld be any literary character who would it be and why? | 2 | 14 | Dec 16, 2012 07:21pm |
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
More about Tom Clancy...
Share This Book
4 trivia questions
1 quiz
More quizzes & trivia...
1 quiz
“The point of life was to press on, to do the best you can, to make the world a better place.”
—
17 people liked it
“I understand why we do that now. It’s a help, not a threat. It’s something to remind you how important words are. Ideas are important. Principles are important. Words are important. Your word is the most important of all. Your word is who you are.”
—
8 people liked it
More quotes…
Jan 24, 2012 05:34pm