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Tom Clancy's Net Force #8
Changing of the Guard (Tom Clancy's Net Force) by Tom Clancy
Though the head of a major multinational corporation - and a key player in world affairs - Samuel Walker Cox has a past few people know about. But that group is about to get bigger. A new computer desk has fallen into the hands of Net Force, outing the powerful American businessman as a former Russian spy. Cox is willing to see the world in ruins to protect his name. It's lucky for the United States that Not Force is on the job - and out to prove that no man is above the law . . . . .
Paperback
First published December 2, 2003
49 people are currently reading
977 people want to read
About the author
Steve Perry
309 books358 followersLibrarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.
Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West
Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.
Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 11, 2013
It was good except there were a couple chapters all about fencing: the terminology, the maneuvers, the strategy, and on and on and on... at least it seemed like it. The chapters became excruciatingly long and I didn't feel they added a thing to the story - which was quite good - but actually took away from it. If I had even the slightest interest in fencing, I would have been stoked to read this book, but I don't.
August 25, 2020
One of the weaker titles in the Net Force Series. It started strong with a good villain in Cox and the departure of some characters that were getting old like Toni and Alex, but then the whole Jay's trip was weak, as was the whole schmuck with the online fencer.
Close to the end of the book, thou, the good parts from the beginning stop to make sense. Cox, who started as a witty villain, falls for easy traps. Nadatze who was a good professional to this point, suddenly becomes irrational. Even Net Force starts abusing its powers in a way that, coincidentally enough, never gets investigated. And the way Net Force frames Nadatze is anticlimactic. Ending feels rushed, and it sacrifices the good parts of the book.
Close to the end of the book, thou, the good parts from the beginning stop to make sense. Cox, who started as a witty villain, falls for easy traps. Nadatze who was a good professional to this point, suddenly becomes irrational. Even Net Force starts abusing its powers in a way that, coincidentally enough, never gets investigated. And the way Net Force frames Nadatze is anticlimactic. Ending feels rushed, and it sacrifices the good parts of the book.
August 29, 2021
Lazy as hell. Even after chapter 14 they have no idea whats going on. They even wrote 2 chapters on comma-verse!!? Yeh thats right! Their tech guy went to comma and they took 2 chapters to explain his head,why? It’s irrelevant to the plot. Talks about fencing, who is a better aim? And nonsensical shit!!
Doesn’t matter to the plot!! Even talking and telling tales about Japanese swords this is not the last samurai, is it?
Basically the book is like this, some thing relevent to the plot happens- then they gonna waste 3-4 chapters with flash backs- add 0.1% of plot- waste another 3-4 chapters-rinse and repeat.
Doesn’t matter to the plot!! Even talking and telling tales about Japanese swords this is not the last samurai, is it?
Basically the book is like this, some thing relevent to the plot happens- then they gonna waste 3-4 chapters with flash backs- add 0.1% of plot- waste another 3-4 chapters-rinse and repeat.
April 20, 2014
Not my favorite of the Net Force series, though a fun read. My main critique is the character development. Tedious detail about guitar playing and/or sword fighting doesn't really develop character or plot, imo.
That said, I thought the surfacing from coma for Jay was masterfully and creatively described. Four stars for that alone.
That said, I thought the surfacing from coma for Jay was masterfully and creatively described. Four stars for that alone.
August 26, 2013
Apparently next month will be a huge breakthrough in VR technology...
May 8, 2024
Continuous product name dropping; tedious descriptions of firearms, swords and guitars; sub-stories not relevant to the overall plot; endless narratives of excursions into virtual reality which added nothing (I took to skim reading to find the next relevant point of reference).; casual use of acronyms which not everyone would be able to translate. Poor overall. Stuck with it to see how it would end - still disappointed.
November 9, 2022
This was an excellent step forward in the series. The new characters that were introduced weee solid and I can see a number of future storylines with them. The story was good and was a typical fast read. Looking forward to the next one.
July 26, 2023
Net Force is getting new leadership. Jay is given a disk that is encrypted but has the names of Russian spies. One multibillionaire has been a Russian spy for years and does not want this to come out.
April 3, 2018
Good character development with some surprising twists. Unexpected ending that allows continuation of characters into future books.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
September 12, 2020
keeps you reading
September 26, 2023
Great book.
December 22, 2024
Ending was little lose but worth the time
VR simulations is nice imagination treats.
Jay’s understanding of brain waves helped me understand the new phenomenon of dreaming.
Overall good read
VR simulations is nice imagination treats.
Jay’s understanding of brain waves helped me understand the new phenomenon of dreaming.
Overall good read
January 9, 2025
It’s not a bad book. A bit boring. Also personal change in this one, which makes it a bit refreshing but if you like the old team, you might not care about this
June 3, 2013
Currently I have read Tom Clancy's, Net Force: Changing of the Guard. This book Included lots of mystery and secrets of the old nations of Russia and of the United States. It also spoke in the futuristic writing about different technologies that we today are just learning how to use and/or create.
This book starts off with a guy who is an american spy in Turkey. He is there meeting another man who was also a spy for the turkish government who infiltrated the Iraqi government and got a disc with valuable information on it. This disc was directly given to a government company called Net Force, an agency that specialized in fighting crime on the Net and decoding special codes that other organizations could not crack. During this time Net Force was changing its CEO and its higher ups that were retiring due to them being in the agency at its longest allowed time.
As soon as Net force received this Disc they gave it to there top code breaker Jay Gridley. Jay was able to break the code far enough to reveal that it held the current locations and contact numbers of old Soviet sleeper cells. When the information was let out to the president that this information was found it was leaked to a very rich man that when the cold war was happening was a “Soviet Spy”. He was called up by the soviets and said the he was being “activated” once again. When he heard this news he called his “Mercenary” to eliminate Jay. Throughout the book Jay is shot and survives as well as breaks the code to discover that what the mercenaries hire thought was not true.
To me this book was a good book but that may be held accountable by me liking the kind of book that involves a lot of different secrets and diversions as well as mystery. This book included a very nice futuristic description of the technology we have now and took them to a new perspective even if it was further than we ever expect it to get. I wasn’t really held at interest as much as some of my other books that i’ve read mainly due to me losing interest in the side story at that time in the book. This book here is a book that I would recommend as long as you like this type of book because it takes a certain type of reader to like this type of book.
This book starts off with a guy who is an american spy in Turkey. He is there meeting another man who was also a spy for the turkish government who infiltrated the Iraqi government and got a disc with valuable information on it. This disc was directly given to a government company called Net Force, an agency that specialized in fighting crime on the Net and decoding special codes that other organizations could not crack. During this time Net Force was changing its CEO and its higher ups that were retiring due to them being in the agency at its longest allowed time.
As soon as Net force received this Disc they gave it to there top code breaker Jay Gridley. Jay was able to break the code far enough to reveal that it held the current locations and contact numbers of old Soviet sleeper cells. When the information was let out to the president that this information was found it was leaked to a very rich man that when the cold war was happening was a “Soviet Spy”. He was called up by the soviets and said the he was being “activated” once again. When he heard this news he called his “Mercenary” to eliminate Jay. Throughout the book Jay is shot and survives as well as breaks the code to discover that what the mercenaries hire thought was not true.
To me this book was a good book but that may be held accountable by me liking the kind of book that involves a lot of different secrets and diversions as well as mystery. This book included a very nice futuristic description of the technology we have now and took them to a new perspective even if it was further than we ever expect it to get. I wasn’t really held at interest as much as some of my other books that i’ve read mainly due to me losing interest in the side story at that time in the book. This book here is a book that I would recommend as long as you like this type of book because it takes a certain type of reader to like this type of book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2011
*** "Changing of the guard" is the 8th Net Force created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik, but written by Steve Perry and Larry Segriff. All but whiz kid Jay are moving on. Par usual, the book opens with the death of a spy on 'our' American side, who dies to save a mysterious encoded list. Jay translates details for Soviet agents, but gets stuck when the location nears N.A. As usual, the evil billionaire sets his extreme fixer to prevent his own disclosure by Net. The usual tedious specialized jargon to impress us with author research, for martial arts, expands to fencing and costly guitars. The last individualizes and uncovers the assassin. When his kidnap goes wrong, Jay struggles in a coma with more virtual realities than the usual. Having myself used control to escape nightmares, I was intrigued by the lucid dreaming idea of carrying an 'I am not dreaming' card in the back pocket (obviously written by men, females are stuck with purses). Since action occurs in pretend too, I am both annoyed and relieved by the change, and prefer that 'threat' of torture is enough. I like action and creative problem-solving, not inventive suffering.
January 1, 2008
Indeed, this book begins with the retirement of the main characters, and the introduction of an entirely new suite of characters (except for the continuity of Jay Gridley, pretty much the defining character of the series). This book lives up to the snappier pace of the previous one, and romance, religion (of varied sorts), and violence immediately enter the lives of the new characters.
In this book, Jay starts decoding a list of Russian spies, and as he makes progress, a wealthy businessman realizes his name is likely to be on the list, and goes to extreme lengths to prevent Jay from decoding the last bit. Through unfortunate circumstances Jay is shot and finds himself back in a coma, just as he finds out that Saji is pregnant. Okay, that last sentence sounds much more like a soap opera than might be appropriate for a military fiction book, but hey, it's Steve Perry. :)
This book is a good change of pace -- the new characters are somewhat similar to the previous ones, but the fact that they're new lets the book evolve in some new ways.
In this book, Jay starts decoding a list of Russian spies, and as he makes progress, a wealthy businessman realizes his name is likely to be on the list, and goes to extreme lengths to prevent Jay from decoding the last bit. Through unfortunate circumstances Jay is shot and finds himself back in a coma, just as he finds out that Saji is pregnant. Okay, that last sentence sounds much more like a soap opera than might be appropriate for a military fiction book, but hey, it's Steve Perry. :)
This book is a good change of pace -- the new characters are somewhat similar to the previous ones, but the fact that they're new lets the book evolve in some new ways.
October 24, 2009
4 of 5 stars for the book Net Force #8: Changing of the Guard by Tom Clancy (Audio edition). Let's start with the fact that I am a big fan of Tom Clancy and a fan of the Net Force series. I have been reading the series in sequence as there are continuing characters and sub-story-lines. The main focus of this book is several of our Net Force staffers have decided to retire leaving the agency and introducing new replacements. Our techie Jay Gridley continues with Net Force. The plot of this book is relatively simple and also not as interesting as the previous books in the series. A disk with encoded data is obtained by Net Force which will reveal the identity of many spys. Those who lost the disk want the information to remain secret and learn that Gridley is working to decode the data. They send an assassin after Gridley to keep him from decoding. All in all a good book and worth the read. Its not the best in the Net Force series.
January 31, 2014
Book 8 of this series takes a shift from the previous books. As the title says it's all change with the top personal at Net Force. Alex, Toni and General Howard are all moving on and new people are taking their places. That's the background and quite a bit of this book is spent introducing their replacements, each with quirky hobbies and interests.
There is an espionage story here too, but this used a major plot point that was a repetition of something in one of the previous books. I found this pretty annoying and the 'Net' content was minimal. There was a bit of tech stuff but this was more or less like any other thriller, not the high tech crime busting I like.
Without the main characters, who I really liked, there is not so much to interest me in this series anymore and it's unlikely that I will be reading any further.
There is an espionage story here too, but this used a major plot point that was a repetition of something in one of the previous books. I found this pretty annoying and the 'Net' content was minimal. There was a bit of tech stuff but this was more or less like any other thriller, not the high tech crime busting I like.
Without the main characters, who I really liked, there is not so much to interest me in this series anymore and it's unlikely that I will be reading any further.
March 4, 2012
My first Net Force story from Clancy. Previously had only read "traditional" Clancy novels (Clear and Present Danger, etc). This is a different genre, although there are similarities with his earlier writing.
The characters seem more two-dimensional in this book, and the story does not have the compexity of Clancy's 'traditional' work. Ending was a bit of a surprise.
Still, I'd give another Net Force book chance, though I wouldn't buy it. I found the original in a paperback library at work, so if I find another one, I'll grab it.
The characters seem more two-dimensional in this book, and the story does not have the compexity of Clancy's 'traditional' work. Ending was a bit of a surprise.
Still, I'd give another Net Force book chance, though I wouldn't buy it. I found the original in a paperback library at work, so if I find another one, I'll grab it.
November 5, 2015
Pros: The setting is still here. The idea is still great. Some of the characters I love are still here for now. It's all great except....
Cons: I'm not the biggest fans of the new guys. Even after the next book I still didn't quite like them as much. They don't seem quite as open. I don't know, it's kinda like changing characters of your favorite show in season 5. It's a bit off putting. It took a little bit out of my Net Force love but still a good series overall.
Would I read the next one? Yeppers and yep.
Cons: I'm not the biggest fans of the new guys. Even after the next book I still didn't quite like them as much. They don't seem quite as open. I don't know, it's kinda like changing characters of your favorite show in season 5. It's a bit off putting. It took a little bit out of my Net Force love but still a good series overall.
Would I read the next one? Yeppers and yep.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2013
I enjoyed the book the moment I started reading the first page. Already your taking part in the life of an agent. Once back in America you then follow the lives of Net Force's agents who are tasked with protecting America from terrorist.
August 6, 2009
tom Clancy's always great...and this one is no exception.
September 28, 2010
Not my favorite. Junk about guitars & fencing that just cluttered up the story.
August 9, 2011
Thought provoking. So long ago that I read this.
September 17, 2011
Not written by Clancy, and I can tell. The topic is conceived by Clancy and written by Steve Perry. Moved slowly. I only kept reading because I was looking for a distraction.
Stick with Clancy.
Stick with Clancy.
March 21, 2013
Už to chtělo změnu a novou partu si asi oblíbím. Víc není co dodat, osmý díl série, pořád to samé, pořád dobré.
September 15, 2016
Not as good as the others, new characters are ok, but don't really see a reason to get rid of the old ones.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews