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Tom Clancy's Net Force #4
Breaking Point
In the year 2000, computers are the new superpowers. Those who control them control the world. To enforce the Net Laws, Congress creates the ultimate computer security agency within the FBI: the Net Force.
Reeling from a shattered personal life, Net Force Commander Alex Michaels is informed that top secret information from a joint Air Force--Navy venture has been accessed and downloaded. The research involves an atmospheric weapon with the capability to drive half a country into madness using low frequency wave generation. Now the technology has fallen into the wrong hands--and testing has begun...
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
93 people are currently reading
2559 people want to read
About the author
Steve Perry
311 books361 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 - 30 of 45 reviews
February 20, 2018
The last 150 pages make good on the Tom Clancy name, but the first 200 are like a soap opera written for men. If you've been reading this series in order, you might be invested enough to care about these characters' personal lives, i.e. their romantic and familial relationships. If you come into it cold, however, the first half of BREAKING POINT will have you as bored as a ten-year-old watching C-SPAN.
The excitement doesn't build so much as go from zero to sixty in five seconds flat. It takes forever for the action to finally pick up, but when it does, it's darn-near relentless.
As always with this series, the book is hampered by its nonsensical approach to VR. A couple of big coincidences practically scream out "lazy plotting!", and the writing sometimes feels substandard even for a hired gun like Steve Perry. People following this series closely will come away satisfied, but I can't imagine BREAKING POINT winning any new converts.
The excitement doesn't build so much as go from zero to sixty in five seconds flat. It takes forever for the action to finally pick up, but when it does, it's darn-near relentless.
As always with this series, the book is hampered by its nonsensical approach to VR. A couple of big coincidences practically scream out "lazy plotting!", and the writing sometimes feels substandard even for a hired gun like Steve Perry. People following this series closely will come away satisfied, but I can't imagine BREAKING POINT winning any new converts.
December 28, 2025
Don't be fooled by the names of the two hack/frauds on the cover, this one is written by Steve Perry (who gets a minor acknowledgement for helping with the manuscript in the edition I read).
A mind control system using radio waves is being used for various misdeeds, described in hilarious fashion, and for some reason Net Force is on the case. Everything moves along at a relatively fast pace, with the caveat that some of the things moving along are soap opera subplots. In Clancy fashion, Perry sometimes goes into great detail on subjects but never critically engages with them. In this book he is fixated on some obscure Indonesian martial arts which is at least interesting to hear about instead of Clancy's smarmy takes on conservative politics, economics or international relations. The way virtual reality works here is nuts, kind of like a really stupid, but pretty funny, version of Ghost in the Shell. In fact that's sort of the premise of Net Force to begin with, Ghost in the Shell, but the philosophy and politics are replaced with American soap opera.
Netforce books are tonally very different from the usual Clancy fare. Netforce are hilariously inept with operators constantly bungling simple tasks while the head of the FBI tells them they're only one more screwup away from being shut down. We get some hilarious scenes like the leader of the supposed high tech law enforcement team complaining to the reader that he doesn't understand any of this science nonsense while sitting through a simple explanation of how a radio transmitter works. On the other hand, the bulk of the book is a soap opera which drags on a bit. There are also a bunch of those glaring flaws that send military thriller readers into a rage, like soldiers incorrectly addressing each other. Perry knows how corny the material he is working with is and hams the action scenes up so much, that they end up being really fun and most readers will be able to ignore some of the inaccuracies. Speaking of inaccuracies, if Clancy even read this book, he would have picked them up since they're usually things he didn't miss in his books. Guess that's another insight into just how much involvement he had in the products carrying his name.
Recommended it you don't mind soap opera, incredibly stupid plots, and black comedy.
A mind control system using radio waves is being used for various misdeeds, described in hilarious fashion, and for some reason Net Force is on the case. Everything moves along at a relatively fast pace, with the caveat that some of the things moving along are soap opera subplots. In Clancy fashion, Perry sometimes goes into great detail on subjects but never critically engages with them. In this book he is fixated on some obscure Indonesian martial arts which is at least interesting to hear about instead of Clancy's smarmy takes on conservative politics, economics or international relations. The way virtual reality works here is nuts, kind of like a really stupid, but pretty funny, version of Ghost in the Shell. In fact that's sort of the premise of Net Force to begin with, Ghost in the Shell, but the philosophy and politics are replaced with American soap opera.
Netforce books are tonally very different from the usual Clancy fare. Netforce are hilariously inept with operators constantly bungling simple tasks while the head of the FBI tells them they're only one more screwup away from being shut down. We get some hilarious scenes like the leader of the supposed high tech law enforcement team complaining to the reader that he doesn't understand any of this science nonsense while sitting through a simple explanation of how a radio transmitter works. On the other hand, the bulk of the book is a soap opera which drags on a bit. There are also a bunch of those glaring flaws that send military thriller readers into a rage, like soldiers incorrectly addressing each other. Perry knows how corny the material he is working with is and hams the action scenes up so much, that they end up being really fun and most readers will be able to ignore some of the inaccuracies. Speaking of inaccuracies, if Clancy even read this book, he would have picked them up since they're usually things he didn't miss in his books. Guess that's another insight into just how much involvement he had in the products carrying his name.
Recommended it you don't mind soap opera, incredibly stupid plots, and black comedy.
July 19, 2008
Not very good. Shallow characters, improbable situaton, deus ex machina ending. Good for when watching kids a beach: won't distract you enough to overlook them
March 23, 2021
Fun premise: American scientist gets hold of
a formula to make a Death Ray using ELFs
(extra-low frequencies) which drives its
targets murderously insane. The scientist
takes the weapon for a few "test drives"
to prove its effectiveness: twice in China,
once in Oregon, USA.
His plan? Sell the secret to the Chinese for
$400 million. So...Net Force has to find him
(and his hired security chief) before the
secret can be sold.
Lots of fun hide-n-seek espionage and
black ops type stuff. Discussion of weaponry
for aficionados.
A fun trip.
a formula to make a Death Ray using ELFs
(extra-low frequencies) which drives its
targets murderously insane. The scientist
takes the weapon for a few "test drives"
to prove its effectiveness: twice in China,
once in Oregon, USA.
His plan? Sell the secret to the Chinese for
$400 million. So...Net Force has to find him
(and his hired security chief) before the
secret can be sold.
Lots of fun hide-n-seek espionage and
black ops type stuff. Discussion of weaponry
for aficionados.
A fun trip.
June 28, 2024
Good book and well written but super dry and elaborate in the beginning and most of the book. Definitely not action packed but interesting nonetheless. Cool concept but just wish there was more action. Heavy in character backgrounds and in the beginning felt very jumbled and disorganized. I felt like I was reading just random background character information for a bit but it all comes together in the last 100 pages or so. Overall, good book but wish there was more elaborate problem resolution. Problem was fixed too fast I guess? Interesting book though.
July 16, 2018
I needed a change of pace, and I sure got it. Fun to read about cyber security and weird technology. I was certainly relieved that we didn't have to wade through a lot of Clancy type detail like how nuclear fusion works and the inner mechanics of a submarine--good grief. This was fast moving with lots of interesting characters, nefarious and noble. It was a quick read.
October 7, 2018
Not quite as good as the previous one but still plenty of fun.
(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})
(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})
January 21, 2019
I really enjoy Steve Perry's works. The characters continue to be well developed and interesting to follow. I also like how the author takes some feasible aspects of science and assumes there are some advances that will take place which enable the plot to be tenable.
April 7, 2020
Another solid entry on the Net Force series. I like how some storyline are still left open, while some have partial closures. It's always good to see when the team faces incredible foes like Ventura, and to have action-packed segments such as when Howard goes to Gakona.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2022
These books are actually getting better and the author is doing a nice job in developing the characters with solid storylines. This story line was the best so far and I enjoyed the pace of the action. Look forward to the next one
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
Read
September 14, 2020It was ok, the action and story was pretty mediocre
May 2, 2021
Kinda what's happening now. Net Force.
Read
July 12, 2022Great read
March 21, 2025
La historia fluía bien, los tecnisismos, las maniobras de los enfrentamientos y todo, pero el final fue demasiado cursi
May 8, 2025
Very disappointed as it never got any better. Many places were just plain boring.
December 6, 2025
great book
Great read well written moves right along with good mix of personal and action scenes you will like it I know
Great read well written moves right along with good mix of personal and action scenes you will like it I know
August 6, 2017
Breaking Point is about a team of FBI agents called Net Force. This story of a dangerous plot to rule the world has caught the attention of the Net Force. This book tells the story of cyber crime fighting. Breaking Point is a very violent and exciting chronology of the science of death and destruction.
February 17, 2019
Honestly this story just wasn't REAL exciting. It took TOOO long to develop and spent more time reading like a whose dating who and who wants to sleep with who story, then an action novel. I know I've read better Net Force books. But I won't be in a hurry to read another one if they are going to be as humdrum as this one.
March 9, 2025
2025 Review 014. Net Force #4 Breaking Point by Steve Perry
Page Count : 498
TW : violence, death, injury, description of injury, description of death.
The 4th book in the Net Force series has a slightly different premise to it than the other books. Rather than being completely about computer crime, this one also involves a physical element in the fact that what was reportedly "stolen" from a computer system at the start of the book leads to people acting completely crazy and going around injuring and killing other people.
This particular scenario is repeated 3 times and makes this book a great deal more violent than the previous 3.
Once again, I found all the mention of personal relationships between the characters quite tedious as it took up quite a bit of the book.
It was quite predictable that the criminals involved in this book would be caught / killed by the end of the book as always seems to happen with these books.
As I am now 50% of the way through this series, I will be finishing the last 4 books and then donating them to my chosen charity.
3*
***
Page Count : 498
TW : violence, death, injury, description of injury, description of death.
The 4th book in the Net Force series has a slightly different premise to it than the other books. Rather than being completely about computer crime, this one also involves a physical element in the fact that what was reportedly "stolen" from a computer system at the start of the book leads to people acting completely crazy and going around injuring and killing other people.
This particular scenario is repeated 3 times and makes this book a great deal more violent than the previous 3.
Once again, I found all the mention of personal relationships between the characters quite tedious as it took up quite a bit of the book.
It was quite predictable that the criminals involved in this book would be caught / killed by the end of the book as always seems to happen with these books.
As I am now 50% of the way through this series, I will be finishing the last 4 books and then donating them to my chosen charity.
3*
***
October 25, 2015
Another Tom Clancy has been written and once again I have read it as always. This book was not one of the greatest books that I have read from Tom Clancy but it was still a great book to read.
What this book is about is about a scientist who develops a way to use a low frequency ray to mess with the minds of people all over the world. The director of Net Force must do all that he can to stop him from using this powerful tool, or selling it to the Chinese. It doesn't help that the scientist has hired a super body guard who is as good at his job as the Net Force agents are at theirs.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes any of the Tom Clancy books this was a great read but not one of the greatest. What I did like about this book was that the book had an interesting plot and made me want to read it more and more every day. What I didn't like was that there are greater Tom Clancy books out there and that this one wasn't the greatest.
What this book is about is about a scientist who develops a way to use a low frequency ray to mess with the minds of people all over the world. The director of Net Force must do all that he can to stop him from using this powerful tool, or selling it to the Chinese. It doesn't help that the scientist has hired a super body guard who is as good at his job as the Net Force agents are at theirs.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes any of the Tom Clancy books this was a great read but not one of the greatest. What I did like about this book was that the book had an interesting plot and made me want to read it more and more every day. What I didn't like was that there are greater Tom Clancy books out there and that this one wasn't the greatest.
December 22, 2007
In this book, the fourth of the Net Force series, Perry finally throws off much of Clancy's influence and heads straight for the mystical martial arts and spiritual stuff he's famous for. He still throws in the token cool new guns in each book (described carefully by name and features), and keeps the military mission at the end intact, but the missions are starting to tend more toward 1-1 martial arts tournaments, with the military taking a back seat.
In this one, Alex is in deep trouble with Toni, who has quit her job and left him, at the same time that a mysterious weapon is causing entire villages and towns to turn on each other in a killing rage. I like the emotional range of this one, as well as the menace of the weapon, though it suffers from a lot of the shortcomings of the other books. This was my favorite so far. :)
In this one, Alex is in deep trouble with Toni, who has quit her job and left him, at the same time that a mysterious weapon is causing entire villages and towns to turn on each other in a killing rage. I like the emotional range of this one, as well as the menace of the weapon, though it suffers from a lot of the shortcomings of the other books. This was my favorite so far. :)
August 18, 2014
This book was written in 2000, and imagined what the "net" of 2010 might be like. I'll admit, the views of the kooky visual virtual reality was pretty laughable when reading with the advantage of being in the year 2014, obviously that wasn't really the way things played out. Of course I understand, nobody could've seen the whole wireless / smart phones and tablets trend coming, and that completely changed the trajectory of future technology.
Now, aside from the hokey look at the tech of the future, which is now the past, we can focus on the story. It was your run of the mill Clancy style stuff, so no complaints there. I enjoy the Net Force books, and this wasn't the best of the bunch by any means, but I was entertained and enjoyed it, and honestly, that's why I read paper backs from the used book store.
Now, aside from the hokey look at the tech of the future, which is now the past, we can focus on the story. It was your run of the mill Clancy style stuff, so no complaints there. I enjoy the Net Force books, and this wasn't the best of the bunch by any means, but I was entertained and enjoyed it, and honestly, that's why I read paper backs from the used book store.
March 1, 2008
Alex Michaels is the commander of NetForce and has the job of protecting the US from cyber attacks. This book is the last in the series of Net Force(I believe)and wraps up the series. In this book a Dr. has made a deal with the Chinese to manufacture a machine that will alter peoples minds through sound waves and environmental factors. The ultimate connection between NETFORCE and this Dr. is that half of the formula is published online and NETFORCE finds it but, the Chinese have already found it and made a deal. Well, you have to read the book to find out how this book ends. I found this book intriguing and attention-capturing from the first word.
May 26, 2011
** "Breaking point" by Steve Perry is 4th in the Net Force series. Starts with Toni in England, ends with her pregnant and proposed to, epilogue to her as dieu ex machina. Per the formula, the book starts with death, a test of brain waves sent amok. A meek scientist hires an assassin mercenary leader for protection while he negotiates with the Chinese, to sell the weapon, and Net Force operatives intervene. Mostly live action, or tense threat of, and only some of Toni's martial arts jargon. Cast is still comprehensive, viewpoint much from expert bad guy.
March 3, 2013
Konečně! Změna! Už tu není megaloman, který chce ovládnout svět, ale naivní vědec, který chce prachy. Tohle sérii hodně pomohlo - vymanit se ze šablony, kdy už bylo předem jasné, co se bude dít.
Pár zajímavých zvratů, ale hlavně extrémně sympatický a schopný nájemný ochránce/žoldák, pracující pro "záporáka". Net Force konečně maká tak, jak by měla. A vedení není parta supermanů, co zvládnou vše a nic nečekají na oplátku.
Moc líbilo, začíná to být realističtější (a ano, hltám to hlavně kvůli romantické lince Michaels+Toni :-)
Pár zajímavých zvratů, ale hlavně extrémně sympatický a schopný nájemný ochránce/žoldák, pracující pro "záporáka". Net Force konečně maká tak, jak by měla. A vedení není parta supermanů, co zvládnou vše a nic nečekají na oplátku.
Moc líbilo, začíná to být realističtější (a ano, hltám to hlavně kvůli romantické lince Michaels+Toni :-)
October 11, 2013
An excellent continuation of the Net Force franchise. The authors had taken great strides to make the first few books in the series flow from one to the next. Look forward to reading Point of Impact next. It saddens me that with each Clancy book read, I am closer to finishing the Clancy collection. RIP.
March 28, 2016
I stumbled over this book accidentally.I was actually looking for a sci-fi thriller and now I wish I should've rather read another book. Had no strength in story , lots of side-stories, lack of thrill, lengthy.I was tempted by the title of the book and the series is also familiar to me as I had played some games of Tom Clancy which was brilliant. Didn't knew that the book will be that poor.
May 3, 2011
Not as suspenseful as I had hoped. I didn't really see a purpose for the romantic diversion. Locations sited in the book were interesting since some of them were my destination on this airplane trip out west.
May 10, 2013
El relato mezcla la ciencia ficción con la amenaza tecnológica de los ordenadores y su agresividad anti humana, con el suspense de una novela de acción. El resultado no está muy conseguido, los personajes no transmiten credibilidad y la acción es falsa.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews