Tom Clancy's Power Plays: Shadow Watch

First of all, let me sum up the plot. The year is 2001 and activities to put the International Space Station into orbit are on at full throttle. NASA and UpLink International, the main civilian contractor for the ISS, are gearing up for the launch of Orion, a manned shuttle carrying crucial components for the ISS. Everything seems perfect and a smooth launch is expected. But that's when things go terribly wrong.

In the disaster that ensues, one senior astronaut loses his life and the others barely escape with theirs. The shuttle is reduced to scrap metal, leaving behind bits and pieces. And a shocked world. But, even as the investigation into the matter begins, mysterious guerrilla attacks occur at the UpLink manufacturing facility in Brazil. Two hundred people perish in a train crash in Spain. A senior Russian physicist is murdered in a remote area of Albania. Are these events connected?

With the impending launch of the main modules of the ISS from the famous Baikonur cosmodrome in Russia, in a race against time, a handful of people must work together to piece together the jigsaw. For in their hands lies the fate of the ISS and as we find out later, the lives of millions.

The plot, as you can probably see, is amazing and is a signature, high voltage Tom Clancy plot. But the writing was not his and this was evident from the beginning. As an avid Tom Clancy reader, you get used to certain cliches, like for example the skillfully crafted fight scenes or the perfectly developed characters. You get used to the information overload in almost every page; to staying glued to the book, forgetting everything else in the real world and feeling as if you are there in person, shooting up a villain with an advanced rifle or driving that souped up Humvee. Each book of his is an amazing experience and this book was nothing close to that.

A little research showed me that I was, in fact, right. The writer was a certain Jerome Preisler and he'd been writing under Tom Clancy's brand name. This was in no way Tom Clancy's writing! However, with all that said, this book was not bad. If it had been released under a name other than Tom Clancy's, I would have actually voted it good!

So the final verdict! Once you've blotted out Tom Clancy from your mind, once you've lowered your expectations and when you have lots and lots of free time with nothing better to read, then this book is very much worth a read!

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six

Pulling off 900 or so odd pages is a hard enough task for any author. But to make it doubly interesting to the reader is something only a few authors can dream of, and Tom Clancy is definitely one of them. All of his books overdose on detail so much that you can hardly keep track of the places, terms and such. But that is exactly what you'll love him for! In fact, I've come to believe, if a person remembers at least half the details in his war novels, he'll probably be shipped off by the NSA!

John Clark is back! But this time around, unfortunately, he is just a 'suit', a guy with a 'boring', as he calls it, desk job. Domingo Chavez, the adorable-yet-deadly Latino son-in-law of Clark heads a covert counter terrorist team based out of U.K under the able guidance of Clark. The team has many successful encounters under its belt and is earning its recognition. But looking closer and closer into the issues they'd dealt with, they begin to realize that they are dealing with something far greater and deadlier, something on the scale which they can hardly fathom.


"Look closely, because the closer you think you are, the less you'll actually see." -You know where this came from! (Best read in your mind in Morgan Freeman's voice)


The range of topics and ideas this book explores is quite astounding. An élite multinational counter terrorist force; a bunch of deadly eco terrorists who are hell bent on taking over the world; the Irish revolutionary army, the Basque terrorists of France and so much more. Clancy is a master of mystery, he builds up the theme very subtly and soundly, that only after reading through more than half the book do you really get the big picture, and that too, very vaguely. The multi stranded narrative is quite complex and weaves back and forth between multiple characters, scenes and back stories. But for all that, it is not in the least a pain to follow. A seemingly impossible task, you also remember many names almost as if by magic!

Lots of authors force their ideas upon you, we have no choice but to agree with their ideology and follow the plot. But Clancy is different, he tries to be a chronicler, he shows us the situation and delves deep into the minds of the people who are central to the story. This enables us to get a true feeling for the situation and perhaps think it out ourselves. I know because I did, and I have to tell you, it is extremely hard to think about a thriller like this one because all you can think about is to finish it as soon as possible!

One of the best books I've ever read, this book is more than worth a read. I read it for 7 hours straight till 4 in the morning! And also, many gamers would recognize, this book was made into a immensely popular game series.