This one was full on bond villain time. Fun read from beginning to end. Like a lot of his books the good and bad guys circle each other until the very end. John Clark and Dominogo Chaves are fun literary characters. Both are deep and complex. Time to move away from Jack Ryan for a book or two. Note: Jack is only referenced in this book this story is all about the newly formed Rainbow Six. Read the book first kids, then play the video games.

I loved this book. It was the first one by this author that I had read and was not disappointed.

It was in fact several stories in one and just as it felt like the story was ending, off it went again in another direction!!

A really compelling story and exciting to read!

I’ve read a few Tom Clancy books and this by far was my favorite. I was enthralled the whole time, the tension built beautifully for a great ending. The characters are interesting and relatable more so than in any other Clancy book I’ve read.

This book has everything: gun fights, spies, globe trotting, biological warfare, terrorism, fatherhood, environmentalism. However, it is not without its flaws. I agree with other reviewers who say it’s a bit too bloated and I whole heartedly agree. It could have been skimmed down by quite a bit and still have the same impact. But I know Clancy is not known for his brevity. So as a Tom Clancy book, it’s as good as it gets in my opinion.

Good story. I really enjoyed this one and it was nice to have John Clark and Domingo Chavez working together again. The whole story I visualized Willem Dafoe and Raymond Cruz (the respective actors in the 1994 film Clear and Present Danger) in the story.

Good book. Give it a read if you find the time!

For noe piss!

DNF. Just wasn't my thing.

Good manly read, could’ve easily been half the size.

A Tom Clancy novel is an odd choice for my blog given none of them can be considered science fiction, fantasy, noir, or contain zombies. You could make an argument that Tom Clancy has had a tremendous effect on the video game genre since Ubisoft first decided that his name should adorn the cover of their works. In fact, this may be hyperbole or internet rumor, but Ubisoft actually bought the rights to his name.

Whatever the case, I've been reading his work lately and thought I'd take a moment to share what I think of his novels whenever I get done with them. Tom Clancy isn't as influential an author as Tolkien but you might argue he's about a third. He created the "techno-thriller" genre and we're now surrounded by the fruits of his creation.

What is a techno-thriller? To be honest, they're spy and/or war novels and the decision to call them a separate genre is just a conceit in my opinion. Still, Tom Clancy revitalized the spy and war novel. Whenever you see super-technological spies running the line between James Bond action and real world political intrigue, you're probably seeing the influence of Tom Clancy in action. He's the guy who said you could be realistic and engage in wish-fulfillment without sacrificing either.

I chose Rainbow Six as my first novel of Tom Clancy to review because it's the only major Tom Clancy work to be adapted into a popular video game. It's a story that was a video game first before the developers got in touch with Tom Clancy and started working side-by-side. The video game's plot doesn't match completely with the novel but their influences are tremendous.

The premise of Rainbow Six is that the United States and other NATO nations have formed an international anti-terrorist team for rescuing hostages. This was before terrorists mostly just started killing people globally. The title of the book doesn't refer to the team, actually, but its chief member and frequent Clancy protagonist, John Clark. The team is named Rainbow and John Clark has 'Six' as his call sign. Joining John Clark is Domingo Chavez, his associate and now son-in-law from Clear and Present Danger.

Not to the spoil the plot, because the basics are revealed fairly early on, but a environmentally friendly corporation called Horizon Incorporated is plotting to kill the entirety of the human race with a genetically engineered strain of Ebola. Why are they doing this? They're radical environmentalists. With this sort of premise, you know Tom Clancy has taken a long step away from realism. Still, I enjoy Bond movies so why not enjoy a premise straight from Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me?

The plot more or less follows the bad guys hiring a bunch of real-life terrorist groups to do evil across Europe. Their reasons for this are not revealed until later and quite ingenius. Fans of video games will note that the various terrorist groups all do their evil in distinctive settings and get progressively more dangerous as the heroes go through them one-by-one. In other words, the adventures of our heroes play out exactly like they would in a tactical simulator or FPS.

The politics in the book are more than a little heavy-handed as Tom Clancy's conservative bias shows in virtually every scene. Some of these prejudices come off as blackly humorous given later developments in politics and the economy. For example, one chapter goes to great lengths in explaining how something like the Exxon Valdez spill could never happen again because the oil companies had learned their lesson.

Really, Tom?

The straw caricature environmentalists don't offend me, however, because they're so clearly insane they become entertaining. Numerous chapters in the book go into their POV, which establishes them as all sociopaths who care more about the lives of animals than people. They're also deliberately hypocritical, driving around Humvees and talking about all the animals they'll kill once they're no longer endangered.

The book's science is likewise funny for anyone who knows a thing about evolution and biology such as reinforcing Ebola with cancer cells or talking about how nature needs to be restored to its original state. Nature, of course, is something that is constantly changing as animals immigrate, take over local ecosystems, and warp them to their needs.

Indeed, it is one of the villains who provides much of the book's enjoyment. Dmitry Popov is an ex-KGB agent turned mercenary who is only interested in the Horizon Corporation's money. Popov is used by Clancy to poke fun at the numerous terrorist organizations he encounters, often with a sly observation or two that is never droll. By the end of the book, I wanted Popov to ride off into the sunset with everyone's money.

Unfortunately, in addition to the books occasionally insane politics, it does have one weakness. I don't mean it's length, 900 or so pages is a typical work for Tom Clancy. No, I mean it's the fact the protagonists actually aren't all that proactive. Due to their ignorance of the villain's plot, they spend the vast majority of their time chilling back at their base in-between missions. There's only a few real scenes where the heroes show any real emotion and their character growth is almost nil.

There's also the fact that, for an international organization, Rainbow is pretty much just composed of Americans and Brits. There's a couple of standout characters but they have no real effect on the plot or play any major role. In a way, the countries so excluded should be grateful since the Brits are incredibly stereotyped. Tom is clearly trying to play the SAS-trained soldiers as highly competent professionals but they talk like an amalgamation of Brits from war movies and 1960s episodes of Doctor Who. At least one, I'm sure, is a fairly transparent homage to the Brigadier.

This doesn't mean the book is bad. It's a fairly easy read with the interspersed action sequences being exceptionally well-written and always fun. Some of the settings for terrorist attacks, like a Spanish version of Disneyworld, are inspired. There's also something to be said about villains who are genuinely despicable and you love watching get their comeuppance. I recommend people looking for a good lengthy thriller to check this one out.

8/10

The title Rainbow Six is actually the code name for ex CIA agent John Clark, director of a newly formed counter-terrorism unit, Rainbow. This tight knit group of former special forces and counter-terrorist units from around the world have one primary objective, stop the bad guys at any cost. John Brittling is that bad guy. He and his organization, the Horizon Corporation, have developed an Ebola like virus code-named Shiva virus with one purpose, the complete annihilation of the human race in order to restore the world to its former state and bring it back under the influence of nature and animals. Rainbow will have to connect the dots in order to save the human species before the clock runs out.

Considering the fact that the Shiva virus is so like the Ebola virus that has recently plagued our society I felt like I was reading a horror story instead of an action novel. Despite never actually serving in the military, Tom Clancy brings to life the realness of combat and reading scenes where Rainbow is performing in action were heart-pounding moments. Being interested in any subject concerning the armed forces, this book was especially well received on my part. I feel that because the book is quite long (over 700 pages) I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is not as intrigued by this subject as I am.

I first read this in the Fall of 1999 when I was a rookie Airman 1st Class undergoing technical training at the USAF Security Forces Academy at Lackland AFB (San Antonio), TX. I loved it then.....and I love it even more now that I've had an additional 17.5 years of military, Federal civilian law enforcement, and overseas Private Military Contracting under my belt.

Of course, this time around, I have a few itty-bitty nitpicks and "WTF?" moments that I didn't catch on the first reading, which I shall elaborate on below.....

RANDOM STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS:

"Nice thing about first class was that they pretended you had a name." Um, that's true of Business Class as well.

--p. 22: "this was an **American** airliner..." But didn't the author say earlier that it was British Airways?

--p. 30: Wow, still using "stewardess" and not "flight attendant" in 1998? How delightfully politically incorrect!

--p. 34: Was the term "RCAF" still in official use in 1998?

--p. 39: "....captain, which was about the best rank to have in the Army, high enough that the NCOs respected you as worthy of command, and low enough that you weren't a staff puke and you played with the troops." Well, I saw my fair share of Army O-3 staff pukes at Scott AFB!

--p. 49: Beretta .45 as in the Cougar? And oh, BTW, the 10mm cartridge wasn't originally developed for the FBI or Smith & Wesson, it was developed for the Bren Ten.

--p. 68: "Czech 58" as in Vz-58?

--p. 102: "It was called Potomac Fever, a disease easily caught and less easily cured." How very true!

--p. 112: "Dealing with the media frightened him more than facing loaded weapons." Ha, who could blame him!

--p. 113: "The worst part was the traffic circles the Brits seemed to like better than real interchanges." Yeah, no bloody shyte, them and the Emiratis!

--p. 122: Uh-oh, that un-PC word "niggardly!"

This is my first Tom Clancy book. I first knew about Rainbow Six by the PC game that was launched together with the book back in the 90's. The "Rainbow Six" brand became one of the most famous Tom Clancy games of all time, together with Splinter Cell. There are big differences between the book and the game, especially in terms of firefights even though the first game is an strategy game first and a first person shooter second.

The Rainbow group is quite interesting. The characters are typical military stereotypes, but good ones. The low point is that they are mainly American and British with token non-Anglo-Saxons just for show. The German Weber and the French Loiselle do receive good coverage but the really important stuff is done by English-speakers, either US or British heroes. The game is far more "international" with Italian, Spanish, Austrian, Swedish, Russian and Brazilian operatives - others would join the group in the following games. The game also has women and demolitions and recon soldiers. Clancy should talk more about the soldiers whose unit gives the title of the story. Instead many pages are wasted in dull moments. The soldiers' names and biographies aren't mentioned for the most part of the story; this was a huge plot hole as unimportant people got more lines than the Rainbow commandos. The author really got it wrong in this part. Even in the first Rainbow Six game each character had a small bio (the Brazilian has its bio all wrong, starting by his Spanish name, but that's better than nothing). Curiously the most interesting character is the ex-KGB colonel Dmitriy Arkadeyevich Popov, and his character development is the best in the story. Popov constantly contrasts his experiences in both sides of the Iron Curtain, gets a major participation in most of the plots and we even get a little glimpse into his personal life - his father was also from the intelligence service and we hear about his sister, Maria Arkadeyevna, just to show the ordinary public that Russian names have gender modifications. The Russians are always dividing opinions, and even an American flag waver as Tom Clancy showed admiration for them - as shown in this book and others like The Hunt for the Red October.

The rescue operations are great and the preparation plus execution are breathtaking, with a lot about CQB (Close Combat Battle) and hostage rescue know-how; this is the heritage that remained in the video game franchise, with the most recent one "Rainbow Six: Siege" being solely dedicated to it. The jungle battle, on the other hand was very anti-climatic and disappointing. The first mistakes are geographical, with Manaus being in northern Brazil, not the center. The author mentions only two rivers, but the region is the single largest riverine basin in the globe; some places are acessible only by boat and aircraft. The correct spelling for the river close to the Horizon facility would be "Rio Grande", not "Río Grande". Those mistakes are excusable but the battle description is not. The first mistake is that one does not wear kevlar helmets in thick jungle: it would stiffle the troops for no discernible gain in terms of protection. If you look Brazilian, French, Ecuatorian and Colombian jungle footage, you will see soft headgear (jungle hats and caps), amazingly enough the game is more accurate in this case, with the player able to equip its men with either light (cap), medium (hat) and heavy (balaklava) jungle equipment.

The jungle of the Amazon is way more enclosed than the jungles of Southeast Asia, with very tall trees and the like (which does get mentioned in the narrative) thus making the combat distances very short. Plus, the battle happened at night, narrowing the fighting distance even further; it is common for pointmen to carry shotguns because of the short distance. The Rainbow soldiers were not trained in jungle operations and they should be using assault rifles with 5,56mm or 7,62mm ammo, not the M10 submachine guns used in Close Quarters Battle in urban perimeter (again, the game was more faithful). The 7,62mm is better for thick jungle because it turns cover into concealment. The bad guys are using the HK G3, which is good but Brazilian Amazon is "FAL country", with the Belgian classic a favorite for me. The firefight was dull and one-sided, with the Rainbow unit winning not by superior skill and fieldcraft, but because they had a magic technological gizmo - Heart Beat sensor - that won the battle for them. Typical American mindset, and a wrong one. The small unit action I was expecting didn't really materialize, and the American tech won the day once again. The small unit tactics should have won the battle with a firefight and wounded commandos, not the pathetic turkey shot it was.

Another fine point was the choice of enemies, that today may be seen as ridiculous but after the fall of the Soviet Union the left was shacken to its core and only the ecologists remained, and they did proclaim such absurd ideas as shown in the book, with activists claiming part of Humanity should be eradicated; and by the means suggested in the book. The usage of terrorists from a defeated ideology was brilliant in the way it showed the uncertainty of the immediate post-Cold War period. The training moments are great and more than once I caught myself smiling while reading this book, with the mundane things that happen in the barracks and the jokes between the Americans and Brits. Other than that, the professionalism of the Rainbow operatives, and the planning before the action under the direction of the psychologist Dr. Bellow (inspired in "I Dream of Jeannie" maybe?), followed by the fast pacing close combat action after doors are blown up are the main prizes of this Tom Clancy classic.

This was the best book I have ever read. This author writes with so much detail, it is at first, hard to understand but soon I did. The way Tom Clancy wrote the operations during this book made me want to read it more and more. The best part about this book was how each story in the book all connected at the end.