The Teeth of The Tiger: Summary and book reviews of The Teeth of The Tiger by Tom Clancy, plus links to an excerpt from The Teeth of The Tiger and a biography of Tom Clancy.
The Teeth of The Tiger
by Tom Clancy
Hardcover: Aug 2003,
431 pages.
Paperback: Aug 2004,
496 pages.
A man named Mohammed sits in a café in Vienna, about to propose a deal to a Colombian. Mohammed has a strong network of agents and sympathizers throughout Europe and the Middle East, and the Colombian has an equally strong drug network throughout America. What if they were to form an alliance, to combine all their assets and connections? The potential for profits would be enormousand the potential for destruction unimaginable.
In the Brave New World of terrorismwhere anybody with a spare AK-47, a knowledge of kitchen chemistry, or simply the will to die can become a playerthe old rules no longer apply. No matter what new governmental organizations come into being, the only truly effective ones are those that are quick and agile, free of oversight and restrictions...and outside the system.
Way outside the system.
In a nondescript office building in suburban Maryland, the firm Hendley Associates does a profitable business in stocks, bonds, and international currencies, but its true mission is quite different: to identify and locate terrorist threats, and then deal with them, in whatever manner necessary. Established with the knowledge of President John Patrick Ryan, "the Campus" is always on the lookout for promising new talent, its recruiters scattered throughout the armed forces and government agenciesand three men are about to cross its radar.
The first is Dominic Caruso, a rookie FBI agent, barely a year out of Quantico, whose decisive actions resolve a particularly brutal kidnap/murder case. The second is Caruso's brother, Brian, a Marine captain just back from his first combat action in Afghanistan, and already a man to watch. And the third is their cousin...a young man named Jack Ryan, Jr.
Jack was raised on intrigue. As his father moved through the ranks of the CIA and then into the White House, Jack received a life course in the world and the way it operates from agents, statesmen, analysts, Secret Service men, and black ops specialists such as John Clark and Ding Chavez. He wants to put it all to work nowbut when he knocks on the front door of "the Campus," he finds that nothing has prepared him for what he is about to encounter. For it is indeed a different world out there, and in here...and it is about to become far more dangerous.
BOOK REVIEWS
Media Reviews
Publishers Weekly
This isn't Clancy's strongest novel, but it's a big improvement over Red Rabbit. Geopolitical analysis and operational details overwhelm the few action sequences, perhaps to the chagrin of many Clancy fans, but the author knows this stuff like no one else and delivers it all in his inimitable clipped manner.
The San Antonio Express-News - Harry Thomas
Despite last year's lackluster response to Red Rabbit, Clancy is still the top draw in a field filled with contemporaries. The Teeth of the Tiger is his measured response to the events of 9-11 and an obvious attempt to reinvent the franchise he has created. It's an acceptable thriller, with the promise of more to come.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Harry Levins
On the plus side, this book is mercifully briefer than its chronological predecessor in the Jack Ryan series... and the reader is spared the Limbaugh-like monologues that made such a drag of The Bear and the Dragon...On the minus side Other than a synchronized terrorist assault on shopping centers in four midsize American communities, not much happens in The Teeth of the Tiger. Oh, there's a lot of tradecraft as the Caruso brothers take out terrorists across Europe, but the action is low-key and localized.
The Washington Post - Patrick Anderson
Clancy's strength has always been his plots, and this is a good and timely one, but it is soon overwhelmed by his usual weaknesses, which include inane dialogue, gossamer characterizations, endless repetition and bumper-sticker politics.
The Boston Herald - David Exum
A chilling look at a frighteningly plausible scenario, The Teeth of the Tiger surprises and entertains as only Tom Clancy can... It's no secret that Clancy owns the techno-thriller genre. Long before countless writers started pouring out fictitious tales of modern terrorism, Clancy was paving the way with the remarkable Patriot Games in 1986. Portions of The Teeth of the Tiger reflect a chilling version of reality and place it comfortably along-side any of Clancy's earlier work.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Ryan Tumbler Worst of the series Reads like a right-wing shopping list, something that was already the case with "Rainbow Six" and "The Bear and the Dragon", but those at least had a semblance of a plot, to keep it going. The premise of TOTT is set in a conversation between Jack... Read More
Rated of 5
by seabreeze
I have never been so disappointed in a book as I was with this one. The biggest disappointment being that Clancy centered this novel around Jack Ryan, Jr. and his cousins, making only vague references to Jack Sr and other well known and highly... Read More
An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea.
War, natural disaster, reckless gods and the recognition of impermanence in the world are just some of the threads that AS Byatt weaves into this most timely of books. Linguistically stunning and imaginatively abundant, this is a landmark.
A beguiling, imaginative, inspiring story about the bigness of being alive as an individual, as a member of a tribe, and as a participant in history, exploring how we use storytelling to survive and shape our own truths.
Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants, Margaret Powell's classic memoir of her time in service is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high.
Vivid, daring, and unforgettable, The Printmaker's Daughter shines fresh light on art, loyalty, and the tender and indelible bond between a father and daughter.
I read The Healing in two sittings it is a fascinating story of plantation life at the beginning of the Civil War. Granada, a slave newborn child...
read more
The Uncommon Reader is a novella by novelist and playwright, Alan Bennett. The story starts with the Queen coming across the mobile library van...
read more
Amazon to open bricks and mortar store in Seattle(Feb 07 2012) Last week, the word in the blogosphere was that Amazon was considering opening a bricks-and-mortar store. Over the weekend goodereader.com added substance to...
Full Story
Arizona bills Amazon for $53 million in uncollected sales tax(Feb 06 2012) The ongoing sales tax battle between many US states and large online retailers, most notably Amazon, continues with a thrust from Arizona which, last week,...
Full Story