Monday October 04, 2004

Tom Clancy's books

I was hoping to find a decent web page for him but could not do so. His books are monsters, some greater than four hundred pages long. I have read most and have my own favourites. Some of his characters you will know are Jack Ryan who becomes the US president, Ramius the Russian submarine commander who decides to jump ship to the US and John Clark the secretive CIA man who has his past history revealed in Without Remorse.

I am reading the current book and it is quite good. The Teeth of the Tiger has Ryan's son in an organisation created by his father before he retires. The great comment in the book is "If you want to kick a tiger in the ass, you'd better have a plan for dealing with his teeth".

Of course the famous books for most must be " The Hunt for Red October where Ryan and the US navy try to find the Russian commander who may be trying to defect with his submarine and its secret drive system. Sean Connery keeps his Scottish accent despite his position as the boat's Russian commander.. Patriot Games has Harrison Ford pitched against Sean Bean, an IRA killer.

Rainbow Six, Sum of all Fears and Clear and Present Danger are also good yarns but I think the Bear and the Dragon where China invades Russia is Clancy back at his best. Less good stories are Red Rabbit, Executive Orders, Red Storm Rising and Cardinal of the Kremlin.

I think what is most impressive is his attention to detail and the efforts he goes to make his story accurate from a technical point of view.

The best I leave for last - the story Clancy was asked to write is about John Clarke's origins. Without Remorse is the only Clancy I have read twice and may do so again.

Time for a driving in the UK moan !

Very much trying to avoid following in the footsteps of the The grumpy old men from the BBC but....

My pet peeve of UK driving today is running red lights as they say stateside. It is becoming an epidemic over here in blighty. I suppose you could say it is because everyone is in a rush and the traffic levels are bad down south but I think it is just plain old sploppy driving. I also guess they expect you to back off and let them through but the problem is at crossroads they are going to come off worse as they will be hit on the side of their car. Do what they say in California, count to five after you see your green. You will probably count five cars wizz past your eyes at the same time...

I don't know what has started this but be careful out there ! Life is too precious to waste on gaining a few seconds...