RIP Tom Clancy

Tom Clancy passed away in Baltimore, Maryland this month. I didn't really follow his novels because they were just to political for me, but Hunt For Red October did catch my eye. He made a big notch in the literary world. He was 66.

Rest In Peace, Tom.

Way to young for a great writer to leave living. He had a good career and was one of my more favorite authors. Take care Tom, where ever you are.

CS

He was once one of my favorite authors. I felt betrayed when he started paying others to write his books for him. I didn't feel like paying a surrogate to read them for me, so I swore him off well over a decade ago. (And no, he isn't the only one.)

I really liked a lot of his earlier works and the character of "Jack Ryan" was one of my favorites. His climb to the upper echelons of Washington may have a bit improbable but I liked his style (and Clancy's). Unfortunately he became a "franchise" and I stopped following his career. The fact that I wound up with much less time for reading played no little part in that decision too.

I really enjoyed his early works. I have a autographed copy of Hunt for Red October which came out when I was a young naval officer.

I am a Tom Clancy devotee. I have read all, but four of his fiction books. My favorites if you like energy, action and twist are called Op Center. Arthur Hailey and Alistair McLean are amazing to in this same genre.

Alistair McLean I remember from some time ago. He wrote The Guns of Navarrone and I think, Where Eagles Dare. I read Clancy's early books, Red October and Red Storm Rising. Also the later Jack Ryan novels, but ran into what I thought was a terrible novel called Rainbow Six that was a complete cliche of plotting and characters and that turned me off of Clancy. I think he let himself be ruled by publishers who probably wanted "product", a terrible way to have to write, IMHO. Maybe that explains the numerous co-writers. Although I think one was Thomas Perry who I like a lot (The Butcher's Boy, Sleeping Dogs, Jane Whitfield novels).