Tom Clancy, author, dies at 66

Tom Clancy was one of those authors whose quality really tapered off towards the end.

I'll confess to being a fan of his earlier work: Hunt for Red October; Patriot Games; Cardinal of the Kremlin; etc. were all entertaining thrillers. But by the time Teeth of the Tiger and Red Rabbit came out, I found him literally unreadable. Clancy's right wing nuttery and laziness with his prose and plot points had taken its toll. (Note: Teeth of the Tiger features two spoiled young asses driving around Europe in Ferraris murdering people. And they were supposed to be the good guys.)

Very sad day. I loved his books and 66 is way too young to die.

Rainbow Six *tear*

Quit writing several years ago all the recent books are supposedly his but are the product of others who write in collaboration with the Clancy franchise.

His books, from a literary point of view, were crap, but the first Rainbow Six videogame is still my all-time favorite.

I enjoyed many of his novels, up to the point that they started being "Tom Clancy with..." then I stopped reading them. It took me 2 tries to get through Sum of All Fears, the first attempt ended about 10 pages before the 10 page explanation of the bomb exploding.

My favorite movie adapted from his novels was the first one, Hunt for Red October.

RIP

Your books are amongst the best!

vrDrew said:

Tom Clancy was one of those authors whose quality really tapered off towards the end.

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Tom Clancy didn't exclusively write most of his material later in his career. Instead Tom Clancy co-wrote the books but it was obvious that his co-writers did most of the writing. Many popular authors do this because people will buy a book that says Tom Clancy on the title where they wouldn't buy it if it didn't.

That's sad news. I really enjoyed his writing style and reading his books.

vrDrew said:

Tom Clancy was one of those authors whose quality really tapered off towards the end.

I'll confess to being a fan of his earlier work: Hunt for Red October; Patriot Games; Cardinal of the Kremlin; etc. were all entertaining thrillers. But by the time Teeth of the Tiger and Red Rabbit came out, I found him literally unreadable. Clancy's right wing nuttery and laziness with his prose and plot points had taken its toll. ....

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redshift1 said:

Quit writing several years ago all the recent books are supposedly his but are the product of others who write in collaboration with the Clancy franchise.

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hallux said:

I enjoyed many of his novels, up to the point that they started being "Tom Clancy with..." then I stopped reading them. ...........
My favorite movie adapted from his novels was the first one, Hunt for Red October.

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Plutonius said:

Tom Clancy didn't exclusively write most of his material later in his career. Instead Tom Clancy co-wrote the books but it was obvious that his co-writers did most of the writing. Many popular authors do this because people will buy a book that says Tom Clancy on the title where they wouldn't buy it if it didn't.

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Fascinating; there appears to be a very strong consensus that the quality of his writing deteriorated markedly, something which is explained by the gloomy truth that he seems to have more or less stopped writing, and had others doing the job for him.

While Plutonius says 'many popular authors do this', (names, names, please, so I know whose books to avoid!), I should think it must be relatively easy to spot as it is difficult enough to successfully copy somebody else's writing in a wholly convincing manner.

Having said that, 66 is still a very young age at which to die when one is a comfortably off individual from the First World.

Scepticalscribe said:

While Plutonius says 'many popular authors do this', (names, names, please, so I know whose books to avoid!), I should think it must be relatively easy to spot as it is difficult enough to successfully copy somebody else's writing in a wholly convincing manner.

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The later Bourne books are written by someone else.

http://www.jason-bourne-books.com/books.php

Interesting tidbit...
I went to summer Camp in Huntington MD back ion the 70's and 80's. The land where the camp once stood was purchased by Clancy and is where he lived until his death. The campers who once went there (Camp Kaufman) would return to the grounds to reminisce with the old site and of course this irritated Clancy. Clancy placed an old Sherman Tank aiming directly down the road one would come down to get to the land as a deterrent. You can see the tank in the Google map screen shot

Scepticalscribe said:

While Plutonius says 'many popular authors do this', (names, names, please, so I know whose books to avoid!), I should think it must be relatively easy to spot as it is difficult enough to successfully copy somebody else's writing in a wholly convincing manner.

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You just have to look where the authors are listed on the cover. If it list two authors with the author you like in large print and the other in small print, it's most likely that the author in small print actually wrote the novel.

Clive Cussler is one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, he is one of those authors who stopped solo writing and his later books are not up to par. I think one exception might be his Isaac Bell series about a detective during the start of the 20th century.

RIP - I have read a few of his books - most of them a good page turner. Not quite high literature, but an easy read.

Loved early Clancy. Not so much this thread.

Plutonius said:

You just have to look where the authors are listed on the cover. If it list two authors with the author you like in large print and the other in small print, it's most likely that the author in small print actually wrote the novel.

Clive Cussler is one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately, he is one of those authors who stopped solo writing and his later books are not up to par. I think one exception might be his Isaac Bell series about a detective during the start of the 20th century.

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Sometimes, (here I am thinking of writers such as David Eddings) a writer will acknowledge the long time input of a co-writer much later in his career.

Several of the later books published by Eddings also featured his wife's name (David & Leigh Eddings) and he explained that she had always had a huge input into the books, and that he was merely acknowledging an already existing reality in his later books.

Having said that, to my eye, the tone of a writer - especially a good writer, or one with a specific tone - is pretty difficult to replicate successfully. You know - unless they are so bad as a writer already that it doesn't really matter - when you open that page that this is a pastiche or a derivative.

(For example, the latest book in the Steig Larsson franchise, written by David Lagercrantz, is very clearly, - despite using some of the same characters - not a Steig Larsson book. It doesn't read the same, and it manages the pacing of the narrative differently).

I agree with you about the Larsson franchise, I will not read another one.

JamesMike said:

I agree with you about the Larsson franchise, I will not read another one.

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I thought it an acceptable way to pass an evening - but - very clearly - it wasn't Steig Larsson.

Those who criticised his (Larsson's) prose style - attempting to argue that Lagercrantz is a better prose stylist, - he may well be - miss the point: Steig Larsson's characters were memorable and electric (and he supplied them with wonderfully in depth backstories, and credible motivations) - his stories were an investigation of certain social and cultural norms and values in Sweden, and the wild cast of secondary characters as well as the wonderful Lisbet Salander were spell-binding.

This latest book lacked all that. Now, I am not attempting to argue that it was dreadful - it wasn't, not at all, - rather, that it was pedestrian.