Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Patriot Games

Patriot Games by Tom Clancy, 540 pages




This is the first Tom Clancy book I have read, and I am ashamed to admit that I saw the movie before I read the book (please don't judge; I wouldn't do that to you). While Harrison Ford kicked butt as the main character, Jack Ryan, in the movie version, I will stick to the somewhat new adage of "the book was better."


Not only was the book better, it was also significantly different than the movie. I think I even read a tidbit of trivia that stated how Tom Clancy disassociated himself with the film after he read the script.

Tom Clancy is altogether a different bird than what I'm used to reading. While the book is packed full of action, you don't really get the sense of action-packed due to the extreme introspections and reflections each character goes through. I will admit, it did make the book go by faster for me (see 540 pages) once I figured that out and was able to skim through the sections that had little bearing on understanding the plot.

Overall, I am not disappointed that I read Patriot Games. It definitely takes patience, and one has to admire Clancy's gumption with the plot (assassination attempt of the royal family...come on!).

1 comment:

  1. Oddly, this was also the first Tom Clancy book I ever read, but that was a good 25 years ago. For what it's worth, Clear and Present Danger is also much better than the movie.

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