📚🛬 Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy and Grant Blackwood
Not a Book Report
I enjoy reflecting on the movies, TV, books and other media that I consume. I’m notoriously sentimental. This series documents the books that I read. These aren’t reviews or recommendations. Just a list. For me. Mostly so that I can page through what I read, where I was, and when.
Why did I read it?
I picked up a Tom Clancy book in the Stockholm Central train station a couple months ago and it made me remember how fun these can be. So I rewound in the series by about a decade and picked up at Book 10 in the run. I have been spending a lot of time wading through some complex, but interesting, challenges at the office - all good problems, but the kinds of things that leave me beat at the end of the day and ready to jump into a novel about spies and special forces for 30 minutes before I fall asleep.
What is it?
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Dead or Alive |
| Author | Tom Clancy and Grant Blackwood |
| Year Published | 2011 |
| Format | Kindle |
| Pages | 701 |
| ISBN | 0425263533 |
How did I read it?
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Date Started | July 10, 2023 |
| Date Finished | August 11, 2023 |
| Places Read | Sintra |
Notes - No Spoilers
- This thing is a real product of the Obama era - and not in the best way. The thinly veiled criticisms of the in-universe President who replaced Jack Ryan Sr, specifically the complaints from the intelligence community, feel forced in an otherwise fun read.
- By extension, the Sam Driscoll plot line feels ham-fisted.
- Also, somewhat prescient (sadly) point in the book where the former Chief of Staff has to remind the elder Ryan that the press is not the enemy…
- Texas gets a shout out! Specifically MD Anderson in Houston as having the best cancer treatment on earth.
- Even though the book was only written 12 years ago, the impact of technology makes it feel outdaded already - which speaks more to the advances in encrypted communication, smart phones, and satellites/drones than the book itself.
- Those complaints aside, and I’m spending more time on gripes than usual today, reading Tom Clancy books continues to be silly fun and wildly entertaining.
- The technical descriptions of encryption were very, very good in a “ELI5” kind of way.
- This was the first book I read on my new Kindle and the rumors are true - this is a pretty great reading experience. Bonus points that it allows me to leave my phone outside of the bedroom so that I don’t wind up scrolling Reddit for 2 hours instead of falling asleep.