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Dead or Alive
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Dead or Alive
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Dead or Alive
Audiobook (abridged)9 hours

Dead or Alive

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

Jack Ryan, the former president of the United States, is out of office, but not out of the loop about his brainchild, the "Campus" - a highly effective, counter-terrorism organization that operates outside the Washington hierarchy. But what Ryan doesn't know is that his son, Jack Ryan, Jr., has joined his cousins, Brian and Dominic Caruso, at the shadowy Campus. While a highly effective analyst, young Ryan hungers for the action of a field agent.

The Campus has now turned their sights on the Emir, the number one terrorist threat to western civilization. A reclusive figure and mastermind of vicious terrorist acts, the Emir has eluded capture by the world's law enforcement agencies. But now - with the help of ex-CIA agent John Clark and protégé Marine Colonel Ding Chavez - the Campus is in on the hunt. The mission: to bring the Emir in - dead or alive.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 7, 2010
ISBN9781611061222
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Dead or Alive
Author

Tom Clancy

Since the phenomenal worldwide success of ‘‘The Hunt for Red October’, his controversial, ground-breaking first novel, Tom Clancy has become one of the world’s fastest-selling thriller writers. Three of his novels have been made into highly successful films: ‘The Hunt for Red October’, ‘Patriot Games’ and ‘Clear and Present Danger’. He is also the author of several non-fiction books on military subjects, and the co-creator of the ‘Op-Centre’ series. He lives in Maryland, USA.

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Reviews for Dead or Alive

Rating: 3.5304878268292685 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

328 ratings39 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This one was an improvement over the first Jack Jr. outing, but there's still work to be done. Especially on the pacing front once again, where a lot of time was spent of side issues and subplots that weren't particularly relevant to the main story and that served mainly to cause the overall effort to lose its focus on more than one occasion. Still, I can already see that some new blood working with Clancy here might be just what it takes to get the Ryans franchise back to the top of the heap where it belongs.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Also authored by Grant BlackwoodIslamic extremists and attempts to bring down the US and other countries not thinking the same as the extremists. Post 9/11.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ein routiniert geschriebener Campus-Thriller, dem aber im Vergleich zu anderen Stories aus der Reihe ein wenig der Schliff fehlt. Alles in allem aber lesenswert.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I tried. I really tried to get through this story. But there were too many problems with the way that it was written and put together that I decided that it wasn't worth struggling to like a story that just wasn't moving along. After 509 pages, I'm lost and don't see the point of continuing. I just had to accept that if I'm struggling with the story, then I'm not enjoying it.To be fair, there were a few good things about it. The detailed military tactical info and a good description of the CIA's counter-terrorism center illustrated that the author had a strong understanding of the subject matter. Even if he wasn't accurate, it was very convincing. I also enjoyed the part about the hostage rescue operation. What I enjoyed the least was that there were too many characters. There were only a few that I remember, and after 500 pages, I couldn't care less about them, because they weren't interesting. There were also several instances where the story dragged. Many sequences, in my opinion, could've been reduced or cut out completely from the story in order to maintain the pacing. There were times I felt the story was going somewhere, only to be disappointed in the following chapter. There were a set of scenes in the beginning, which were relevant to the story, centering around one character, that just discontinued and was left unresolved for most of the first half of the book. This is certainly one of the subplots of the story. It would've been nice had its development continued. On a side note, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) do not ride horses nor wear red jackets with brimmed hats during an investigation. The horses, the red jackets and brimmed hats are only for ceremonial purposes. I don't know if that was a joke between the characters or not, but I got the impression that it wasn't.It pains me to give this book such a poor review, because I expected more from Clancy.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As always, worth the wait...just hope the next one doesn't take so long. The story line is very topical to todays state of the Union. The author really shows the necessity of a change in our outlook and approach to warfare as it is fought by other countries today. In showing how other countries throw out the old rules of wasfare, it acts as a reminder that one of the reasons we won the revolutionary war was in no large part due to our change of tactics. We took cover. "Dead or Alive" shows us a possible answer to thinking outside the box in the current wasfare situation. This book is an excelent read and I highly recommend it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent. Typical Tom Clancy and I enjoyed it just as much as the rest. I've missed reading about the characters that have been a part of the Jack Ryan series all these years and I loved that he got them all together in this book. I hope there will be more to come.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Good plot but way more complicated than realistically believable. The book could have been shorter by 300 pages and not lost anything.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was very good. The quick pace was engaging, the plot was just the right blend of technical and character driven story, and I have a real soft spot for Ding Chavez and John Clark. I am becoming fonder of Jack Ryan, Jr. as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have long been a fan of the Jack Ryan adventures since we first met Sir Jack when he hunted the Red October. Clancy though has lost his way. And ghost writers are probably the reason why. A technique of Dumas after becoming famous was to dictate plots to others to write the stories. Clancy used to make me believe that our heroes were diligent intelligence officers and operatives plugging away at the evidence they gathered and then deciphering the picture and solving the problem. Now, we need 300 pages to get warmed up. Then it becomes formula. Something bad is happening, our heroes will uncover through plot devices what they need to know in order to stop the worst just in the last moments before it all goes badly. Every time, though? Why not stop it days, months, before it goes bad. Why not lose and only be able to show up too late? That would not sell the American dream that we are somehow superior which is the subplot throughout the entire work. That we are superior. That because we are superior, we have these enemies who will defeat us because we take all that for granted. That there are hundreds of ways to infiltrate our borders and do damage, but always our Ryan heroes come through and save the day.Clancy's team writes decent suspense, but these books could be reduced in size (less air between lines) and word count. (We were told that Jack's son is following his father's professional career choices about 1000 times. Every time the plot moves a few hours ahead we have to have characters ask how they each are by each of them for the event that happened 100 pages ago, but only a few hours before...)These are big faults of writing. To Clancy he want's to make sure all he close family inside his head are fed, have lives, remember to flush the toilet. We actually don't care about the mundane unless it adds to the story, and far too much doesn't. If it adds to the characterization we are following great, but he has given so many of his secondary characters their own novels, that each has to be treated like the primary when they are on stage, and that is not the case. Once Clancy can oversee his writers and make them understand how to really write a good, tight suspense book, we will be able to rate these outstanding, but until then, they are only slightly better than average and that is because of the earlier work that has been established.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ok story, but the beginning is too short on details for any of it to make sense at first and the ending timing is way too short for into make any sense.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A definite step up from the last Jack Ryan Jr. novel, Dead Or Alive carries on the story from The Teeth of the Tiger, following The Campus' hunt for The Emir. We see the return of Jack Ryan Jr and the Caruso brothers, but also (and I was so glad!) John Clark and Domingo Chavez, two of my personal favourite Clancy characters. They added that extra element to this book not seen in its predecessor. Also there was a little more of Jack Ryan Sr, always a good thing (view spoiler).I still think that Clancy's earlier novels like The Hunt for Red October and Clear and Present Danger are far superior to these latest ones. It may be because that time and those situations were more familiar to him, and so he wrote better and more knowledgeably about them. That's not to say he doesn't know what's going on today, but he just was better back then. However, the idea of The Campus intrigues me, so I think I might just go and read the next one. If anything, he has restored my faith in his writing that was so let down after The Teeth Of The Tiger.However, there was one glaringly obvious defect about this book that frustrated me to no end. And that was the lack of women characters who weren't prostitutes, whores, incompetent politicians or amazing mothers. The one exception was Mary Pat Foley, and she was barely in it. If that book is to be believable in this day and age, it needs a kick ass woman. Or women. Time to let go of the boys club, Clancy, that's not exactly how we do it now.3.75 stars(Can I do that? Bad luck. I did it.)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A vast improvement over Teeth of the Tiger. The younger generation of character is finally getting more developed, and Clancy is handling three separate plotlines as only he can. Looking forward to more in the series; it's definitely gotten invigorated with this installment.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This a a disappointing entry in the Clancy canon. It is co-authored by 'Grant Blackwood' and it shows. Although it starts well with an operation in the hills of Afghanistan, most of the book is taken up with the efforts of an unofficial terrorist catching operation to foil a plot masterminded by 'The Emir', who is a thinly disguised but not very clever version of Bin Laden. The good guys seem actually to have little better morals than the bad ones (okay they don't kill children). The characters are skin deep especially Jack Ryan Jr and Caruso brothers (sounds like a circus act...). Clancy's strength has always been in sustaining narrative drive through lots of technical explanation without making the latter boring, but that simply isn't the case here. And the terrorists' plot, when finally revealed, is pretty lame and ill-explained. One can only hope that the next in the series is better. But we said that before this book.....
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    The only reason for reviewing this book is to warn others not to waste their time. Tom Clancy was one of my favorite writers before I wasted my time on the first 624 pages. Yes I am writing a review on a book that was unreadable. Poor character development, slaggard story line, soap opera dialogue and many other negative conditions led me to stop reading and to proceed to other more important reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a BIG improvement over "The Teeth of the Tiger". It grabbed me in the first couple of pages & never let go. I am hoping that "The Teeth of the Tiger" was just an aberration and that "Dead or Alive" says that he is back on track. Yes, it is a VERY long book, but I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the fact that many characters from previous books were included.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A convoluted rehash of several past characters bringsthis story forward but requires the patience of a saint to figure out. A very long book, it is not Clancy's best but is creative non the less.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As good a writer as Tom Clancy is, had a hard time keeping focused on the storyline in this 40#, 950 page book. Kept saying, "This has got to get better", but alas, never did IMO. Far to much tech speak that can not be understood by Joe/Joan Average. Felt like my 3 rating was being very generous.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book brought back nice memories of previous Tom Clancy novels. Several times, one line in the book reminded me of a whole 700+ page book. It read a lot like an episode of "The Unit" with a little "24" thrown in. Actually "The Unit" and "24" should give Clancy royalty checks more than the other way around. I think I would have liked it even without reading Clancy's other novels, but maybe 4 not 5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Proofreading and factchecking must be a lost art. At one point, a flight from the east coast to las vegas is listed as 4 hour and 20 minutes, which is reasonable. However, it is stade in the book that due to the 4 time zones, they arrived just 20 minutes later by local time. They need to rethink that.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the span of years since Clancy's last novel, I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoyed his book. Dead or Alive was certainly not the best novel Clancy has ever written, but it did remind me of why I enjoy his books. For one thing, his characters are interesting. Some of them are a bit one-dimensional (they serve their purpose), but others have a bit more going on than we might expect. The plot is also quite detailed, but without adding complexity for the sake of doing so. I also like Clancy's penchant for giving me a bit of detail and background on characters who aren't really central to the story. He could drop a lot of that and shorten the story, but by giving the reader more information about peripheral characters, Clancy humanizes them and keeps the reader guessing as to which characters are or are not central to the plot. Also, perhaps borrowing a bit from classic Russian literature, numerous side plots come and go during the book, some with no resolution at all, some clearly designed to be picked up in a later story. While this may detract from the core story Clancy is telling, once again it keeps the reader guessing and helps to ground the actions of the main characters into a broader world. Finally, and this is the part that I really forgot: Clancy is a master at pacing. The early segments of the book are slow, almost plodding (though with some action thrown in). But as the story develops and moves toward its climax, the pacing and the events become ever faster. The details laid out over the preceding pages become meaningful and Clancy need not be distracted with details because he's already provided them. I will admit, though, that the ending seemed a bit contrived; too much out of the end of a thriller movie. But I still enjoyed the book.One more point worth making: In recent years, I've criticized authors like Vince Flynn and Brad Thor for preaching their political views in their books. Clancy (or at least many of his characters) clearly resides on the right of the political spectrum. And Clancy occassionally criticizes those with a different political view. But he doesn't demonize them in the way that Flynn and Thor do; in fact, at one point in Dead or Alive Jack Ryan notes that he respects a political opponent for having a principled view of an issue, even if Ryan disagrees with that view. Clancy may make some characters bad, but they're not bad simply because of their different stance on political issues. So, in the end, where I may disagree with some of what Clancy and his characters believe, I don't feel like I've been attacked or insulted or that Clancy would view me as any less a patriot because of my political views.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Grant Blackwood's name should be the bigger one on the cover.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first few chapters jump around quite a bit, but it all comes together in the end.I enjoyed this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    For a 900-plus page book, its reading went fairly fast - easy reading and well-paced action. However, I still remember my fascination with the military strategy depicted by Mr. Clancy in "RED STORM RISING" and "The HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER" and this terrorist-chase stuff is getting sort of boring (just my opinion, sorry).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not exactly the quality I remember from Clancy, but it has been awhile since I've read him. Multi-faceted story like usual, but some of the story lines didn't seem necessary (Jack Ryan's in particular), perhaps they lead in to a future book. Also could have used a better edit and revision. There seemed to be character swaps and repeated info in multiple places.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Clancy's gang is back fighting for what is right and doing it in fine fashion against all fronts in country and abroad. It is a fast read even with a total of 950 pages. What is difficult at times is the multiple plot lines and multiple character actions . You are constantly battling to keep the images in your own mind from losing track. A couple of times I had to review a character or action to make sure I was on the right boat or in the right country. It is Clancy through and with assistance from co-author Grant Blackwood.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It's a Clancy novel. If you're already a fan, that's all that needs to be said. It's typical Clancy with lots of action and intrigue. For me, it was a fairly quick read, but then I got my copy on my day off from work, so I was able to jump right into reading it straight thru. The book doesn't end on a "cliff hanger", but there is a lot that happened that leaves things open to more books in the future, and I hope we do see more books dealing with "The Campus".That being said, I only gave it three stars because of some glaring inconsistencies from the previous book. Either Clancy or Blackwood (who the book is written "with"), or even both, must not have taken too much time to do much to get down the facts we were given about things in "Teeth Of The Tiger". While they didn't completely "ruin" the book for me, it wasn't as good as it could have been if things had stayed consistent in their progress.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This very long novel (950 pages) is almost classic Clancy. Since he hasn't written in so long, it takes the first 100-150 pages to refamiliarize yourself with all of the characters and their histories (all continued from previous novels). There are 5-6 concurrent efforts being tracked around the world, all involving some sort of massive terrorist effort (and of course, with the "good guys" attempting to stop them) - all in classic Clancy style. I have 2 issues with the book; instead of looking to the future (as Clancy has traditionally done) this volume seems to deal mostly with thinly veiled current events (including a lot of ranting about current politics), and secondly, I am not sure that 950 pages were needed. The good news? - Clancy has left several candidate follow-on books available with his ending!!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Tom Clancy's newest addition to his Jack Ryan series falls far short of his past works. The plot slowly plods along, the beginning serving largely as a summary of his past novels and the middle attempting but failing to build tension. The conclusion is stale, and is followed by a lengthy and detailed description of the interrogation of a thinly-veiled Osama Bin Laden stand-in character which can only be described as "torture-porn". Tom Clancy fans be warned, the author you know and loved in the past is not to be found in this novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It has been seven long years since Tom Clancy's last Jack Ryan techno-thriller, "The Teeth of the Tiger." Much speculation has surrounded the long writing layoff of one of the bestselling authors of all time. No matter the reason, 2010 has seen the return of Jack Ryan and Co in "Dead or Alive." Picking up where Tiger left off, "Dead or Alive" is quintessential Tom Clancy. Highly developed, relatable characters and a complex, multi-layered plot that doesn't tip its hand until the very end. One of the biggest complaints many readers have with Clancy novels is the technical nature of much of his writing. However, the layoff must have given him time to refine his writing, because "Dead or Alive" contains very little of the notorious Clancy "techno-drag." The book moved along at a brisk pace and kept me engaged from start to finish. Tom Clancy shows that he has lost none of his storytelling chops with "Dead or Alive." A great book that I encourage you to pick up.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was not a bad book but not up to the classic Clancy standards. The book focuses on The Campus, introduced in an earlier book. Several old characters like John Clark, Ding Chavez, the Foleys and others reappear. It was nice to see them again and nice that Clancy gave Jack Ryan, Jr. some personality. It was sorely lacking in the last book. Better than the average book of this genre lately (I'm looking at you, Vince Flynn). Don't be fooled by the size of the book (my copy had 950 pages)--it is a pretty fast read. There were some big dangling plot lines so it was definitely left open for another book.