Dead or Alive

by Tom Clancy


Like most Tom Clancy books (Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of all Fears, Debt of Honor, Executive Orders, Rainbow Six, etc) this one does a marvelous job of keeping you on the edge of your seat. It is a typical Clancy with the usual characters: Jack Ryan, his son Jack Jr., CIA agents John Clark and Ding Chavez, Dominic and Brian Caruso, and the normal supporting cast of intelligence and operative players. Like most Clancy books it will take 200 pages to set the stage for the story, 500 for it to marinate and 200 more to crescendo and conclude.
Published in 2010, Dead or Alive is the story of the US Government hunting down the international terrorist called the Emir (a thinly disguised Bin Ladin). It was written and published before Bin Laden's killing but the plot line is eerily similar to what actually occurred. In Clancy's case, the Emir is hiding in plain sight but even closer to "home" planning his next major attack on the US.
If you haven't read any Clancys I would start with Clear and Present (assuming you've seen the movie Hunt for Red October) and read the five mentioned in the opening of this posting. That is but 5 of 15 in the series but they will give you all the background you need to thoroughly enjoy Dead or Alive.


I give it a 4 of 5 rating.