Tuesday Review

Yes I still read books. Lots of them. It’s just that lately I have been watching lot of movies too, and they seem more compelling to write about. Plus I can post neat pictures and videos.
But this was a weird synchronicity of reading and real life. Now I have people tell me that the brain is a pattern making machine and where it doesn’t find one it will make one up. Well. Ok. Explain this one.

I started reading Tom Clancy’s 12th (Or so) Jack Ryan novel “Dead or Alive” about a week before the Navy Seals put a bullet in Bin Ladens brain. As I got into the novel the real life events paralleled what was going on in the pages of Clancy’s co authored book (Grant Blackwood helped on this one) nearly perfectly.

Of course it’s just my pattern making machine making patterns, right?

In any case “Dead or Alive” is a rip snorter of a novel and despite the length (848 pages and a whopping 2.6 pounds make this an unlikely candidate for a beach novel) it moves very quickly.

I have been a fan of Clancy’s work ever since “The Hunt For Red October.” The Jack Ryan character, now Jack Ryan Jr. too, are both well developed and easy to root for. Clancy does stumble (The “Teeth of the Tiger” 2003, was dreadful) but he is back in form on this one.

The events leading up to the killing of Osama Bin Laden were exciting and confusing. This projection of what could have been a possible outcome is also exciting but a little less confusing. The only real bummer here is this story probably can not overshadow the reality. Oh, and it’s not going to make a great movie now.