Monday, July 11, 2011

Against All Enemies

CLANCY, TOM AND PETER TELEP. Against All Enemies. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-399-15730-1. Pp. 756. $28.95.

I guess I'll start with an easy one: this book is too long. Especially given that it involves two plots that are only tangentially connected, but both involving wicked groups of brown people--the Mexican drug cartels and the Taliban. (Clancy also mentions al-Qaida, apparently unaware that it is not a terrorist organization like the Taliban). Also, Against All Enemies is not going to be a stand-alone book, but is the first of a new military thriller series featuring generic killing machine Max Moore. So why the need to cram two installations into one giant book?

Tom Clancy's name has already been put on a series of video games, and I would argue that Against All Enemies would be a lot more enjoyable as an RPG, what with all the missions, weapons, and information gathering. Besides, if AAE had been made into a video game instead of a book, I would have been spared all the pornographic descriptions of weapons ("He had also been given the choice of an AK-103, an M16A2, or an M4 carbine...Of course he chose the M4A1 with SOPMOD package, including Rail Interface System.., flip-up rear sight, and Trijicon ACOG 4x scope"); ill-gotten wealth; and gore.

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