Teeth of the Tiger

Tom Clancy's latest novel, Teeth of the Tiger, may well have been titled "The Boring Tiger and His Distinctly Toothless Tale".

I'm not a fast reader by any standard and I don't have the most leisure time of my peers so trying to read a novel becomes somewhat of a cost-benefit analysis for me. I've only read one other Clancy novel in the past and it was pretty good so you wouldn't be surprised that I would want to give it another go in spite of my limited free time.

Also, the book was in prominent display on the Bargain Books table at Borders and advertising an obscenely low sticker price for a brand-new hardcover book at $5.99. (I should have taken that ridiculous price point as a warning rather than an invitation. After all, how many automobiles will sell for 1/7 of the retail price without a distinct flaw somewhere on the machine?)

Having been sufficiently enticed by the low price point, hooked by my favorable past experience with Clancy, and sank by my attraction to all topics pro-war and anti-terror, I bought and read the novel cover to cover in about a month's time. (That is not long when you factor in my limited leisure time and slow reading pace)

Without going into detail and without giving away the plot, I can say that the novel was more a business venture intended to set up a future franchise series than it was a work of passionate storytelling.

There were so many unbelievable and unbelievably mundane scenarios that the entire tale could have been told in a matter of 20 pages had a proper editor been retained to render the service of editing Clancy's manuscripts rather than kiss his a$$.

I did like the overall premise of using non-government, third party agents to make bad people who hate America go away, but there was so little substance and so little suspense in the story that the entire book seemed like a whimsical thought rather than a serious endeavor.

Anyway, if you are thinking about reading this book, don't. If you must, borrow mine and save your $5.99 for a Venti Almond Latté instead.