NOTE: I have the PS2 version of the game, so I don't know how well this book works as a guide for Xbox and PC versions.
For the PS2 version, though, as a basic walkthrough, it is certainly better than nothing, but I still feel like I was misled when the book advertises itself as being for all 3 platforms (Xbox, PC, and PS2). When I got stuck on one part of the game, I consulted this book and still couldn't get through it. I accidentally flipped to the next page and then noticed what the book calls a "PS2 sidebar." At first, I thought it was something extra for the PS2 version until I looked closely and saw that it began at a point just before the part that I was stuck on. It turns out that a completely different strategy is necessary on PS2 for that part than on the other platforms. A note on the previous page that says something to the effect of "PS2 users: See side bar on next page for this part" would have been nice. That's an example of how the organization of the book is lacking.

If you have the ps2 version of this game do not get this book unless you are absolutley lost. Even then, think twice. It is written for the xbox and pc versions of the game, and it includes sidebars for the ps2 versions. Plus, the pictures shown are only for the xbox and pc versions, which will confuse a lot of people. If you have the xbox or pc versions, I give this book five stars. PS2 version, only 2.

Up to this point, I have loved all the Clancy books I have read. This one was simply horrible. Please note that the author of this book is Steve Perry, not Tom Clancy, and it is not up to par with the works Clancy is known for.

The story line is very simplistic and they characters are very one dimensional. About 50 pages from the end you could predict the ending with a good degree of accuracy.

If you haven't read any of Clancy's books (the ones HE wrote), then pick one of those up. This one isn't worth the time or the money. Too bad 0 stars isn't an option.

First, let me tell you a little about the book. This series follows Net Force, a division of the FBI set up to deal with net crimes in 2010. CyberNation deals with a group trying to form a nation based completely on the net. Their main goal throughout the book is to get more people to sign up with them, so that they have the numbers to get the attention of current nations. To get people to join, they disrupt the internet, in a not very legeal way, and so Net Force is called in. The rest of the book is Net Force trying to catch the hackers doing the disruptions.

In general this series has a very well thought out discription of what needs to be done to protect and police the net. Having said that, I have noticed that the Net Force books have been going down hill, and this one continues that trend. A lot of time is spent on character development, but no development actually comes out of it. For example, we see Jay Gridley question his upcoming marrage. But in the end, the final decision has nothing to do with the pages of inner questioning that he goes through. Then there is the introduction of new 'toys' for the military, that never show up again. Add to that the fact that every other scene leads to sex, and that there is almost no technology discription, this book is only a shadow of Clancy's work.

IMHO this series has become a soap opera, with most of the time spent on generic character development and sex, and very little time spent on the action and discriptions that brought me to Clancy in the first place.

overall i thought the book was excelent. the book kept me on my toes thinking about what was going to happen. the book was action packed with not only the whole gun slinging scene but also in the scence of how Tom portrayed the world years from now. I love how he made everything electonic. and how everything was made into a thechnologicaly advanced system.
the plot kept moving making the book a page turner. the only thing i disliked about the book, but made it flow however, was how it would jump between charators. beyond that i loved it.

After about 600 pages, I realized that I was not having any fun reading the book, but I was too far along to quit. Clancy's best novels (Red Storm Rising and Clear and Present Danger to name two) were filled with action and suspense, not chapter long diatribes about such issues as abortion, population control and domestic politics. I see that Clancy is trying to move in a different direction with his writing, but it just comes of as contrived and preachy. A Marine buddy of mine has a saying which fits Clancy's writing very nicely, "you are a one trick pony, do the trick!" Until he returns to his former style, I will be passing on all his future books.

As an avid Clancy fan, who's read all of his books and owns most of them in hard cover, I found this book to be a bit of a dissapointment that doesn't even approach Clancy's normal high standards. Its a definite "must read" for Clancy fans, but for everyone else I'd highly recommend skipping this one at least until reading most of Clancy's other books.

The plot of the book, as the title implies, focuses on Russia and China, but mostly the latter. In a nutshell, a diplomatic incident plus some trade negotiations with the U.S. gone badly awry lead China to seek to take advantage of some new found economic luck by their neighbors to the north. There are a lot of parallels between US / Japanese relations leading up to WW2. along the way, there are assasination attempts and spycraft, but at a high level that sums up Clancy's latest effort.

First, the book's bad points:

1. Obviously Clancy now considers himself above editors - cause its obvious this book was not edited at all. There are at least 7 or 8 occasions where characters thoughts are repeated, verbatim, 2 or 3 times over the course of the book (for example, Ryan's belief that 'Daughters are god's punishment to fathers for being men' ... Ryan 'thinks' this about 4 different times during the book) and there are a fair amount of spelling/typo type errors that detract from the enjoyment of the book.

2. The structure of this novel simply isn't as good as Clancy's best efforts - the plot is very straightforward and not at all unpredictable - but more importantly it really is not very intricate - One of Clancy's fortes is to start with seemingly disparate story lines and seemlessly relate them together in the scope of the larger story (the Sum of All Fears is an excellent example of this)- in this novel, however, none of that occurs - the reader can pretty much see, immediately, the signifigance of just about everything that occurs. In the end, Clancy spends (depending on your point of view) 600 to 800 pages of this 1000 page book building toward the climax - which leaves the climax too short and the buildup is just not executed in Clancy's usually superb fashion.

3. The book almost seems unfinished - there are a lot of plot points that are left dangling when it really seemed like Clancy had intended to finish them.

4. Clancy has been developing a penchant recently for repeating the same ideas conveyed in his previous novels. In Rainbow Six, he basically repeated the whole bio-warfare aspect of Executive Orders. In the Bear and the Dragon, at the end of the book he pretty much repeats what was a very large aspect of Debt of Honor.

On the plus side, this is Clancy after all, and it is still a good read. The novel's premise is a good one, and in that sense its a good follow on to some of the plot threads Clancy started four books ago in Debt of Honor.

It's impossible to read all 700+ customer reviews, but I see the point of many of the folks slamming Clancy over this one. My take on this book, is that it is highly entertaining, how Clancy has continued the saga of Jack Ryan & Company through his series of books. There are numerous references to previous Clancy books that are substantial enough to create a parallel Clancyian universe. President Ryan speaks of the Fair Trade Act as history, and it takes some sorting out to remember, "no that's just previous fiction." Ryan semi-mutates into President Bush, with references to the previous corrupt president (Clinton?). Clancy's world is populated by military and ex-military types, so the insensitive acpects of their world-view that was not appreciated by other reviewers comes from that culture (Joe Ch--k, the swearing, the smoking) When facing enemy fire on the battlefield, one certainly does not care about the ill effects of second-hand smoke, or any other issue not related to immediate survival on the field of fire.

It's important to realize that Clancy is fashioning his own version of Planet Earth, which definitely departs from the reality we know. Unlike this book, the Chinese in real life recently demonstrated restraint in the Hunan reconaissance plance incident (as did President Bush). It certainly does not seem today, that the Chinese are headed toward a military confrontation with us or the Russians.

I think the real way to appreciate Clancy is to recognize that his world is a fiction, and then enjoy the ride. The details of the Siberian War, and of the air war, especially relating to the Dark Star technology, were breathtaking. This book accelerates as you read it, from a stroll in Dzherzhinskii Square to the 14,000 fps speed of the ICBM at the book's climax. The war turns what was a page-turner, into a page-riper... Once I got to the war at page 870, I had to continue nonstop until the end (1000+ pages). The book was breath-taking, and way too large-scale for a 2 hour movie to do it justice. Clancy in Bear & Dragon underscores why there is no substitute for reading a great book.

Save your money or read it for its stupidity

Not up to Clancy standards. The main premise is compelling- What might happen if a technological advancement were developed which could quickly break large prime number encryption, upon which the security of the world depends? A real theoretical possibility... This premise kept me reading right to the anti-climactic end. Some of the characters are interesting, like the Russian fellow who had a great subplot going, but even his ending is a letdown. The 2 main love stories are tiresome, detract from the main plot, and take up way too much ink. The virtual reality subplot is a leap of faith.
Not worth reading.
Currently reading Without Remorse, which is much better so far.

Annotation:A super genius computer hacker tries to take over the world by takeing over major computers across the globe. The Net Force opperatives must track him down and stop him before it is to late.

Autor Bio:The book Net Force Night Moves was written by Tom Clancy. Tom Clancy is the number one on New York Times best selling authors. Tom has created many books that envolve a form of law enforcement that has to take down the terriost threat. He is a great author.

Evaluation:The book Net Force Night Moves was an all around good book. It took a little bit of time before the book got started before i got interested in it. Also I would get confused when the charcters would jump in and out of the virtual reality when trying to catch the hacker. The characters in the story were decent, they all worked well with the way the book was put together. I like Tom Clancy and the way his stories are very intersting.I would recommend this book to a person who likes a twisted computer hacker story.

As a Clancy fan, and having panned "Night Moves" in an earlier review, I felt obligated to give another of his Net Force books a read. "Hidden Agendas" is, chronologically, the prequel to Clancy's earlier work. He might have done well to release it first. The characters in this book are better developed and the plot an improvement over his earlier effort. However, as inferred by another Amazon reviewer, this is the stuff of a movie script perhaps more than popular literature.

In "Hidden Agendas" the Net Force battles a computer wiz nee: body-building street thug and his employer, an apparently legitimate U.S. Congressional official with secrets to share. A "cloak 'n dagger" chase" traces its way across the U.S. and Europe before settling in an "OK Corral" confrontation that simultaneously brings all of the principals together in an obscure African nation.

Clancy does a nicer job here of developing his characters. He provides the origin of the relationship between Alex Michaels and Toni Fiorella as well as the unlikely match between Sergeant Fernandez and goddess-genius Joanna Winthrop. Even Jay Gridley's VR (virual reality) computer scenarios are less excentric. Col. John Howard is perhaps the most believable character (if you ignore the tree falling on him during a wilderness exercise in Washington). And we're less distracted by the wanderings Howard's son, Tyron, than in the earlier release.

Clancy doesn't let the intermittent romantic steam rust his proficiency for detail on weaponry and military tactics. However the motive of the key antagonist, Thomas Hughes, is never made completely clear. Despite a skeptical start, I enjoyed this volume better than "Night Moves."

First thing to establish is Tom Clancy did not write this book. I don't know why he puts his name on it, but the "Net Force" books are OK if you want something that is easy to read and doesn't make you think too hard.

The books are best read in sequence - I made the mistake of buying "Night Moves" and reading that first, before I realised it was a series.

I like the parallel stories a lot and the romantic angle between Alex and Toni prevents it all from being military tactics (which I also enjoy a lot).

One disappointing thing for me about "Net Force" is the name of the military head "Col. John Howard". Well, I am Australian and "John Howard" is the name of our Prime Minister. Whenever I read the name, I imagine a short, balding little weazel! Maybe Clancy and Steve Perry should check stuff like that out before they name their characters!

Conclusion: Good for a light read when you don't want to concentrate too much.

This was an interesting book. It was easy to follow and not that hard to comprehend. It starts in the year 2010 and tells of the Net Force, the group that is in charge of the safety of the Internet. A conflict arises when they have to figure out who is hacking into the Internet.

One character who stands out in my mind is Alex Michaels. He is the Commander of the Force. He is an honorable man who wouldn't stop working until he found out who was hacking into the Internet. Also, he wouldn't let his affair with a co-worker interfere with his job. This shows that he is both a hard worker and an honorable man.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. Once I got into it, it was extremely difficult to put down. When I chose this book, I thought it was going to be stupid, so I didn't want to read it, but I'm glad I did. I would recommend this book more to adults then children. It doesn't seem like a book someone younger would enjoy, but I think that older people would enjoy reading it.

This was a major misfire from TC. Is this the alter ego of Clancy? It reminds me of Spielberg:the good Spielberg who makes Schindler's List, ET, and Saving Private Ryan; and the bad Spielberg who makes The Temple of Doom and The Lost World. This book takes a long time to move along-unless 100 pages is acceptable to you-and only sparked my interest due to the New Years bombing. This isn't as bad as the newer Rainbow Six( which bites a lot). I just miss the old Clancy:the one who gave us Red October, Patriot Games, Red Storm Rising, Clear and Present Danger, etc. Come on Tom; no more power plays to make a quick buck are gonna work here.

Politika is a book that has an intriguing plot, with different exciting events woven

into it. Tom Clancy, in this book, braves waters no author has journeyed into before,

adding in terrorists, Mafia intrigues, and even the DEATH of Boris Yeltsin, leaving

Russian factions battling for control of the world power, and leaving one important

government businessman in the middle of the whole thing. Roger Gordian, is the man

behind Government and military technology. His corporation is attacked by Terrorists

and Mafia Russian factions. At the head of this secret war, is a Russian Gangster

known only as Penchanko , who has employed a world class assassin known as

Gregor . Roger Gordian must strike back using a covert team called SWORD, and is

forced to watch the new millennium turn into a terrorist attack as Times Square on

January 1st, 2000 is turned into sulking ruin...

The book started off rather slow at first, but picked up the pace towards the middle. I especially liked the Time Square part! That was extremely exciting. This is the first book that I have read from Tom Clancy. It seems to be a solid novel. With a very good ending. Although the ending was predictable, it was good. This is definitely something that could happen in the real world. I would recommend this book to others to read. The beginning requires some patience, but it is worth it. I am expecting bigger and better things as I head on to the Jack Ryan books by Clancy!

The covert ops essentials strategy guide is a waste of money. It doesn't make any sense. Why do you need a guide for a game that just trains you? I wouldn't get it if someone sold it for $5.

The strategy guide is absolutely terrible. covert Ops is only training and 3 lousy missions. It should be easily played- no one else's experience is really needed.

Don't get it!

Rainbow Six Covert Ops Strategy Guide= a waste of money

This is a great stragety book. In it they have made a page for every available player listing their leadership skills, accuracy, stealth, demolition, ect. This helps you to build a good team depending on the mission you're recruiting for. If you're going to get the game, be sure to get this stragety guide.

SSN began as an exciting read. Capt. Mack Mackey takes his Los Angeles class nuclear submarine deep into enemy waters to stealthily attack chinese shipping and defend American assets in the area.

The world of a nuclear submarine is an exciting one and Clancy seems to be well versed in the details of that environment. I eagerly devoured the early action in this strange setting. However, once the submarine jargon got old I realized that that's all the book is. It's just a very detailed discription of the operations of a submarine.

There are no characters that we know anything about, and there is not much of a story. If you're looking for a story I can sumarize it for you fairly simply: 1. The Cheyenne nuclear submarine encounters enemy. 2. Cheyenne sinks enemy becuase Cheyenne is quieter, has better sonor equipment and longer range torpedos and missiles. 3. Repeat process untill war is over.

Every mission was essentially the same.

In conclusion, I believe this is a good choice if you are looking for a book about how a modern submarine operates. If you're looking for a story or any interesting characters I believe you should look elsewhere. Two stars for interesting description of submarine operation.

I've not read much of Tom Clancy's work, but based on what little I have read, I held out much hope for this book. It definitely did not deliver.While the action "scenes" were quite fun, they were also rather repetitive. There was very little plot, and no character development. The end result is a story that is about as believable as a Rambo movie. I very seriously doubt that the entire Chinese navy, which was being constantly augmented with Soviet boats and crews, could be eliminated by a single sub. I don't buy it, and neither should you.

While this is not the usual top notch novel by Tom Clancy, it wasn't meant to be a fully fledged novel. It is a companion book to a CD-ROM game published by Simon and Shuster in 1996. If you are a fan of the game, and some people are, then it's a bit of fluff to read while on a long plane flight or bus ride.
If you aren't a fan of books based on games or expect great literature, then this book is not for you.

This review is written by a huge fan of Tom Clancy. By far the worst Jack Ryan book.

**Summary**
The Good - The Idea
The Bad -Tom Clancy's execution of his idea
The Ugly -618 pages for a 350 page idea

**Details**
THE GOOD - The plot is simple and an interesting idea. Jack Ryan early in his career as a CIA analyst is posted to London and brought into a situation involving the attempted assasination of Pope John Paul II. It has cold war intrigue, spycraft and gives us the opportunity to see Ed and Mary Pat Foley at work early in their careers, as well as Admiral Greer and DDO Bob Ritter. At the same time Tom Clancy gets to write some historical fiction and speculate on the details behind the event including the roles of Brehznev, Andropov and Suslov.

THE BAD - Of course, the villians are the KGB, communists and the assassin that a defector (the Rabbit) identifies. Also, as an aside, according to Dr. Cathy Ryan (who joins a hospital staff there) socialized medicine in the UK is so pathethic that one hopes never to need surgery while there. (This is the illustrative of the level of mind numbing detail in the book.) Of course, we are reminded at length how bad the communist economies were and how delusional were their leaders and while such reminders are probably worthwhile and do explain the thesis of the book, they continually interrupt the flow of the story.

THE UGLY - The details of the torture methods used by Stalin and the KGB. The lack of fact checking and several editing mistakes, especially since Clancy's strength is his attention to detail. E.G. the assasin is twice misidentified as one of his previous victims with a similar name and even more incredibly the attempt on the Pope's life in actuality was made in 1981, yet in the book it occurs the year that the Orioles won the world series (1983) and when Cal Ripken was supposedly a rookie (1982). If you are going to write historical fiction rather than about events in some parallel universe, get your facts right.

Jack Ryan fans will probably want to read this book despite its serious shortcomings, all others should wait for the movie which can keep the plot and action while getting rid of the extraneous material. Let's hope the apparent sequel, The Mask of The Red Death if the hints throughout this book mean anything, is better.

I personally liked it but clancy is really getting carried away with the profanity. It suddenly showed up in Bear and the Dragon and it disturbs me. Its as if he cant find a more colorful word to describe the situation.

Tom Clancy's Red Rabbit is quite an interesting read. It tell's a bit more about Ryan's early years as a spook with the CIA, though he's not the only star of this book.
The plot is simple; A KGB communications agent gets a conscience when he learns about Russia's plan to kill the pope, so he decides to defect and spill the beans before it's too late.
It's not as action packed as say 'The Sum Of All Fears' or 'Rainbow Six'. A good portion of the story deals with the CIA and it's British counterpart SIS in getting the Rabbit and his family out and it does tend to drag a bit.
But, for all that, you do get an interesting history lesson about Russia and it's neighbors and why they're so different from the West.
Clancy also deftly describes (Acronym's abounding) all the behind the scenes play of counter intelligence and espionage and every other spy scenario you could imagine.
It's been suggested over the years that Russia did in fact arrange for the attempt on the pope's life, and Clancy explains clearly why Russia was so afraid of him, and the story is quite plausible.
I recommend this book simply because it is extremely well written. Whether the subject matter appeals to you or not is irrelevant. I get the impression that this is the story that Clancy's wanted to write for years and it shows in his superior handling of the task.
Mission Accomplished!!

Start reading it only if you get it for free! Read the first 60 pages and ask someone to tell one what else happenes. It will take him around 1.2 seconds to do so. It's not worth 200+ pages.

At one time Clancy could claim the title of the greatest writer on earth. After I have read Net Force,Op Center and these Power Play books I have started reading the Robert Ludlum books. The villain in this book is terrible. The hero in this book is just about as bad. I have yet to figure out what the plot is.This book was just plain bad.I hope Tom Clancy starts taking his writing more serious. Maybe he can come back to life with the Bear and the Dragon.

Well, this book wasn't terrible, but it could have been much better. Definately doesn't live up to Politika or Ruthless.com, let alone the plethera of other Clancy novels. The biggest problem I had with this book was the fact that the characters never seemed to get their act together. They spent all but the last 60 or so pages of the book doing almost nothing. It seemed like for the first 250-300 pages, maybe two hours had passed in the world. To make matters worse, the ending wasn't even very glorious, for lack of a better word. It was like the good guys foil the plot, and a low monotonous "yay" murmers from the audience. An entire chapter was also spent describing a train wreck that should have been summed up in about 3 paragraphs tops. He basically described a couple hundred innocent people dying, and it had no real impact on the story WHAT-SO-EVER.

I don't really know much about how Clancy is doing buisness, but I see people saying he fathered the series and sold it out to other authors. All I have to say is that it doesn't speak very highly of Clancy as an author to let authors nobody has heard of write books in his name and not even check to see if they're on par with his original works. I found it disappointing overall.

However, if you've never read any Clancy novels, the Powerplay series might be a good one to start out on. You may expierence disappointment from Politika and Ruthless to Shadow Watch and other books in the series, but you definately won't be disappointed when you start reading other Clancy novels like Without Remorse and Clear and Present Danger.