In Debt of Honor we are left hanging with the country recovering from a 'war' with Japan, most of the triad of Government dead and Jack Ryan is President of the United States. Tom Clancy continues the heroic saga of President Ryan as he brings a leaderless country back from disaster. We get a glimpse of the life of the Commander in Chief in his self described prison. It is through the thoughts of Ryan we can extrapolate and emphasize with the great burden the job contains. This is a must read for new and old Clancy fans with continuations of many of the story lines start as far back as Without Remorse. The only criticism of the book is in the last 100 pages. Clancy turns to too much of the mechanics of warfare from the compelling human portraits he paints. Many pages of small print will keep you up well into the night

While having to drive about an hour a day for work, I decided to give Clancy a try to help pass the time (NPR can only do so much after about a month <30 hrs of radio time>). The audio CD was wonderful and really helped pass the time. The story is interesting - lots of twists, turns, Clancy techno-battles, and interesting characters - without the volume issue that makes the reader decide what sections to skim.

As well, I really enjoyed the reader for the book (even though I panned Mr. Hermann in 'A Beautiful Mind', he did a wonderful job here). He paced the desert war, the gun battles, and the moments of intrigue (the lead-in and standoff with the rogue secret service agent comes to mind) well, keeping interest and at times causing me to sit in the car for an extra 5-10 mins waiting for a scene to play out. All in all, a solid 4 stars.

I read this book quite a while ago, but am just recently rereading many of Clancy's works. I think this book, though long, is a great read and often hard to put down. I have noticed recently that several of Clancy's books have recieved criticism (this book and Debt of Honor especially) pertaining to the attacks on September 11. I too, admit that I thought this was pretty eery, but come on guys, give Mr. Clancy a break. His job is to write fiction, not read the minds of terrorists. Trust me, the terrorists can figure out how to attack our nation by themselves, and they do not need Tom Clancy's help. Does this mean that since the news have been blabbering on about biological attack, if one really happens thats the new agencies faults? I don't think so. My only hope is that this real horror story comes to a conclusion of justice just as Executive Orders.