Of the Clancy novels that I have read I have to say that this is my favorite. Although the characters can seem a little shallow and the plot is very far fetched, this is simply a terrific book. I am sure that critics believe this to be one of Clancy's poorer novels because of what I stated above, but it'll keep you intrigued and hooked from the get-go.

One thing I am sure many readers will notice is that this book definitely has a larger emphasis on action and shooting than many other Tom Clancy stories do. This will obviously appeal to many readers, myself included. The fact that this novel is so action packed will encourage readers to keep turning the pages, is the plot and the many twists included weren't enough.

I am a kid, which means that sometimes I get bored when reading. For the few younger readers who are interested in picking up this book I warn you that some segments of this novel are very boring. While yes, I am aware that this is intended to advance the plot and character development but sometimes we're looking at one action sequence per every 100 pages until the large scale shootout finale. In a book that's 895 pages long (paper back version), many younger people may just put down this book and not bother.

Now you're probably wondering why I would give this book a 5/5 when I just complained about it for a paragraph. Well, simply it's because I have never lost myself in a book as much as I have this one. I was never terribly interested in the Harry Potters and the Lord of the Rings that all my friends were talking about simply because I grew up on watching movies similar to this book with my dad, and I am sure that many other people were the same. So basically what I'm saying is that if you love action, tactical military stuff, movies like Black Hawk Down and the Rainbow Six video games you will love this book. If not, you may want to give this one a pass