Patriot Games by Tom Clancy

This is the best book I've read by Clancy. I've only read 3 in total, so that may not be a fair judgment of his body of work. I started with THE SUM OF ALL OUR FEARS and thought it pretty good but too long, and the bad guys were poorly drawn and unbelievable. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER I barely remember, buried with so much technical detail about sonar and submarines.

But this book focuses on Jack Ryan and his personal life (albeit intersecting with nasty Irish terrorists), nicely unified by the pregnancy of his son. The middle could be tightened somewhat, but it's overall fast-paced and about the right length for the material.

The terrorist attack on his wife and daughter is harrowing stuff. I'd fault the finale because it depends on a subsidiary character being in the bathroom at the right time. Also, he leaves a thread hanging -- what happened to the terrorist's plot to simultaneously kill off rival leaders in the IRA while he was kidnapping Prince Charles and Lady Di in America?

It was odd to feel such outrage about terrorists who're not Muslims, especially since the IRA threat has died down. And truly odd to see French security forces acting so decisively against a threat and actually helping the U.S.

The other 2 Clancy books I read made me feel like I didn't want to read any more for about a year or so -- but this one makes me feel like picking up some more soon.