Friday, 8 April 2016

Support and Defend by Tom Clancy



Tom Clancy Support and Defend
By Tom Clancy with Mark Greaney
386 pages, varies with format, Putnam (Penguin) Publishers
Genre : Fiction (Action Thriller)


Are whistleblowers really the good guys or just idiots with a mistaken sense of doing good while they have no real idea of what they are doing? When there is a worldwide call for more transparency and people say no to unauthorized tapping of phone calls by the US govt. of allies, does it really help or hurt ordinary people? If terrorists caught hold of whistleblowers, what do we do? You’ll get answers to these and much more in this latest NYT bestseller.

An ex-IDF officer retired in India trains Dominic Caruso, a member of a shadowy American intelligence organization when the officer and his family are murdered by suicide bombers while Caruso escapes barely alive. Brimming with vengeance, Caruso returns to America only to be caught up in a bigger plot and every time the reader thinks they know the answer, the plot gets even more complicated. I would advise the reader to stop guessing and just go with the flow as the novel is like a delightfully tasty meal. Once you pick up this book, you cannot put it down.

From Kochi, India to the power corridors of the White House, from the jungles in Panama to the snowy mountains of Switzerland, the story moves across three continents and constantly reminds you of Edward Snowden. Greaney seems to have written the character Ethan Ross based on Edward Snowden while making readers wonder and speculate if Julian Assange is Gianna Bertoli, ITP is Transparency International, etc. It seems a little too familiar which would lead you to speculate about who is who. This is one aspect of the novel which all readers will be put through – a guessing game absent in all other novels of this genre by different authors.

After the untimely and mysterious death of Tom Clancy, this book keeps his memory alive and Dominic Caruso is a fantastic protagonist. Having co-authored a few books with the late Tom Clancy, Greaney has proved he is the official protégé of Tom Clancy,  with this wonderfully quick, fast paced, page turner that would be worthy of being a Tom Clancy original though this has been co-authored. Miss you Clancy and thanks Greaney.

Ensure you have enough uninterrupted time, curl up on a sofa with this book and enjoy.



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