The Tom Clancy Companion (Revised)

Over the past 20 years, Tom Clancy has gone from a successful insurance salesman to best-selling novelist whose books about American intelligence and defense agencies are read by millions of readers all over the world. Some of his novels, particularly 1986's Red Storm Rising, are even required reading at some of our prestigious military academies. Four of his novels have been adapted into popular films, and a vast array of books (nonfiction as well as his novels), video games (Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell), board games, and computer simulations is available in many marketplaces, including malls, used bookstores, and, of course, right here.The Tom Clancy Companion, edited by Martin H. Greenberg (the brain behind the seven volume Guided Tour series of non-fiction books about the U.S. armed forces) is a 1992 reference book that explores the Clancy phenomenon at the popular and critical zenith of his career. Although it covers only the first five Jack Ryan novels and Red Storm Rising, The Tom Clancy Companion not only gives the reader an insight into Clancy's creative process and writing career, but also delves into the author's mostly conservative political views, both in the interview he granted to Greenberg and in a selection of newspaper columns written by Clancy. To most of Clancy's legions of fans, perhaps the best feature is the A-Z concordance of characters and weapons systems that appear in each of the first six novels (The Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising, Patriot Games, Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears). The entries are brief but nevertheless informative, and it is this feature that new Clancy readers would find most useful.Want to know, say, about an A-10 Thunderbolt II and its close support mission? Or what a Typhoon-class submarine's dimensions are? The concordance answers those questions and others, although it is not as complete as one would like. The "caterpillar" device that allows the Red October to pass Soviet vessels while running silent, running deep using a nearly silent propulsion system is nowhere to be found. Such a glaring error is why I gave this otherwise excellent (if badly outdated) reference book four rather than five stars.

If you follow Jack Ryan closely, you'll enjoy having a copy of the Tom Clancy companion handy. This only covers through The Sum of All Fears (his sixth novel), so it's a little dated. But it's still worth taking a look at since this first group of books is certainly Clancy's best. It begins with an analysis of each of those first six novels. Next comes a big section of Q & A with Clancy where he gives his views on foreign policy, gun control, and all sorts of issues. Then there's a glossary/reference section which defines important characters, military equipment, technology, etc. in his books. Everything from "Ryan, John Patrick" to "KH-12."

This is a very good summary of all of the books from The Hunt for Red October to The Sum of All Fears in publishing order. It gives a good summary of these books, and perhaps providing an easy to see link between events which may become lost in the actual book. It also has several short essays written by Tom Clancy, including one about the life of Kyle Haydock which was deeply moving. The Companion also includes a concordance of key words from the novels. I would hope that a revised version or a sequel would be in the works.

The Tom Clancy Companion is absolutely vital to any and all Tom Clancy fans, because it contains references to every character and weapon, every piece of equipment used in Clancy's novel, plus much more such as in-depth interviews with Tom Clancy ("TC"), and essays by TC on issues such as nuclear proliferation and gun control. The book also contains detailed summarires and cririques of TC's books. The only thing is that The TC Companion was written in 1991 so it only encompasses the Clancy universe up to and including The Sum of All Fears,which means there is obviously no reference to Without Remorse, Debt of Honor, Executive Orders, his non-fiction works or the Op-Center series. Which makes me ask: WHEN IS THE 2ND EDITION OF THE TOM CLANCY COMPANION GONNA BE WRITTEN