Tom Clancy (1) (1947–2013)

In middle school I loved this book to death. It was my jam.
Re-reading it as an adult my appreciation dropped considerably. Frankly, Clancy's personal politics are *weird* and it seeps into the book in ways that make it harder to enjoy. There's a scene of bizarre, prurient sexual voyeurism by the villains using a magic 'inhibition reducer' out of Beavis & Butthead logic. You can feel his horror at the very concept of lesbianism hitting the same way the baffling ending of Lovecraft's "Medusa's Coil" hits. There's a long aside during one of the hostage situations handled by the Rainbow team where he basically starts soapboxing Heinlein-style about the irish republican army. The use of ecoterrorists as a well-funded, sinister global threat with genocidal ambitions is something out of AM talk radio's wildest delusions. The glee with which the deaths of 'bad guys' is described and celebrated, without any self-introspection, gets sickening after a while.

Spawned a great video game, at least.… (more)