Tom Clancy, we hardly knew ye.
 

Publicist confirmed he died last night in a hospital in Baltimore.

wow. Was he ill?

Damn, this sucks.

Didn't know he was ill.

Jack Ryan is one of the best characters ever invented.

Rest in peace.

Enjoyed several thousand pages of his work through the years as he set the standard for an entire genre.

My favorite is Without Remorse by the way. I know a lot of people skipped it in the series but it's one of the most gripping stories he ever wrote.

I loved Rainbow Six and SSN as well as the Jack Ryan series..

Damn...this sucks.

Pretty surprised by this. I am guessing this was either very sudden or he and those closest to him kept evrything very close to the vest about whatever he was sick from.

While as I got older I moved on to other things (and the books got more nonsensical), as a teenager I love his Jack Ryan books. I totally agree that Without Remorse was his best "story", it was very tightly plotted compared to his others and gripping.

I've read it 3 times. Definitely my favorite.

The Jack Ryan books up to Debt of Honor were fantastic. Executive Orders was good, but not as good as Debt of Honor.

Pretty much everything afterwards, the Jack Ryan Jr books (and especially the ones "co-written", have been utter trash.

66 is too young. I'll miss the author who wrote The Cardinal of the Kremlin, The Hunt for Red October, etc.

Unfortunately, I fully expect his estate and publisher to come to an agreement where the "co-written" stuff continues with his name on it, just because his books make too much money to say "Okay, he's dead; we have to quit now."

There have been allusions to Clancy's health for more than five years. I'm not sure it's every been disclosed what his issues were, but it would appear they have been ongoing for some time. Technically, he hasn't written a book since 2003.

I'm very conflicted about Clancy's legacy. I didn't start reading his books until I picked up a used copy of The Hunt for Red October after the movie came out, and I became a fan. Over the years, however, it has become increasingly clear that Clancy didn't write as much as it seems.

Red Storm Rising was "co-written" with Larry Bond, and it appears Bond was also heavily involved with Red October as well. Nothing with Clancy's name on it has been a solo work since The Teeth of Tiger, and it appears that everything since 2003 has been ghostwritten entirely by other authors.

The question a lot of people as is how much did Clancy use ghostwriters from Patriot Games through The Teeth of the Tiger? There have been arguments that ghostwriters were used to varying degrees, and there is circumstantial evidence. His writing changed after Bond moved on as a collaborator. Sum of All Fears is much different than the preceding books. Without Remorse really stands out -- it's so completely out of character with his other books and is certainly one of the best.

I don't know what the reality is. I do know that whatever his involvement, he helped carve out a new niche of novels that made an impact in both publishing and movies. I loved his books, and the Alec Baldwin/Harrison Ford films are all terrific. May he rest in piece.

I just went back and read Red Storm Rising a week ago. The Cardinal of the Kremlin was one of my favorites.

My favorite too...by far actually.

I found some of jack Ryan et al books to be hit or miss. I loved Red October but hated Red Storm (extremely boring and tedious); the trilogy of Sum of all Fears-Debt of Honor-Executive Orders were the best thrillers I had ever read; but Bear and Dragon was very poorly done and never read another one of his books; and Without Remorse was entirely forgettable for me.

Rip

my favorite author by far...totally stunned by this...just saw on Amazon a couple days ago that he has another Jack Ryan Jr. book coming out on 11 December.

red storm rising might be my favorite book of all time

My favorite is Red Storm Rising. Great book.
I havent read Without Remorse. Need to get that one.

RIP

I really don't think much of the stuff written in his name over the past 10 years have actually been him. You can tell because the quality is way down from earlier stuff.

He has written nothing since 2003. Everything has been done by ghostwriters, although the ghostwriters are getting "written with" credit.

It looks like Bear/Dragon was 2000 and Red Rabbit was 2002, so I would say those May have been at least partially ghost written.

I'll always remember him for the Rainbow Six series and the time he didn't have enough money to buy the Vikings.

Red Storm Rising was my favorite one followed by Without Remorse. The Ryan books were all good up through Debt of Honor. I started to feel like the series jumped the shark a bit once he became president. While the details of weapons and warfare remained a strong point, it felt like the world surrounding the storyline grew less plausible and I've pretty much not bought any of his books since Ryan Jr became the focal point for that reason. I actually may be one of the few who appreciated Red Rabbit because it seemed to less be a treatise on what Clancy would do if he were in charge and brought Ryan and friends back to being characters on a stage with a real life event (the attempted assassination on John Paul II) as the backdrop.

Regardless, a touchstone of my youth and young adult years is now gone. Getting old sucks. :(

RIP.

Red Storm Rising was great.. RIP :(

I guess I am the only one that hated Red Storm Rising. What interested me about the Jack Ryan books were the political intrigue and how leaders lead.

Legend, RIP.

some stuff was, but the ones that he didnt write at all are really distinct and you can look up which ones they are...all the Jack Ryan Jrs were at least "co written" by him