Tom Clancy's Op-Center #1

by Tom Clancy (Created by), Steve Pieczenik, Jeff Rovin

Overview

Op-Center is the nation's heart of intelligence and crisis management. Sometimes, it's the only place our government can turn.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101003602
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/01/1995
Series:	Tom Clancy's Op-Center Series , #1
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	8,040
File size:	666 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

At one time, Tom Clancy was an obscure Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history and only a letter to the editor and a brief article on the MX missile to his credit. Years before he had been an English major at Baltimore’s Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, The Hunt for Red October—the story of a Russian submarine captain who defects to the United States—sold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it “the perfect yarn” and “non-put-downable.” Since then Clancy has established himself as an undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense.

Clancy’s next novel, Red Storm Rising, took on U.S./Soviet tension by providing a realistic modern war scenario arising from a conventional Soviet attack on NATO. Other bestsellers followed: Patriot Games dealt with terrorism; Cardinal of the Kremlin focused on spies, secrets and the strategic defense initiative; Clear and Present Danger asked what if there was a real war on drugs; The Sum of All Fears centered around post-Cold War attempts to rekindle U.S./Soviet animosity; Without Remorse took on the rising U.S. drug trade and Vietnam War era POW’s; and Debt of Honor explored the hazards of American/Japanese economic competition, the vulnerability of America’s financial system, and the dangers of military downsizing. In light of the events of September 11, 2001, Debt of Honor demonstrated once and for all Clancy’s cutting-edge prescience in predicting future events. The novel ends with a suicide attack against the U.S. Capitol Building by a terrorist flying a 747 out of Dulles airport.

Clancy’s uninterrupted string of best sellers continued with Executive Orders, which combined the threat of biological and conventional terrorism with the instability of the Persian Gulf region; Rainbow Six, which explored the dual threats posed by former Soviet intelligence operatives willing to sell themselves to the highest bidder, and genetically engineering bio weapons; and The Bear and The Dragon, which posited a limited war between China, the U.S. and Russia.

Clancy’s nonfiction works include Submarine, Armored Cav, Fighter Wing, Marine, and Airborne—a series of guided tours of America’s warfighting assets. He has also written three books in an extraordinary nonfiction series that looks deep into the art of war through the eyes of America’s outstanding military commanders. Into The Storm: A Study in Command, written with armor and infantry General Fred Franks Jr., and Every Man a Tiger, written with Air Force General Chuck Horner, won unanimous praise for their detailed exploration of traditional war-fighting from the ground and from the air. The third book in the Commanders series, Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces, written with General Carl Stiner, former commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, tells the story of the soldiers whose training, resourcefulness, and creativity make them capable of jobs that few other soldiers can handle, in situations where traditional arms and movement don’t apply.  

Most recently, Dr. Pieczenik has been pursuing the world of television films. He was executive producer and creator with Tom Clancy of the highly acclaimed Op Center miniseries based on the best-selling book series, and his and Tom Clancy's miniseries entitled Netforce. The television rights to his current novel State Of Emergency have been sold to ABC Pictures.

Hometown:

Huntingtown, Maryland

Date of Birth:

April 12, 1947

Date of Death:

October 1, 2013

Place of Birth:

Baltimore, Maryland

Education:

Loyola High School in Towson, Maryland, 1965; B.A. in English, Loyola College, 1969

Editorial Reviews

YA-A terrorist bomb explodes at a celebration outside the Palace in Seoul, South Korea, with hundreds of casualties. Was it planted by angry North Koreans? Anti-reunification South Koreans? Or one group posing as the other to shift blame? Will the U.S. go in to help an ally? Speedy and efficient answers must be provided through a new U.S. intelligence agency under the direction of Paul Hood. Shorter than many other Clancy novels, Op-Center is action-packed and less violent than Without Remorse (Putnam, 1993). Brief chapters relate each event in the 41 hours during the international crisis and shift quickly to many locales. Readers must remember under what circumstances they last saw each person and must be able to keep the Korean names straight. The author is a master at providing a past and a personality for the main characters in a few words. The others come alive through their actions. The intricate climax shows that neither side is all good or all bad: cooperation is needed to keep peace. Sure to be popular, especially when the television movie airs.-Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA

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