Dead or Alive

A Jack Ryan Novel

By: Tom Clancy, Grant Blackwood

Narrated by: Lou Diamond Phillips

Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Don't Miss the Original Series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Starring John Krasinski!

Tom Clancy delivers a #1 New York Times bestselling Jack Ryan novel that will remind readers why he is the acknowledged master of international intrigue and nonstop military action.

It is The Campus. Secretly created under the administration of President Jack Ryan, its sole purpose is to eliminate terrorists and those who protect them. Officially, it has no connection to the American government - a necessity in a time when those in power consider themselves above such arcane ideals as loyalty, justice, and right or wrong.

Now covert intelligence expert Jack Ryan Jr. and his compatriots at The Campus - joined by black ops warriors John Clark and “Ding” Chavez - have come up against their greatest foe: a sadistic killer known as the Emir. Mastermind of countless horrific attacks, the Emir has eluded capture by every law enforcement agency in the world. But his greatest devastation is yet to be unleashed as he plans a monumental strike at the heart of America.

On the trail of the Emir, Jack Ryan Jr. will find himself following in his legendary father’s footsteps on a manhunt that will take him and his allies across the globe, into the shadowy arenas of political gamesmanship, and back onto U.S. soil in a race to prevent the possible fall of the West....

Take another thrill ride with Jack Ryan.

©2010 by Rubicon, Inc. (P)2010 by Brilliance Audio, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Heart-stopping action...entertaining and eminently topical.” (The Washington Post)

“The best characters from all of Clancy’s previous novels are on the case.... For fans of the genre, Dead or Alive is likely to provide a long weekend’s pleasure.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Clancy is back at the top of his game.... In-depth research, continuous suspense, and scores of fascinating characters.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

Lou Diamond Phillips is an outstanding narrator.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Lou Diamond Phillips escalates a good story to a superb listen.

What other book might you compare Dead or Alive to and why?

I would recommend all Tom Clancy books narrated by Lou Diamond Phillips. He is an incredible narrator who could like breath life into a dull book.

What about Lou Diamond Phillips’s performance did you like?

EVERYTHING. He excels at portraying multiple characters, male, female and ethnic. I particularly enjoyed his rendition of Mary Pat Foley and Jack Ryan Sr.

Any additional comments?

This was my first encounter with Lou Diamond Phillips and what a delightful experience it was. He and Humphrey Bower are a cut above the rest.

evenly paced, full of propaganda and some errors

I haven't listened to a Clancy book in awhile; suspect this is part of a saga and if you have read others you already know what to expect. In this installment, Jack Ryan Sr is ex-president but unhappy with the direction of the current president. Jack Jr wishes to get into the spook business. Soldiers Clark and Driscoll, et al are probably old characters. A non-government vigilante group hires them all and they seem to have a license to kill with impunity. Meanwhile, a Bin Laden character is planning his next attacks.
The story moves slowly and steadily, parallel threads of terrorist movements and intelligence gathering lead to some showdowns.

Three things strike me: All the characters reflect on their roles and the ethics of what they do but generally end up shrugging off their murders of fellow humans as simply the role they play (like Nazi officers' defense at Nuremburg) or, at best, it's-us-or-them. In the terrorists' case, it's Allah's will.

Secondly, the book is full of Republican-hawk demagoguery. If you're of a liberal or even an independent mindset, this may become annoying. Of note, even as Jack Sr considers a return to politics, the words Replublican or Democrat never appear in the book. It's as if political parties do not exist in the world Clancy has invented.

Thirdly, I know nothing of military hardware and how real spies/agents act. Based on the 3 things I do know about, because they relate to medicine, much of the descriptions here may be terribly inaccurate. The bits about superglue in a wound, use of rat poison in a bomb and dosing of succinyl choline are blatantly crazy. But Clancy is such a master of verisimilitude that the book is fairly satisfying.

Nice, but.......

I am a Tom Clancy fan and have read all his books. I found this one was not up to same standards as his previous books. Still a good listen.

Dead or Alive may be an hour too long

Sagged once or twice but was very intense several times. Overall, very good listen, but could have been a bit more compressed.

all star cast. jack jr gets educated by j Carter.

good book. good campus background. the Emir and so much more. a great continuation from teeth of the Tiger.

Great performance of a well thought out story

little hard to keep track of the multiple story lines but great performance with voice changes

Good read, well good listen!

I have read the book, and wanted to see listen to it a while later! I thought the book was great in audio form! I have listened to the next book "Locke On' already!!

loved it!

Great plot, characters and an awesome narrator. All in all a fantastic book, I would recommend.

Excellent!

Hardly a moment passed that I wasn't listening to this book. Lost some sleep because I couldn't press pause.

Lou Diamond Phillips was superb.

Great story with an even better narrator

What did you love best about Dead or Alive?

The whole story was great. I felt engaged the entire time. The pace of the story was definitely my favorite part. It takes off like an olympic sprinter, and only slows down to give some necessary back-story for the characters, then off to the races again.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Again, it was the pace.

Which character – as performed by Lou Diamond Phillips – was your favorite?

Jack Clark. Without question. I will be listening to Without Remorse next, just so I can find out how this espionage legend got his start.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was livid when the

Any additional comments?

I was surprised by how well Lou Diamond Phillips did as a narrator. His range is incredible. Even when make slight adjustments to accents while portraying 4-5 different men of the same ethnicity.