Executive Orders

By: Tom Clancy

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 51 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

The US President, along with most of the Cabinet and Congress, is dead. Dazed and confused, the man who only minutes before had been confirmed as the new Vice-President of the United States is told that he is now President.

President John Patrick Ryan.

With stunning force, Ryan's responsibilities crush on him. He must calm an anxious and grieving nation, all while attempting to reconstitute a Cabinet and a Congress with the greatest possible speed.

But that is not all. Both within Washington DC and across the globe, there are those eager to act on the animosity towards the United States and others from Jack Ryan's past that harbour a grudge towards the new President himself. Soon they will present Jack Ryan with a crisis so big even he cannot imagine it.

©1996 Jack Ryan Limited Partnership (P)1996 Books on Tape Inc

Critic Reviews

"His plotting here is masterful, as is his strumming of patriotic heartstrings. This is heavyweight entertainment." ( Publishers Weekly, Starred Review)

"Vintage Clancy ... The conclusion features the most harrowing battlefield prose Clancy has written since Red Storm Rising." ( Bookpage)

This was written pre-9/11: keep that in mind.

I regard Tom Clancy as a solid, competent writer who deserved the success he has received. We foreigners who have been to the US have to remind ourselves that while Special Forces are carefully selected and trained to be the very best they can be and enjoy most of the advantages of hi-tech, offensive and defensive, they are still human and can be killed, wounded or mentally damaged. In Executive Orders, a Japanese pilot, seething over conflict described in a previous book, takes a 747 below the radar, kills hi co-pilot and dives the huge bomb into Congress, killing most of the US government, including the President, and the chain of command down to a level beneath the Joint Chiefs. Our hero Jack Ryan is thrust but unwanted circumstance into the role of President, with only one Senator protesting. The reluctant POTUS faces danger from many quarters but manages to find sufficient men with backbone to rally to the cause and uncover/destroy the real perpetrators of the plot to take out the US. If the plunged 747 decapitating the US government only to be foiled doesn't grab you, the underlying plot, which involves the weaponizing of the ebola virus, should make thinkers pause and pay more attention to events in Africa and the Middle East.

Mr Clancy has written a powerful account of a mega tragedy for the US and the world. I rate Red Star Rising as the best of Clancy's books but even with the passage of time this is a very close second. I purchased not knowing that that it was set on a different time line. Normally, my first reaction would be to return the book but I'm pleased I hung in there. It's a long but very worthwhile read.

1 person found this helpful

Mesmerizing and spell binding

Good book with a great story. Definitely one of the best fiction I have ever read to date. Even better to listen to this again on an audiobook

well worth listening time

Would you listen to Executive Orders again? Why?

yes, I am sure I missed some as I sat late in the evening to get my next fix so will repeat the enjoyable experience at some time in the future.

Who was your favorite character and why?

no real favourite

Which character – as performed by Michael Prichard – was your favorite?

I am not American so enjoy the different accents, he gives a marvellous performance

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

it would be nice but not possible

President Jack Ryan

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

I recommend this audiobook to anyone who enjoys great political thrillers. Tom Clancy was a master of the genre.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jack Ryan for his ability to step up to plate.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Once again too lengthy but I gave it a red hot go.

Lifeless

If it wasn't for the author, I wouldn't listen to this book. Michael Prichard is lifeless. It's just a guy reading a book. These is no depth in the characters. Everyone sounds like everyone else. Unlike some other books I listen to where the Narrator makes the effort to breathe life into every single character, Michael Prichard makes no effort at all.

Tom Clancy books deserve a better Narrator that keeps me interested.

2 people found this helpful

Fast paced and exciting.

The story of how Jack Ryan becomes President of the United States. How he has to fight enemies from within America and outside too.

1 person found this helpful

good book as normal thay take time to get into

book it brings home all day true dangers of the real life and see how we mad deal with them .

1 person found this helpful

outstanding

cracking story and gripping throughout. This is the second listened to and I would buy another in this series.

1 person found this helpful

loved it.. amazing..

Brilliant book. loved and listen to it everyday. would recommend it to any clancy fan.

1 person found this helpful

Good story.Terrible narration by Michael Prichard.

The book was great but the narration was sadly very poor. Many words had the incorrect English pronunciation. Volume constantly changed and tempo was often wrong.

1 person found this helpful

The thriller of thrillers, hold on to your hats.

Would you consider the audio edition of Executive Orders to be better than the print version?

Yes, in that every last detail is presented. The danger with reading an exciting book is that you skip on too fast to find out what happens next. Much better to listen to every word properly.

What other book might you compare Executive Orders to, and why?

Clear and present danger.

What does Michael Prichard bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Every detail is clear.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Kept me awake while on a long boring drive!

1 person found this helpful

Tom Clancy

Very good keeps you enthralled until the end could not put it down. Follows on from other Jack Ryan books

Dire pronunciation but what a story

I have read this book so many times but now (due to tinnitus) I find I prefer to listen. Despite the fact that the narrator pronounces Iran so annoyingly I still enjoyed it.

another grest listern

having been working my though the series of books, i can safely sau this is another good one!!