Patriot Games

By: Tom Clancy

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 22 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's Summary

It is fall. CIA analyst Jack Ryan, historian and former Marine, is vacationing in London with his wife and young daughter. Suddenly, right before his eyes, a terrorist group launches its deadly attack.

Instinctively, he dives forward to break it up, and is shot. It is not until he wakes up in the hospital that he learns whose lives he has saved - the Duke and Duchess of Kent.

By his impulsive act, he has gained both the gratitude of a nation and the enmity of its most dangerous men - men who do not sit on their hate.

Patriot Games is a prequel to The Hunt for Red October and has all the excitement and energy of Clancy's famous first book.

©1998 Tom Clancy (P)2011 Random House

Critic Reviews

“A novel that crackles!” (The New York Times)

“A bang-up climax.” (The Washington Post) 

“A high-pitch of excitement.” (The Wall Street Journal) 

Oldie but Goodie!

I vaguely remember reading the book back in the 80's, I have seen and enjoyed the movie dozens of times but listening to the book was more fun than I anticipated. I'm not a purist when it comes to adapting books to movies and I appreciated the adaptions made in the translation of this title. The movie is fabulous in it's own right but listening to the book let my imagination visually soar. Scott Brick reading was phenomenal as ever. His inflections throughout the story are spot on - I have a bad habit of gasping at exciting points in the storyline while listening to a point my husband thinks something is wrong with me. The storyline is just one entertaining wild ride. Another very much enjoyed audiobook that I would recommend!

Write down who each Brit is

The Brits generally sound the same so knowing there names is necessary especially David Ashley "of the home office" and James Owens of the Metropolitan Police

Excellent introduction to Jack Ryan

This is another excellent novel by Tom Clancy and in my opinion is very well read by Scott Brick. I like the acents that Scott Brick uses and while I don't consider myself to be an expert on different accents I can always tell weather the charactor speaking is English, Irish, Scottish Austrillian or even South Aferican by listening to the accent Mister Brick gives to the Charactor in question. He doesn't do as well with female charactors as he does with male charactors but I don't feel comfortable critising him for that. Dispite what some may say or think this is the second book in which Jack Ryan puts in an apperance even if it is the first book in which he does more than put in a breif cameo apperance. Jack Ryan did make a very breif apperance in Without Remorse discussing with his father his reasons for going into the Marines. Great book, well read, what more could you ask for.

Does not stand the test of time

Maybe I went in expecting too much but after about 6 hours I knew I had made a mistake. The book started off interesting and then it quickly became repetitive and very cliche.

First, the character development is non existent. Aside from Jack, pretty much every character is super cliche. Kathy comes across as the smart wife who can do no wrong, every officer Jack meets is the stereotypical gruff cop, etc. I honestly couldn’t tell most of the supporting characters apart and even if I could, it just reminded me how little I disliked them last time.

I stuck through that thinking that maybe the military and tactical aspect of the book would catch my interest - I was wrong. As I had said earlier, most of the characters are unidimensional stereotypes and have no depth - the tech and military aspect is the same in a lot of ways. It seems as if the author did next to no research as I heard multiple incorrect statements about technology or tactics. One of the most prolifically annoying is the author’s use of the word ‘clip’ instead of magazines for handguns.

The final nail in the coffin for me is the narrator. I won’t say he’s bad - but given how flat the characters are, I’d expect a little life out of the narrator and there isn’t much. He can switch between accents very well but doesn’t seem to change his tone or voice much, meaning characters routinely sound alike and I spent entire chapters not realizing if I had heard or seen a character before.

Overall, I found this book very frustrating. The plot is alright but it’s very slow and a bit predictable. Jack is an alright character but he’s really only the actually likable one. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t like it outside of nostalgia. This felt like a very generic action book with minimal plot.

Applicably slow.

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

Probably not. I like Clancy alot and there are many better ones. I wouldn't risk their interest with this one. It's good just not good enough compared to the others.

Would you be willing to try another book from Tom Clancy? Why or why not?

Absolutely. I love the amount of detail. Many people complain about Clancy being wordy but it paints a better picture for me and violence/action is ALWAYS written effectively. Detailed enough to illustrate the event but he doesnt dwell so long that it muddies the action.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I dont believe so. He was quite effective but not remarkable.

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

:/ Elements of one of the conclusions.( NO SPOILERS, dont worry).

Disappointing. I understand it was suppose to speak on character but it made it unbelievable for me. I was more baffled than... proud. Only time it didnt feel real.

Any additional comments?

Very Slow, very detailed. I enjoyed the investigative element and the cause and effect domino feel of the book. It makes the action that much more satisfying. Its a slow crawl to violence. Some of it even comes out of no where. And the psychological torment of the situation on the characters was FANTASTIC!... except for that element i mentioned in the last question.

Story Line, Character Dev & Narration: Top Notch

Admittedly, I'm a fan of this series. Having skipped around a little re which ones I was listening to I decided to go back and listen to all in order. (I did skip Red October due to the quality concerns expressed by other reviewers.) All is first rate in this book. Even though there is a reasonable mix of characters and nationalities, Clancy keeps it clear enough that you don't find yourself wondering , 'who is this again?" Scott Brick handles the various accents exceptionally well. The pacing is just right to keep you fully involved but not so fast that you lose track of things.

Now, on to the next one.

LOVED IT!

Phenomenal book that keeps you in your toes from start to finish. The audiobook version of this is great and the narration is enthusiastic like it reads. Be careful listening though, you get caught up in it and your heart starts racing, and when you pause it you have to remember you are still in the real world. 😊

a great work

Tom Clancy wrote this novel after his first book but is based before, Jack Ryan is a history teacher at the naval academy and loves to write history books, several Irish terrorists dont like how the IRA is doing there ops and are going to do things there way.

When Ryan's vacation is ruined while out in london working on his newest novel and he steps in to stop a terrorist attack he did not realize that in his act of heroism his life is changed forever.

Tom Clancy takes his time getting from the start to the finish and never makes a huge leap in his book that you have to accept ryan figured out. he will show you how Ryan takes his time with all the information to figure out what he needs to find the terrorist.

Scott Brick to me could have worked a little more on his naration, he tried to hard to copy people from the movie and you can tell he tried but at the same time is not very close and so it kind of makes the book feel like sometimes it was a joke.

Tom Clancy and Scott Brick are the best combo

I love Scott Brick's narration. He does an incredible job with accents. Clancy books have a lot of characters and Scott Brick makes it easy to tell them apart. I watched the movie version of this story years ago. This was a great trip down memory lane.

Great book, strong plot with good intrigue but....

Would you consider the audio edition of Patriot Games to be better than the print version?

I love this series, the books and stories are fantastic, but Scott Brick? PLEASE!!! He is good for Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert, even good on some of the non fiction but he is WAY TOO PREDICTABLE, if he were any more predictable, when his timber raises or he reads the words faster he is getting to a plot jink or action point. When he reads slower and more subdued he is reading a background point. I mean I would rather have Michael Prichard or Diamond Phillips read these books than Scott Brick. Like kissing your sister, even if she is beautiful there is no spark.

Print version is much better because I have a chance of interpreting for myself and it isn't the way this guy reads it.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Patriot Games?

There are too many memorable moments to pick just one.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Scott Brick?

I try not to unless it is a Kevin J Anderson or Brian Herbert book. For some reason he can do fine with them but when he does Clancy he doesn't quite get it right.

Another outstanding Tom Clancy book

This is story telling at its best. Full of detail and exciting to listen too. The narrator occasionally mixed his accents but excepting this he was very good and added to the listening experience. I will not give any details away about the plot but will say that I highly recommend this book. A must listen too!!!

Emotional Rollercoaster

I read the other reviews with interest and had to agree that this is not Scott Brick's best piece of work. His attempt at English and Irish accents are a little cringing. Get past that and the storyline does take a while to get going. HOWEVER, there is a part in the middle of the story that almost had me in tears! I don't want to give the story away, but let's just say that as a husband and father it really got to me. This is a story where you can really empathise with the characters.
I decided to start with this book as the first Jack Ryan book and follow up with the second "Red Rabbit". One slight problem, Audible don't have it on their list - Grrrr!

Great book

Although the narrator takes a little getting used to, and as others say his accents are horrendous. The story however is great. Starts quickly and so many twists, even though i had seen the film years ago, there was so much more in this. I listen to it in the car and dont want to arrive anywhere as it means i will have to stop listening.

Great story- just ignore the accents

So long as you can get past most of the UK characters speaking with Dick Van Dyke accents it is a fine story.
Odd however that the publisher (or at least the person who wrote audible's "publisher's notes") doesn't appear to have read or heard the story (maybe they saw the film?) The Duke and Duchess of Kent definitely do not feature in this book.

Patriot Games

Though the book is interesting and I really like Tom Clancy novels, the narrator makes it painful to listen at times - being very lethargic and pedantic in his delivery. Glad it wasn't the first audiobook I bought, because I think it would have been the last.

Diabolical

This is my least favourite Tom Clancy book but that's no excuse for the diabolical narration. The attempts at English and Irish accents are just terrible, the English sound straight out of Mary Poppins, never met a copper speak like that. The Irish accents just hurt my ears, I stopped listening to it after part 1 I just couldn't take it any more