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Executive Orders has everything but the kitchen sink. There's an assassination, an invasion, a kidnapping plot, and a political conspiracy, and that literally is only the half of it -- I'm keeping the good stuff to myself. The conclusion features the most harrowing battlefield prose Clancy has written since Red Storm Rising, but before you get to it, you'll have gone through more plot twists and turns than you thought possible.
Characterization, as usual, is not Clancy's strongest suit; the good guys are only weak when it doesn't count, and the bad guys are uniformly evil. Understand though, that rather than characters, Clancy is creating archetypes. Think about it -- who wouldn't want to be in Ryan's position (vicariously, at least)? Who wouldn't want to be the beautiful eye surgeon/First Lady Cathy Ryan, or the tough and competent Andrea Price, head of Ryan's Secret Service detail? It's hard not to identify with such people, even if you don't always agree with their politics. And politics is a big part of this novel too, as President Ryan attempts to put right what politicians have screwed up. Does he succeed? Well, this is fiction, after all.
Clancy's prose does get bogged down with the overuse of military acronyms like CINCPAC and POTUS, but with over 800 pages, he has plenty of time to work through the slow spots. In fact, considering the length of Executive Orders, you have to wonder if he gets paid by the pound, but due to the ambitious nature of the plot, he needs every single page. I don't consider this Clancy's greatest novel (Red October will probably always be my favorite), but it's still vintage Clancy, and I can't think of a better way to while away the waning days of summer, reading this dandy yarn.
James Neal Webb is a writer and graphic artist.
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