#88: Read 10 Books (1 of 10)

You may remember that in Wisconsin I spent a lot of time in the hammock reading.  I borrowed this book, Patriot Games, from Granny.  I'd heard lots of good things about Tom Clancy, so I thought I would take advantage of a little R&R time and get lost in a good suspense book.

I read about half of this book in Wisconsin and Chicago and then on the drive back to Kansas City, I did a little recap for Trevor and then starting reading out loud.  He must have been really bored since he actually wanted me to keep reading.   The book really kept our attention.  The plot revolves around ex-CIA analyst Jack Ryan, who is on vacation in England when he spoils an assassination attempt on the Prince and Princess of Wales by a far-left extremist faction of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Ryan then gets drawn back into the CIA when the same splinter of the IRA targets him and his family.  They are after his family, partially as an act of revenge, but mostly because they want to undermine American support for the IRA. 

I thought Tom Clancy was a little more "wordy" than he needed to be (the book could have been much shorter!), but I liked how he developed all the characters thoroughly.  It was also interesting to feel like you were getting a glimpse into the shadowy underworld of a terrorist group.  To me, this book is much more relevant to Americans today than it would have been when it was written in 1987.

We were so into the book, that I actually read out loud for the last 4 hours of the trip!  Did you know that the muscles in your neck can actually get sore from talking so much?  I was feeling it the next day...

We came back from Chicago on Friday night so we could have the weekend  to catch up on some things around the house.  So what did I do?  I ended up spending pretty much the whole day Saturday finishing the book, and then we watched the 1992 "Patriot Games" movie starring Harrison Ford.  Trevor didn't want to finish reading the book, so he went ahead and rented the movie even though I told him I don't normally do well with watching movies right after I read the book because then I nitpick at every little detail that's not the same as the book.  Well, let me tell you, it was way worse than I expected.  They changed practically the WHOLE book!  So I think Trevor was regretting his decision to watch the movie that night after he heard me say, "Why would they change that!?!?!" about a thousand times. 

Long story short: good book, not-so-good movie (at least after you've read the book.)  Gosh, I just realized how long this book "review" became....and to think I called Tom Clancy "wordy."