Tom Clancy Dead: Celebrated Thriller Author Dies at Age 66

Smitty

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According to the Publishers Weekly Twitter account, American author Tom Clancy died Wednesday in a Baltimore hospital at age 66. A cause of death has not been revealed.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Tom Clancy studied literature at the Loyola College in Baltimore and was originally an insurance salesman before becoming famous for writing technically detailed espionage and military science books.

He is responsible for best-selling books such as "The Hunt for Red October," "Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger," and "The Sum of All Fears" — all of which were adapted into major Hollywood films.

In 1996, Clancy co-founded the video game developer Red Storm Entertainment and has had his name on several of Red Storm's most successful games.

Red Storm was later bought by publisher Ubisoft Entertainment for an undisclosed sum.

In 2002, Forbes wrote, "Clancy can produce a guaranteed bestseller just by writing two words: his name."

"When it comes to leveraging his brand across multiple channels, he is positively protean," Forbes continued, noting his income at the time made him the tenth-best earner on Forbes Celebrity 100 list for 2002. His net worth today is reported to be around $300 million.

Clancy has been a lifetime supporter of conservative and Republican causes in America, a member of the National Rifle Association since 1978, and was part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

His next book, “Command Authority,” is planned for publication on December 3.
 

Smitty

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Clear and Present Danger is one of the best books I've ever read. RIP.
 

Genghis Khan

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RIP.

tried to read Hunt for Red October once and found it tedious and uninteresting, but he was a big time author and I have much respect for that.

Pretty good video games too. Particularly Splinter Cell.
 

Rev

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Yeah. Agree on the books with Genghis. Enjoyed the movies. That sounds bad because I do read a lot. Just couldn't get into his books.
 

Cotton

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Loved his work. RIP
 

Smitty

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Clear and Present Danger was long as hell, but I remember watching the movie afterwards and thinking "This doesn't even begin to do justice to how bad ass these characters were in the book."

It's like 600 pages, I can see how someone may say it's tedious, and yes, there is a lot of lead up to the action, so I can see how it would be slow to some, but man, the payoff is totally worth it.

I've only read Clear and Present Danger, Hunt for Red October, and Patriot Games. I tried to read Cardinal of the Kremlin and found that too boring. I started Red Storm Rising like 3 times and couldn't finish that one either but the whole Russian attack on NATO thing in that one was awesome, FWIW.

Of the three I've completely read, I'd rank Clear and Present Danger as a clear #1, probably put Hunt for Red October at 2nd with Patriot Games close behind it but third.
 

Cotton

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Tom Clancy and John Grisham are two of my most favoritest authors of this genre.
 

L.T. Fan

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I meet Clancy one time at a book signing. He took time to chat for a while when I told him I was a federal Service retiree.
 

EZ22

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Never got into his stuff but I know a lot of people loved it.

RIP
 

Smitty

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Wow. King's Under the Dome is over 1000 pages and it flew by.

The ending sucked tho.
My mistake.... 704 pages. Haha.

Yeah, it's really good though. Clancy does get overly technical though, but I got by it.
 

dallen

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I read a bunch of his Jack Ryan novels in High School - I think up to The Bear and the Dragon. I really enjoyed them at the time
 

Cujo

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I liked The Sum of All Fears and Rainbow Six. RIP.
 
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