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List Price: $27.95 | | Publisher: Putnam Adult
Salesrank: 198056
Released: August 3, 1998 |
| Our Price: $1.98 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
Over the course of nine novels, Tom Clancy's genius for big, compelling plots and his natural narrative gift (The New York Times Magazine) have
mesmerized hundreds of millions of readers and established him as one of the preeminent storytellers of our time. Rainbow Six, however, goes beyond anything he has done before. At its heart is John Clark, the ex-Navy SEAL of Without Remorse and well-known from several of Clancy's novels as the dark side of Jack Ryan, the man who conducts the secret operational missions Ryan can have no part of. Whether hunting warlords in Japan, druglords in Colombia, or nuclear terrorists in the United States, Clark is efficient and deadly, but even he has ghosts in his past, demons that must be exorcised. And nothing is more demonic than the peril he must face in Rainbow Six: a group of terrorists like none the world has ever encountered before, a band of men and women so extreme that their success could literally mean the end of life on this earth as we know it. It is Tom Clancy's most shocking story ever--and closer to reality than any government would care to admit. As Clancy takes us through the twists and turns of Rainbow Six, he blends the exceptional realism and authenticity that are his hallmarks with intricate plotting, knife-edge suspense, and a remarkable cast of characters. This is Clancy at his best--and there is none better.
Read an excerpt of Rainbow Six
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Description of Rainbow Six:
For many readers, Jack Ryan embodies the essence of the modern American hero. Morally centered, disciplined, humble yet powerful, Ryan (and his onscreen incarnations in Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford) has made Tom Clancy one of the most popular writers in the world. But as Clancy has constructed the Ryan mythology, he has quietly established Ryan's shadow double, John Clark. Appearing in The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, and Without Remorse, Clark has many of Jack Ryan's most appealing traits, but he is also a darker figure embodying the more paranoid sensibilities of the late '90s. As is made clear from the opening pages of Rainbow Six, ex-Navy SEAL Clark and his colleagues believe violent, deadly force to be the best deterrent for terrorism.
Clark (a.k.a. Rainbow Six) has left the CIA to create an England-based organization code-named "Rainbow." Its mission: deploy an elite squad of American operatives combined with handpicked British, French, and German agents to stop terrorism in its tracks. Rainbow's emergence could not be more timely: in quick succession, the force diffuses three attempted terrorist actions. But Clark becomes suspicious when Russian agents suddenly show interest in Rainbow's work.
Rainbow Six appeals on all the levels that Clancy fans could hope for. The Rainbow operatives, from Navy SEALs to German mountain-leader school graduates, are rendered to inspire with their physical and mental prowess. The book is infatuated with the latest gadgets for scrambling, transmitting, and decoding secrets. And, in a carefully woven narrative that simultaneously traces the Rainbow team, a former KGB agent named Popov, the Australian Olympic security team, and a sinister group of American scientists, Clancy artfully reveals the mystery of "Shiva" at the center of the novel. How does Clark measure up against Jack Ryan? He may be the perfect hero for a world with hidden villains. --Patrick O'Kelley
Rainbow Six Reviews:
Rainbow Six is five stars!! 
2008-10-07 - This book sticks with you, every now and then, a segment of this book will flash in my mind and I have to stop and think where did i read that from and sometimes it comes from Rainbow Six.
What makes this such a good book is the games that followed it. Rainbow Six Las Vegas is one of my favorite games, and one of the reasons for that is because Rainbow Six was such a good book.
This book is led by John Clark and not by Jack Ryan and Clark delivers this book. The opening of this book is one of the best openers of the Clancy novels. The opening tells and sets the setting of the rest of the book.
John Clark and Ding Chavez are in an airplane that is about to be taken over by terrorist and these two take out the terrorist very easily. It sets the pace of the entire book, one of non-stop action and rescue.
Clancy shows that such people as Clark and Chavez are needed in this world to stop terrorist and terrorism. Clancy's books tend to tell a story that reflects modern day life and in the age of terrorism and before 9/11 this book was somewhat prophetic on what was/is needed to deal with terrorism.
Clancy delivers in this novel.
Good but weak ending 
2008-08-17 - This is the first Clancy book I've read. I really like it. Great story with great attention to detail and knowledge of military specifics.
Though I enjoyed reading it, I knew that in the end the good guys would win but I was hoping that it would have been a little more substantive than it was. I guess, taking out the eco-terrorists was all just a little too easy for my liking. Still, very fun to read. Despite its length, the read is also very fast.
A little far-fetched, yet the action is so dramatic that you don't notice
2008-08-05 - John Clark, ex-Navy Seal and now a covert operative with a past that is best forgotten, is the commander of a newly formed elite international anti-terrorism group known as the Rainbow Team. As he takes his new assignment, the action begins faster than he could possibly have anticipated when the plane he and his longtime sidekick Domingo Chavez are riding in is hijacked over the Atlantic. The hijackers are overcome and this begins a sequence of terrorist acts that are brutal, yet seem to have no overall purpose. Disparate and dormant groups are suddenly active, yet there appears no reason for it.
The reasons are far more deadly, an ex-KGB operative is behind the activity and he is the front for a deadly game where a group is plotting to unleash biological entities that would be by orders of magnitude the greatest mass murder of all time. If their biological weapons work as planned, they would kill nearly every person on Earth. The trail finally leads Clark's team to a major installation that the terrorists have created in the jungle.
As is almost always the case with a Clancy novel, the descriptions of the action are what makes the novel such a dynamic read. For if you were to stop reading for a moment and ponder the events, the improbability of them occurring would no doubt overwhelm you. Once I started reading it, I found it very difficult to put down, losing a lot of sleep before turning the last page.
Never Again 
2008-05-21 - I'm a 15 year old female, who was assigned to this book by a group of, suprise suprise, 3 males of my same age.
Now, I'm a big TC fan, I loved Red October, and I'm fairly up-to-date with my techno-jargan, but honestly...
Without reiterating what many have so eloquently posted, my copy (which I bought used for $1, a bit over-priced if you ask me)now sits half burned, torn to bits in a corner of my room where I flung it against the wall.
*headdesk*
Really Tom?
Good story
2008-04-08 - If you've read any of Tom's books, you would know that he can sure write a good thriller. In fact, he's considered one of the best thriller novelists in the modern era, often mentioned alongside names such as John Grisham and Michael Crichton.
Rainbow Six is a great testament to that.
Rarely did I stop turning the pages in this one. The prose was flowing, the action was fast and the plot was engaging. Being someone who had served in the army before, I was attracted by the details of the mechanics surrounding the anti-terrorist team named RAINBOW. It's clear Tom knows his stuff. All the facts on the weapons were spot on, and the plot was very believable; with the US government being a part of a bio-terrorism scheme to exterminate the world's population, holocaust style. The multi-national team RAINBOW took center stage in this one, and for much of the book, we learn about their members, their individual roles in the team and their many characteristics. Which is good; having the members of RAINBOW drive the book was a good move by Clancy.
The plot moves on in many threads, much like Ted Bell's SPY where we see many threads moving on in a chronological sequence. It has a very gradual build-up that many thrillers typically employ. RAINBOW started off being formed in the first few chapters to being a serious threat to the main problem (the bio-terrorism problem) in the end. The book moves in and out between the team, the bad guys (Popov and the terrorists), the US government and the many external forces influencing the situation itself. And the plot threads move at a very fast pace, making it very enagaging and urgent.
All in all, I found it a very exciting read. And I recommend it to all looking for a good thriller to plunge into.
