Politika

Tom Clancy's Power Plays #1

by Jerome Preisler, Tom Clancy (Series Creator), Martin Greenberg (Series Creator)

The sudden death of Russia's president has thrown the Russian Federation into chaos. The country is in the grip of famine and an uprising is inevitable. One of the provisional leaders asks the American president for help, but the whole world is watching when a deadly terrorist attack stuns the USA.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Adventure, Military Fiction, Action, Political Thriller, Mystery

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Jerome Preisler is the prolific author of almost forty books of fiction and narrative nonfiction, including all eight novels in the New York Times bestselling TOM CLANCY'S POWER PLAYS series.

His latest book is NET FORCE:DARK WEB (November 2019), the first novel in a relaunch of the New York Times bestselling series co-created by Tom Clancy. Forthcoming in May 2020 is the enovella NET FORCE: EYE OF THE DRONE.

Among Jerome's recent works of narrative history are CODE NAME CAESAR: The Secret Hunt for U-boat 864 During World War Two, and FIRST TO JUMP: How the Band of Brothers Was Aided by the Brave Paratroopers of Pathfinders Company. His next book of nonfiction, CIVIL WAR COMMANDO: William Cushing's Daring Raid to Sink the Invincible Ironclad C.S.S. Albemarle,will be published by Regnery Books in October 2020.

Jerome lives in New York City and coastal Maine.

Reviews

[Jeff Dawson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible


I was (key word) an ardent follower of Mr. Clancy's until the landscape shifted. Not the actual hills and plains, the writing style. We all know the first works were riveting and outstanding"Patriot Games, Without Remorse, Cardinal of the Kremlin, Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising, and sum of all fears. I couldn't get enough of his work. Sadly, I no longer make the claim. I think the crossroads started with the Op's Center series and now the Power Plays.

I purchased this book probably ten years ago and just now read it. I could have waited another ten and not missed anything. If you buy this online (no matter how low the price is) look at the actual author. It isn't Tom Clancy, it's Jerome Peisler(?). On the cover of the book read the fine print carefully; CREATED BY Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg. Clancy might have proofed this book, but he sure didn't write it. I felt cheated.

There is none of the driving suspenseful style in the aforementioned works. This book is flat at best and lackluster.

I can remember reading his earlier books, racing through them to find out what Jack Ryan or any of his characters were stirring-up and how they would end. Not with this one. I kept looking to see how many more pages were left before I finished, hoping something of excitement would occur and maybe the plot would finally develop and explode. I'm still waiting...........

[Ренета Кирова · Rating 2 out of 5]

Книгата е писана 90-те години, когато излязоха американските филми и романи за лошата Русия и добрата Америка. Тук е представена същата ситуация - хаос в Русия, САЩ се правят на добрите самаряни и се опитват безвъзмездно да помогнат на руснаците. Само че от руска страна са негодници и те са виновни за голям атентат на Таймс Скуеър, където загиват много невинни американски граждани. Разни тюлени и военни организации разследват и търсят виновника, който се оказва руснак олигарх, драпащ до властта с убийството на невинни хора. Политиката е мръсно нещо. Америка пак е спасителка на човечеството. Толкова изтъркан е този сюжет, че повече няма накъде. Давам две звезди, понеже накрая стана малко по-интересно и имаше екшън. Иначе, самата книга ми беше хаотично написана. Във всяка глава действието се развиваше на различни места и се включваха все нови и нови герои, което може да те обърка кой кой е.

[John Boettcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Power Plays series, and I think by far the slowest, driest, and most boring of the series. I am actually surprised the series continued after this book.

It doesn't read like the Tom Clancy you have come to know and love up to this point(we are talking about 2000 here). Just didn't like the story, the plot, or the writing. Felt forced, almost like the publishers had him on a strict deadline and he had to get SOMETHING out and this was it.

Not my favorite Clancy by a long shot.

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading great books by Tom Clancy I was disappointed with this book. At times it got very boring and was on the verge of abandoning this story. It was very difficult to finish it.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the man who transitioned Russia from a Communist government to a free-market capitalist one dies with no clear successor with his nation on the verge of famine, numerous factions in the Russian Federation begin aligning to take power. Politika is the first book in Tom Clancy’s Power Plays series, created by Clancy and Martin Greenberg but written by Jerome Preisler. With Russia in chaos and some looking towards help from the United States, some Russian elements target Americans including employees of American tech giant UpLink to grab power but draw the ire of the company’s CEO.

The death of Boris Yeltsin in the fall of 1999 results in the Russian Federation being ruled by a political troika of Vice President Vladimir Starinov, the nationalist party leader Arkady Pedachenko, and Andrei Korsikov a Communist-era functionary supported by the military leading a nation on the verge of famine towards an uncertain future. As Starinov goes to the United States and the West for food aid and loans, Pedachenko sets about worsening his country’s food situation and plots to turn American opinion against his country with a devastating New Year’s Eve terrorist attack in Time’s Square with the help of terrorist for hire and local Russian mobsters. Roger Gordian, the CEO of tech giant UpLink International, known this unprecedented terrorist attack could result in attacks on his employees around the world since the security branch of his company, Sword, into investigative mode to find out who sponsored the attack and so better secure is employees. Using various sources in the U.S. government, Sword operatives connect the attack to the Russian mob and its leader in Moscow even though everyone else is looking at a right-hand lieutenant of Starinov’s. After an attack on an UpLink satellite station in Russia, Gordian authorizes getting at the mob boss then in okay his security force to prevent an assassination attempt on Starinov set up by Pedachenko. Using the information proved by UpLink, Starinov secures his position and regains aid from the West while Gordian is left mourning the loss of his employees.

Having to base Politika off of a computer game of the same name, Preisler developed a story as best he could under the circumstances though there were some problems. The order of terrorist attacks on either the American homeland or corporations aboard might have been changed to allow a better rational for Gordian and UpLink’s involvement as it doesn’t make sense for a corporation to investigate the greatest terrorist attack on the side, if however it were investigating into the attack on it’s own facility and it got linked to the attack in Time’s Square it would have resulted in a more natural story process. That said, the overall concept of a international corporation having a strong security arm that would at within the laws of its host nation to protect itself is intriguing and reminds me why I became a fan of this series when I was a teenager. That Preisler, with Clancy and Greenberg, was able to predict Yeltsin’s presidency ending in 1999 and the worst terrorist attack on American soil happening in New York City way back in 1997 is eerie, especially with references about the Twin Towers from points-of-view in New York. If there was one thing I didn’t like was that Gordian was given a cliché separation and/or divorce angle to his character at the start of the book, given how that same storyline drags down the Op-Center series I’m not looking forward to it in this one.

While Politika was based off a computer game, Jerome Preisler was able to write around that issue as best he could to at least establish the main elements of the Power Play series going forward in UpLink, it’s CEO, and its security arm Sword. Overall a good read and nice beginning to another Tom Clancy created series.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The sudden death of Russia's president has thrown the Russian Federation into chaos. Devastating crop failures have left millionos in the grip of famine, and an uprising seems inevitable. -- One of Russia's provisional leaders asks the American president for help. But the whole world is watching when a deadly terrorist attack stuns the US & evidence points to the Russian parliament. -- Amidst the turmoil in Russia, American businessman Roger Gordian finds his multinational corporation and its employees in jeopardy. Determined to find those responsible for the attack, he calls upon his crisis control team to intervene. But Gordian doesn't realize how far the terrorists will go - & how much he has to lose.

I didn't think this was very well written. I had to keep going back to figure out who was who & what was going on. Either Clancy let Preisler do most of the writing, or I was too distracted, or I'm just not smart enough to figure out such a complicated story. ??? -- Would not recommend tho.

mk

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keep me interested to a point. What was interesting was the beginning of a bombing in New York City Times Square, yet the book was published years before it actually happened. Scary! It wasn't a book by Clancy that grabbed my interest to keep reading it nightly; I got bored of the same plots that I've read in either his books or others. For me, just another Tom Clancy novel.

[Colby E · Rating 2 out of 5]

A guy at work gave me this because he knew I liked books, but that doesn’t excuse it I don’t think. Some terrorists boink in this after committing super-9/11 and that’s really unfortunate for the fact this was written in 1997. It’s a book based on a video game. Do with that whatever you want.

[Brett C · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought it was garbage. Stick to Clear and Present Danger and the older Tom Clancy thrillers.

[Patricia Kinzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

too sappy

Spent too many words on a plot that could have been covered in half the book. The main character was too goody two shoes

[Chiel T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top boek, snel leesbaar

[James Yaklin · Rating 1 out of 5]

What just happened? That is what the reader of this story is left with time and time again.

The protagonists always arrive just in the nick of time but it is never fully explained just how this happens. And as a consequence any of the thriller, intrigue, or action in this book are never fully realized. I'm sure the author had some tremendous ideas. I'm just not sure where these ideas ended up.

Furthermore, the reader doesn't even know why events are happening until the very end. There is almost no character development save for Roger Gordian, who I assume is the main protagonist of the series. Gordian's character is a Bruce Wayne type character without the Batman persona. Which is to say boring.

The author ties up all his loose ends in the end (thank goodness) but the reader is left just wondering how the protagonists, who apparently are the luckiest bunch of people on the face of the earth, manage to obtain their information and arrive just at the right time to thwart the antangonists', who apparently are the unluckiest bunch of people on the face of the earth, plans.

The story ends up being almost cartoonish.

Not a good story, not a good book, not a good start to a series. I'll be scratching this one off my list.

[Andrés · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a terrible book. Absolutely no suspension of disbelief occurred. The plot was entirely unconvincing, the characters self-evidently contrived. Each step of the way things just didn't make sense and the book's ending is probably the worst I've ever read. Coming from Tom Clancy, this is all very disappointing.

[Libby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Little hard to follow and not really very interesting.

[Robert Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐⭐ A Thriller That Falls Apart Under Its Own Absurdity

Politika begins with an intriguing premise and even offers a few oddly accurate predictions, such as the future importance of satellite communication, the rise of private military contractors, and the political shift that happened when Yeltsin left office at the end of 1999. These ideas show potential, but they are buried beneath a story that becomes increasingly difficult to take seriously. The novel expects readers to believe that a private company like UpLink maintains a global paramilitary force that outperforms the FBI, CIA, and NSA in every category. Sword operates worldwide with perfect intelligence, flawless timing, and no oversight, which destroys any sense of realism. Even basic details, such as Russian names or the legal responsibilities of federal agencies, are handled carelessly.

The plot repeatedly breaks down because characters behave in ways that make no logical sense. Gordian gives sensitive intelligence to the NYPD instead of the federal authorities who actually handle terrorism cases. Technicians in Kaliningrad walk into danger instead of securing their facility. Sword appears instantly in New York, Russia, and the Black Sea with no explanation for how they gain access or authority. The pacing shifts chaotically, the villains are shallow stereotypes, and some of the dialogue uses racial caricatures that feel outdated and offensive. Instead of creating tension or excitement, the book becomes a string of implausible events that rely entirely on UpLink functioning as a perfect and unstoppable super agency.

There are moments when the story hints at something interesting, but the overall execution is too inconsistent and unrealistic to recommend. Politika aims to be a sweeping techno thriller but ends up feeling like an alternate world where private corporations run international security and real institutions barely function. I appreciate the ideas that almost worked, yet the final result is disappointing. I plan to finish the series for personal interest, but I would not suggest this book to new readers.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find that the most disorientating part of the book are the extremely short chapters, that give things a compressed episodic feel, with a queasy mixture of blandness and slickness that just doesn't gel very successfully.

There is also something horridly artificial about the Russian characters.

The overall feeling is that it feels lousy, but seems very readable. If your expectations are nil, it's a mildly okay book, with an irritatingly quirky cliffhanger every 4-6 pages with every microchapter.

There's a lot more style, plot, character, emotional involvement, believability, and fun, reading Don Pendleton's Executioner books.

I would say if you're tolerant with very low expectations, this book will be irritating, yet a mildly fun read, as the bland one-dimensional characters cleverly tease you with a change of location and people every 15 minutes.

At least Casino Royale for 1967 had a flashy episodic style to it, this book has no style and very little flash. And it's a tiny bit fun, and very slightly interesting.

Reading this book is like driving a Russian car, on a mildly interesting journey with boring people anywhere you go, and the warm plastic smells really really bother you.

The book is okay, barely, but it's hardly on Stephen F. Cohen's reading list.

You might find it mildly neat reading it, but don't be surprised if you forget about it for six months, and don't feel a rushing need to find out what happens next!

[Dokusha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nach dem plötzlichen Tod des russischen Präsidenten wird das Land von einem dreiköpfigen Interimsteam regiert. Nach katastrophalen Mißernten beschließt der designierte Führer des Teams, die Amerikaner um Hilfe zu bitten. Dies allerdings paßt dem ultranationalen Teammitglied Pedaschenko nicht, der versucht, die Macht alleine zu haben.
Die Hilfslieferungen stehen kurz darauf auf der Kippe, nachdem ein Terroranschlag bei der Neujahrsfeier auf dem Times Square in New York hunderte Todesopfer und viele Verletzte fordert und es Indizien auf eine Verbindung der Terroristen nach Rußland gibt.
Neben den amerikanischen Behörden versucht auch die private und bestens ausgebildete Sicherheitstruppe eines amerikanischen Unternehmers mit Niederlassungen in aller Welt, die Terroristen zu stellen...
In dem Buch gibt es viel Action und es ist nach bester klassischer Politthriller-Manier geschrieben. Tom Clancy bürgt normalerweise auch für Qualität. Und doch fehlte mir irgendwas an diesem Roman, ohne daß ich genau sagen könnte, was. Eine ganze Weile lang scheint sich irgendwie nicht viel zu ereignen, nachdem der Anschlag passiert ist, und dann plötzlich entrollt sich die ganze Handlung in einem Wahnsinnstempo auf den paar Dutzend Seiten. Das Timing kommt einem unstimmig vor, als ob Clancy sich plötzlich gesagt hätte: Mensch, ich habe ja nur noch 50 Seiten, jetzt aber dalli.
Nichtdestotrotz hat das Szenario in gewisser Weise den Anschlag auf das World Trade Center vorweggenommen (das Buch wurde vorher geschrieben), und spannend zu lesen ist es durchaus.

[Janice]

The bomb attack at Times Square was harrowing. I kept HOPING that the bomb squad would find it in time. But no, and the dogs got killed too. Total bummer.
Tho written in 1998 this book was totally relevant to 2013 (and beyond).

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not much of a reader till I picked up this book, now I can't put books down.

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book about modern day terrorism. I suggest it to anyone who likes thrillers. Great book 5 of 5

[Edwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mah. Niet een van Clancy's beste boeken

[Kili · Rating 2 out of 5]

So eerie - a book written in 1997 about a very successful terrorist attack in the heart of NYC in 2000.

[Malcolm Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd rather give this two and a half stars, but without there being half stars I really had to think if it was a high 2.5 or low, and atleast for now I think it's a low. I do sort of feel like I need to reread the book, I listened to the audio book over a single work shift, and although very interesting I found some of the characters hard to follow which lead to the story itself getting a bit jumbled for me. I feel like there's a good book in here that I should give another chance to by reading my paperback copy. I also went in not realizing it is actually a series, as in the books are all connected. I'm not sure why, but I had the idea each Power Plays book was disconnected, and this also hurt my enjoyment a little. There's nothing wrong with it being a series, just because I wasn't expecting it to be it made some character threads and the climax very confusing and unsatisfactory as I expected a more definitive ending. This is another reason I feel at some point it deserves a reread because I don't think I'd be as down on it if I'd expected it to be like a pilot for a series.
Now that all of that preamble is out of the way I do have to say the book is exciting, and very interesting. Starting with an elaborate terrorist attack on New Year's Eve going into the year 2000 in Time's Square, and about the unstable political climate in Russia that lead to the attack and possible war to come. The book's plot is surprisingly deep for being a tie in to a Risk knockoff videogame (also called Politika), especially when compared to a similar Clancy branded project, SSN, from a few years before which read more like someone describing how to beat the game to you. It should also be noted this book is not written by Tom Clancy, and does not read like a Clancy book at all. The themes might be there, information warfare, the threat of global conflict springing from Russian nationalists attempting to rebuild the Soviet Union, and so on, but the way the story is told feels far more like a Hollywood action film. Clancy's books are long, slow burn, thrillers, where as this is far more a summer blockbuster. That is far from being a complaint though. The writing is very good, and moves at a fairly brisk pace. Infact this probably would have made a good movie, or possibly a TV show. I don't know, however, if I recommend the book or not. It is very much an "episode one", and is hard to judge on it's own, especially when I've already admitted I feel I need to reread it to get a full grasp on it. I suppose if you want a more Hollywood action version of a typical Tom Clancy plot, and have interest in reading a full series of books (this one certainly doesn't fully stand on its own) then give it a read. If you're looking for a traditional Tom Clancy book, or aren't looking to get invested in what I believe is a ten books series, then you won't miss much skipping it.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Tom Clancy at the top of the 1990s bestseller lists, it comes as no surprise that he spun-off into other creative ventures. Among them were video games (both co-creating franchises and lending his name to ones ongoing to this day) and novels based on concepts he co-created. Meshing the two together was 1997’s Politika, which both tied-in to a board/video game put out by his company Red Storm Entertainment and launched the Power Plays series of novels. While I’d owned a couple of the later novels in the series (Christmas presents from my parents at the height of my being a Clancy fanboy in the early 2000s), I had never read the original novel until I came across it for $3 used at 2nd and Charles a few weeks back.

And it’s not a bad read from author Jerome Preisler (who is only credited on the acknowledgments page). It’s dated, of course, as it was set in 1999 and early 2000 and focused on power struggles inside Russia following Boris Yeltsin’s death between reformers and those seeking to restore past glories, a terrorist attack in New York City during the Millennium Celebrations, and the involvement of billionaire businessman Roger Gordian and his corporations (including Sword, which is what we’d consider a PMC today) in events. Given that Yeltsin left office in 1999 and the foiled plot during the Millennium Celebrations, parts of the novel felt prescient with hindsight. Perhaps none more so than the portrayal of the attacks aftermath on the city and the country that captured much of what was to come after a very different one four years later.

Which isn’t to say it isn’t without problems. Priesler tried to replicate Clancy’s many-threaded plot style, which is doesn’t always work (in part because how Gordian and his company gets involved feels convoluted and in the wrong order). The characters feel a little thin, too, and there’s a few moments when either Gordian or the Russian politicians starting speaking in paragraph monologues that stretched even my patience (though Preisler was smart enough to have another Russian character call out his fellow on this at one point). Also, for all the prescience about other events, the novel’s idea (and one shared by Clancy himself in interviews into the early 2000s) that Russia was well on its way to a democracy and couldn’t be turned back feels terribly naive.

Even so, it’s a decent enough thriller. It isn’t hard to see why it was a bestseller and launched an eight novel series. For its faults, it’s a good read, even if it’s not especially memorable.

[Jeff H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every so often pull an older book off the shelf and give it a read. In this case I would say that this story, written in 1996, shows it's age. Plus I think the writing could have been better.

In general, it was an interesting concept - combining a book with an interactive game and supplying the game cd with the book (the cd is still in my copy).

As far as the story goes, it jumped around a bit too much for my tastes, often jumped forward to action based on something such as the finding of a document without explaining what was found, and had a few issues with plot holes and timelines.

It was sort of fun reading something that was written when few people had cell phones (flip phones) - I was picturing the Motorola flip phone I had back in the mid-90's. But the above issues kept nagging me as I read it and the ending was a bit anti-climactic.

Just one example of the timeline issue - very minor spoiler here. Each section starts with the location and date of that section - such as "Leningrad, February 7". In the story the good guys find some video recordings in a hidden area behind a one way mirror in the office of a bad guy. It's the only thing they find and they know they it's important. Remember, they are trying to track down the people that caused a mass death event that sets most of this action. Yet, per the timeline in the book it takes this elite team (with large funding and the most up to date weaponry and technical equipment of the day) 4 days to even start looking and the tapes and fixing the audio so they can understand the conversation. 4 days? And that is to start working on in. Then of course it takes them 10 minutes with 4 people standing around AV expert to fix the audio.

Remember, this is a team that is moving quickly and flies across the country to deliver a envelope full of evidence and back in a day. Or assembles an insertion team from around the world and flies to the location in 2 days (per the book timeline). Yet it takes 4 days to get the tapes to the AV expert? And he waits until everyone is there to start cleaning up the audio?

Things like that just bugged me as I read the story.

[Gayathri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Politika by Tom Clancy
The book is my first read of the author Tom Clancy. I have heard his books are great read in thriller genre.
The sudden death of Russian President causes a chaos in the country. The country is already in verge of famine where million of people will suffer hunger and poverty unless the necessary actions are taken. The current president starinov who took over the previous one, visited the US president who talk about matters of agriculture, supply of food and other matters.

On the eve of New year's Eve of 2000 which marks the beginning of millenial, a bomb blast in Times Square shock kills thousands of people and equal number of people were injured in the attack takes place. The blast is linked to higher government official in Russia, this bringing a stop to execution of the deal. Thus putting Russia in a jeopardy and questions of Thier future still unanswered.

Roger Gordian, a business man who has business in many countries including Russia starts his own investigation of the blast by appointing the best team. Meanwhile the government official such CIA, FBI and many such organisations also does a parrell investigation.

What happens makes the rest of the story. But as I read the story I felt there few questions unanswered. Roger team does the best work and finds the culprit of the blast, prevent them from murdering the president and even killing them in the course of events, what have the police officials doing, how efficient are they in resolving the issues? Why is it that government officials with all the resources and access couldn't find the culprit and prevent the murder of Russian President when a business could do it and bring about justice. I expected the book to even better

[Chance · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story felt really weird to me from the premise has the novel is set a year before 9/11 so I know this novel was written before that but it still felt off for me has american I'm not really sure that really gets my point across but still weried for me.

The book had a simple depth no overly developed chacthers each had a brief summary to give who they where but we never really got any growth has chacthers they where more forced into there placement rather then of self choice do the fight scenes did show a diffrent side to the protagonist/Antagonistic forces when they met at times.

All said the the story was ain't that good but it's easy to get from start to finish so I guess this is an OK story if your trying to get some into the political/military thrillers.

[Edelgoku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea.
But I decided to allow myself to submerge in this world.
one thing I can say I like about it is it doesn't have unnecessary sex scenes, which, normally populates pocketbooks...
Halfway through the book and I am so ready to give up and just be done with it, but then it started getting interesting, and even emotional... and then the intensity somehow dies down (for me, probably)
... overall, if you are into action/ Russian politics, defo for you. but for me, Nah. Also, I'm not a fan of overly complicated words... but tbh, as I look it up, there's really no "easy" word to replace 'em so... it's ok, I guess...

[Nolan Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is the first book I’ve ever read in any capacity related to Clancy. I both really liked, and was heavily disappointed. It seems very reaching that the owner of a tech company who is a contractor for technology for the military would have his own special operations units that span the globe and delve into black ops missions simply for the sake of knowing the situation in a country that you have a substation in. While I enjoyed the plot of the book and mostly everything else. I’m really having a hard time getting over this. It’s like mark zuckerberg having a delta squad ready to deploy anywhere in the world to help topple government overthrows. It just is a bit far out.

[Lyle Nicholson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is good writing here, good characters and great dialogue, however, the entire book is contrived to pull at the hearts and minds of the reader. It is done in a manner that can be sometimes offensive. There is a lot of flag waving and testosterone pumping that you can almost hear the sound track from Rocky III in the background.

I like how they wrote out the characters, the pace was good and each chapter moved well. If you like this genre you will enjoy this type of novel. For myself, this is read on the beach on vacation, nothing more.