Point of Impact

Tom Clancy's Net Force #5

by Steve Perry, Tom Clancy (Series Creator), Steve Pieczenik (Series Creator)

From the #1 New York Times bestselling creators of Op-Center comes a different kind of law enforcement.

In the year 2010, computers are the new superpowers. Those who control them, control the world. To enforce the Net Laws, Congress creates the ultimate computer security agency within the FBI: the Net Force®.It’s the rich man’s drug of choice—and it’s being sold on the Internet for a thousand dollars per capsule. A potent mixture of smart drugs, psychedelics, angel dust, and steroids, it can turn a fifty-year-old into a raging beast of aggression and sexual desire. Now, it’s up to the Net Force to find the source of this dangerous designer drug. Before another rape. Before another murder. Before every user self-destructs…

A powerful examination of America’s defense and intelligence systems of the future, Tom Clancy’s Net Force® is the creation of Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Science Fiction, Action, Ebooks, Adventure, Audiobook

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 3, 2001

About the author

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.

Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West

Reviews

[Maryc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of stilted dialogue, plenty of 4th grade boy body humor, but the sexism and total lack of understanding of the female perspective was irritating.

[Anthony L · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another unfortunate book that dragged on with boring page fillers. Things went so sloooowly as it rambled on with little deviations everywhere. Could not make it beyond the first few chapters. Very obvious that this is yet another case of simply using an established name to sell mediocre books.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Clancy remains one of my favorite authors and Point of Impact is another installment of the Netforce (Number 5) series. Previously I have listened to the audio book version of several of the Netforce books. Unfortunately, I listened to them out-of-order that Clancy had intended. Well, a few months ago, I sorted the books into the order intended and have been listening to them again. I'm about half way thru the series. Since the Netforce characters continue thru the whole series, it makes alot more sense when you listen to them in order!

Point of Impact follows Netforce's investigation of who is creating a new mega-drug. This drug gives the taker super-human strength for a brief period of time followed by a several day "crash". The only problem is that once created the large purple pills become inert in 48 hours after mixing the final components.

Interesting idea for the book. Well written as always and fun to read (listen to). Soon, I will tackle the next in the Netforce series. I can always recommend the Netforce series and this installment is a must read. I do recommend you follow the series though!

[J.Y. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was 60% good. If it was a school assignment it would be a D. Although a C- would be more like it. The main story was OK, but the details--about Net Force and its operatives--were very weak. First off, it was mentioned numerous times that things were "slow" at Net Force headquarters, which isn't a usual state of affairs at any government agency, not to mention it's not admirable. Secondly, the fact that all the female characters (more like the ONLY major female character) were sidelined, either with pregnancy or motherhood. Sure, we're told how smart and capable and even kick@$$ they are, but still... they don't do much. Which leads me to the third thing: how many women who are five months pregnant are as "big as a whale"? Answer: hardly any. If the (male) author wants to characterize a 5-month-pregnant woman as "huge" or compare her to a sea mammal, that's his business, but I have the right to call him on it. A fourth thing: sooo much time is spent on scenes that are NOT related to the main plot. Just a waste of a lot of ink and paper. It's as if the writer had to find ways to 'pad' the story in order to reach the required word-count length. VR scenarios, details about scrimshaw, a visit to an old lady, and descriptions of some obscure martial art... blah blah, long and boring, blah blah, totally irrelevant.

The main plot of the book (science whiz engineers a superdrug) is pretty interesting, and the book almost has the reader pulling for the bad guy. He was very smart indeed (although way too smug) and seemed to have all his bases covered. And yet... not all bases were covered, obviously.

So, bottom line: the book has a number of issues which diminish the enjoyment of reading. Buyer beware.

[Fernando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid but uninspired entry on the Net Force series - many of the characters we grew closer over the last four books are absent, and there's very little development on all fronts, except on Michael / Toni and on the villains. Speaking of them, although I really liked Bobby, Tad was pretty bland, and the whole plot feels a bit mystic and forced, a new low even for Net Force standards. I enjoyed reading it because it's a Tom Clancy book and because I'm already invested in the series, but definitely the weakest link in it so far. Let's see how Cybernation holds up.

[CM Vician · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good further development of main characters; could live with a little bit less about the firearm details, but that is part of the Clancy style, so just skim over those parts to stay on top of the story. Would read again.

[Hank Pharis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again very entertaining.

(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})

[Les Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good action though a little slow to start. The story line behind the characters was not as critical and was not gone into much. It tied NetForce into the story line well and although not the NET centric type story line, there was enough to keep the computer geek busy and play a critical role.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A different type of Net Force book. Jay has grown up and joined the regular force. They are after a strange chemist who has made a super drug that turns you into a Superman. They have noticed that several people can do strange things when on the drug.

[Christopher DuMont · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book and I continue to enjoy the development of the characters in the storyline. The idea of NetForce continues to only play a small part - hope that the future books this plays a bigger part.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was wordy, sometimes boring it just drug on. At times there was a religious aspect which I thought was unnecessary the overall story is just OK.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not of interest to me; drugs, sex, guns. Did not finish reading.

[Duncan Rice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the book has nothing to do with the boring and implausible plot.

[John Oldfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Net Force So-So

[Ernest · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read well done net force

[Al]

Fast pace

[Celeste Jorna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting book. Again I have not read something like this before which was fun but it is quite old and had some curious callouts about women. Besides that the story was fast and kept me engaged some fun plot twists too!

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

2025 Review 015. Net Force #5 Point of Impact by Steve Perry

Page Count : 536

TW: drugs, drug addiction, drug use, description of drug use.

This was another dull book in this series with too much about the characters personal lives instead of them carrying out their jobs.

This book features a new super drug which allows the user to become almost like Superman.

Once again, the issue with this book was solved towards the end of the story and left me feeling that it was very rushed.

This book almost seemed more complicated during the story as it involved other US federal agencies who wanted to get their hands on one of the characters during this book and would do anything to make sure it happened.

After reading this book and starting the 6th book, I decided to abandon them without finishing the 6th book.

I will be donating all of these books to by chosen charity.

3*
***

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth Net Force book was highly amusing, though not one of Perry's best. The book revolves around a recreational drug that makes the user superhumanly powerful and quick, but tends to also cause them to go on murderous rampages. It's never quite clear why Net Force is involved, other than to let Perry go on a couple of drug rants, but still, it's got the cool characters, hot guns, and interesting scenarios typical of the series. The final military confrontation has now evolved entirely into a martial arts tournament, and I miss it, but otherwise the book is fun and pretty clever.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hurá! Zase žádný megapadouch, s touhou vládnout světu. Tentokrát geniální chemik s drogou, o kterou se perou farmaceutické společnosti, vláda, armáda i feťáci. Výborně prokreslené charaktery (konečně!), hodně ujeté účinky drogy (taky super) a hlavně - soupeření agentur, dvojití agenti a akce. Hodně akce. Vypadá to, že Perry se konečně přestal držet mantinelů, které vymezil Clancy - a to je sakra dobře.
Ještě ubrat toho patosu a dám 5/5 :-)

[Nile · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a sure thriller and I was recommended by someone who spoke very highly of the series. It is not disappointing and in 2016 the technology mentioned in this 2001 book is still not outdated!!! Very impressive on that front. And the story line is also quite good. There are some twists and turns but nothing very surprising.
I like the characters and I think I will start from the first book of the series.

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as some of the previous ones in this series. On the plus side there were no long chapters about General Howard's son and his boomerang career.. On the downside there was very little 'Net' in this book and it could have been any other run of the mill law enforcement 'v' drug dealer novel.

[Bookbear · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like most of Tom Clancy's book (the newer ones somewhat less) and I tried to read this book. I have been aware of the fact that it's not written by Clancy when I bought this book, but his name is on it, and I thought, maybe it fits with his own books.

Not so. At least not to me. The style is very different, and I just couldn't bring myself to like it. So no more Net Force for me.

[Joe White · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is less "net" than CSI-Cyber, which is to say not technical at all, except for the fantasy sequences where virtual reality was used for data reconstructions - what horse dung.

This mostly a good-ol-boy army (FBI) operations and guns book, with more action and better weapons than some army units see.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Net force is asked to help find who created and is distributing a designer drug that makes one feel indistructible. Drug companies also what to get their hands on the formula and sell it to the military.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

reasonably entertaining techno-thriller. Nice series.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

An easy quick read ... paperback is good beach book.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot concerns a designer drug that seems to be a combination of Meth, MDMA, steroids, Viagra….Producing amazing strength and no fear; drug companies want it along with a couple of governments….

[Edwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review will be added later

[Krissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s the rich man’s drug of choice—and it’s being sold on the Internet for a thousand dollars per capsule.