BOOK: The Sum of All Fears, Tom Clancy (6/10)

Why did I read it?
Another book, another Tom Clancy Jack Ryan story. Book number five of my odyssey through Clancy's Ryan series.

What's it all about?

A nuclear missile lies missing in the Syrian desert for decades until it is discovered by a farmer before ending up in the hands of Arab terrorists, angry that a landmark Holy Land peace deal between Jews, Muslims and Christians and brokered by the US is proving successful. The terrorists recruit East German nuclear experts, themselves angry that world socialism has collapsed, to help customise the warhead for use on American soil. With that emergency approaching, Jack Ryan, now CIA Deputy Director, has to deal with problems at home and a rapidly deteriorating relationship with the current US president and his advisers.

Should you read it?
TSOAF is the longest of Clancy's Jack Ryan books so far, and at over 1000 pages (paperback version) it was a chore to read in parts, and need not have been so. The main event of the book takes place about 600-700 pages in, and the story has been well and truly set by this point. From this point on the book became a real page-turner, as the tension between East and West increased alongside increasing DEFCON levels and Ryan tries to avert the global nuclear war his shellshocked president is leading the US towards.

Clancy being Clancy, couldn't not dedicate a vast number of pages to the details of the nuclear warhead's assembly and the side side story of the submarine USS Maine seemed totally superfluous. All in all it was no wonder the film adaptation was massively streamlined.

TSOAF is probably the most personal Jack Ryan story yet, even more so than Patriot Games, as National Security Advisor Elizabeth Elliott temporarily succeeds in undermining his marriage as well as his position. This storyline is ultimately easily solved but Clancy uses it to highlight the contempt Elliott has for Ryan, which has huge dangerous consequences at the vital moment. The trouble between Ryan and his wife also parallels the escalating strife between East and West, worsening through rash assumptions and easily solved through simple communication.

BOOK: Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets, David Simon (10/10)

Why did I read it?

In my eyes author David Simon is nothing short of a genius. Creator and head writer of The Wire, co-creator of Treme and producer and writer of Generation Kill, the man is responsible for some fantastic TV. I know of his pre-The Wire shows but have not seen any episodes of Homicide or The Corner so decided this would be a good opportunity to look at some of his work from his previous career as a police reporter. 

What's it all about?

Simon took a year out of his career as a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun to spend 1988 chronicling the day to day activities of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit. A Year On The Killing Streets is the result of that year and Simon gives a fly on the wall perspective of a year in the life of  a typical Baltimore homicide detective, and it ain't pretty.

Should you read it?

This book is to crime literature what The Wire is to police dramas. A massive dose of honest reality. 1988 was a particularly tough year for the Baltimore homicide unit and as Simon recounts the details of the more prominent cases of the year alongside the working mantra of a homicide detective, its obvious that the CSI portrayal of homicide detectives is completely false. In 1988, DNA samples do not exist, the majority of cases are drug related killings unlikely to have a single willing witness and at one point in the year the clearance rate falls below 40%.

Simon says in the epilogue that very little amendments were made to his final manuscript at the request of the BPD and this shows as murder details, procedures, department politics, names and conversations are recounted honestly. The detectives have largely become immune to the death around them and make jokes of fresh corpses as well as the luck of other detectives in catching a stone cold 'whodunit' over a 'dunker'. The broad range of personalities in the department also help Simon to give a fascinating insight into the workings of an overworked homicide department. The birth of characters used by Simon years later in The Wire is evident, literally in the case of Jay Landsman, as are several conversations and references to special details and wire taps.

A really eye-opening insight into the unglamourous life of a Baltimore homicide detective and the staggering crime levels of late eighties Baltimore. A must for any fan of police TV dramas, in particular The Wire.

FILM: Point Break (8/10)

All I knew of Point Break before watching this was the scene where Keanu Reeves lays on his back and empties his gun into the sky so it's safe to say I didn't know much.


Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, 18 years before her Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker and set amongst the Californian surfing scene, Point Break follows Keanu Reeve's jock FBI agent Johnny Utah as he hunts down a group of surfer types responsible for a string of bank robberies. Patrick Swayze plays adrenaline junkie surfer Bodhi, part of the group Reeve's attempts to infiltrate.


The plot may be slightly pie in the sky, but Bigelow manages to deliver a non-stop testosterone-laden ride throughout, be it with well-shot surfing scenes, chases, shoot-outs or the heart in mouth skydiving action sequences.


Reeves over-acts as ever, but this time around it doesn't feel too ridiculous as it almost seems a natural fit as part of the humourous cop buddy relationship so typical of police films of this era. Gary Busey is great as the joker to Reeve's largely straight character. John C. McGinley plays the typically over-wrought and angry police chief in a character that people will recognise as remarkably similar to Dr. Cox in Scrubs.


A pre-cursor to funny cop action flicks like Bad Boys, Point Break is a simple but enjoyable no-brainer action film.