content: ...Clancy undoubtedly is good action writer and a writer who knows the technological gadgetry that goes with the covert operations game. This he uses to good effect.However, I found most characters unidimensional at best, and although Clancy attempts at times to get beneath the skin of the protagonists, in my opinion, he does not succeed very much.Again, in an effort to build a story, he uses too many coincidences, and simplification of events. How else would you explain the fact that Popov was identified because the discarded passport was located due to a malfunctioning trash-can,...Far far too far-fetched!And one last irritiant, why does Clancy have to use '/' so often. Surely if he can last through 740 pages, he can do more than slash?...