Tom Clancy's Net Force
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Tom Clancy's Net Force is a novel series, created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik and written by Steve Perry. It is set in 2010 and charts the actions of Net Force: a federal agency set up to combat increasing crime on the internet.
General
Tom Clancy's Net Force is aimed at an adult audience, while the related series Net Force Explorers (which follows the adventures of a teen auxiliary of the Net Force in 2025) is aimed at the older teen market.It is written about a world where virtual reality software is readily available and very sophisticated. People can use helmets and gloves to log into the web and act as if they were actually there.
The initial Net Force concept was alluded to in the third Op-Center novel, Games of State; given that Net Force was created by the same two men who created the Op-Center series, it can be assumed that they occur in the same universe. However, no direct connection has yet been drawn between the two.
Main characters
These characters are in most or all books:- Commander Alex Michaels - promoted to top spot in Net Force in the first book
- Toni Fiorelli/Michaels - has position under Michaels and eventually marries him
- Jay Gridley - the main programmer for Net Force, often makes the key breakthroughs
- General John Howard - the leader of Net Force's military arm, plans and executes the extractions or incursions
- Lieutenant Julio Fernandez - friend of John Howard, also in Net Force's military unit
- Commander Thomas Thorn - took over the top spot in Net Force after Alex Michaels resigned (chronicled in Tom Clancy's Net Force: Changing of the Guard)
- General Abraham Kent - A lifetime Marine officer, he takes General Howard's place as the leader of Net Force's military arm (chronicled in Tom Clancy's Net Force: Changing of the Guard)
Plots
The books in the Tom Clancy's Net Force series so far are:
- Net Force (ISBN 0425161722) This is about a Russian named Vladimir Plekhanov. By wreaking havoc using computers, he aims to gain money from security contracts. With the money, he plans to buy governments so he will be rich and powerful. Net Force eventually track him down and capture him in a daring mission to Chechnya.
- Hidden Agendas (ISBN 0425171396) Hughes is an aide to an important government minister. Using his position, he gains access to many secret passcodes and pieces of information. Using his racist assistant, Platt, he posts secrets on the web. All the time, he is diverting attention from his real plan: to steal $150 million and own the government of Guinea-Bissau. Again, Net Force find out his plan and manage to stop him.
- Night Moves (ISBN 042517400X) Bascoomb-Coombes, a brilliant scientist, has created a quantam computer capable of breaking into supposedly secure places. He puts Net Force's best programmer, Gridley, out of action by inducing a stroke over the 'Net. The action takes place in England and Net Force eventually apprehend or kill the people involved.
- Breaking Point (ISBN 0425176932) Morrison, another great scientist, uses Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF) to turn large groups of people mad, so they start attacking each other. The Chinese are prepared to pay $400 million for his information and Morrison is prepared to deal. He hires Ventura, an assassin turned bodyguard, to protect him. In a tense finale, both Morrison, Ventura and the Chinese negotiator die, and the secret is lost forever.
- Point of Impact (ISBN 0425179230) Robert "Bobby" Drayne is a chemist who is far away from the competition. He deals in "Thor's Hammer" - a drug which can make people superhuman in strength and intelligence. He is making money by selling it over the 'Net. Net Force are asked to help investigate and locate the dealer. He is eventually killed, in a surprising twist, by someone working for a pharmaceutical company.
- CyberNation (ISBN 0425182673) CyberNation is an online world where people live and pay taxes. A controversial idea, it needs a lot more support before Congress will recognise it as a "real" state. Using a team of programmers, they launch attacks on the web that convince people that their ISP is unreliable, thus convincing them to join CyberNation. Net Force stop them before their main attack, but CyberNation does not go down.
- State of War (ISBN 0425188132) This follows directly on from "Cybernation". We find that after Net Force ended the attacks on the web, the legitimate side of Cybernation continues to flourish and has even launched legal action against Net Force, claiming excessive force during their storming of the Cybernation cruise ship. This however is only a stalling tactic, and Cybernation's famous lawyer instead finds himself on the wrong side of the law as his hired hitman spins out of control
- Changing of the Guard (ISBN 0425193764)
- Springboard (ISBN 0425199533)
- The Archimedes Effect (ISBN 0425204243) An army base is attacked an NetForce is called in to track down the culpruts. It turns out that the bad guys are using a massive online VR game to have people test ways of getting into the bases. Captain Lewis, an attractive computer woman who works with Jay on the case turns out to be the criminal though she tried to seduce Jay throughout the book. She is finally caught in the end.
Other formats
The first book of the series was adapted into a made-for-tv film in 1999, starring Scott Bakula as Alex Michaels and Joanna Going as Toni Fiorelli. [link]
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