Tom Clancy's Net Force is a novel series, created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik and originally written by Steve Perry. The original series ceased publication in 2006. There was also a spin-off of young adult books called Net Force Explorers . The series was rebooted in 2019 with the Dark Web novel by Jerome Preisler.
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.
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.
These characters are in most or all books:
Name | Description |
---|---|
Commander Alex Michaels | Promoted to top spot in Net Force in the first book, resigns in Changing of the Guard, is played by Scott Bakula in the NetForce TV movie |
Toni Fiorella/Michaels | Has position under Alex Michaels and eventually marries him played by Joanna Going in the NetForce TV movie |
Jay Gridley | The main programmer for Net Force, often makes the key breakthroughs played by Paul Hewitt in the NetForce TV movie |
General John Howard | The leader of Net Force's military arm, plans and executes the extractions or incursions played by Sterling Macer Jr. in the NetForce TV movie |
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 in 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 in Changing of the Guard |
The books in the Tom Clancy's Net Force series so far are:
# | Title | Publication date | ISBN | Plot | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Net Force | 1998 | ISBN 0-425-16172-2 | Russian hacker Vladimir Plekhanov is wreaking havoc using computers, 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. As Director Steve Day was assassinated, Alex Michaels is promoted to Commander of Net Force. | |
2 | Hidden Agendas | 1999 | ISBN 0-425-17139-6 | Thomas 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. | |
3 | Night Moves | 1999 | ISBN 0-425-17400-X | Peter Bascoomb-Coombes, a brilliant scientist, has created a quantum 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. | |
4 | Breaking Point | 2000 | ISBN 0-425-17693-2 | 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. | |
5 | Point of Impact | 2001 | ISBN 0-425-17923-0 | 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. | |
6 | CyberNation | 2001 | ISBN 0-425-18267-3 | 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. | |
7 | State of War | 2003 | ISBN 0-425-18813-2 | 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. | |
8 | Changing of the Guard | 2003 | ISBN 0-425-19376-4 | The Net Force leadership is in transition. An encrypted message is intercepted and partially decoded by Net Force, revealing a list of Russian spies. Samuel Cox, a powerful American businessman, fears that his name is on the list and will stop at nothing to prevent its discovery. | |
9 | Springboard | 2005 | ISBN 0-425-19953-3 | A top secret Pentagon wargame is hacked. Only Net Force has the expertise to track down the culprit, but they are tied up with other priorities. Due to shifting budget priorities, Net Force is moved onto the DoD budget. That means that as a military operation, they can now give top priority to the Pentagon's problem. They soon make a connection between the attack and a Chinese general in Macau. | |
10 | The Archimedes Effect | 2006 | ISBN 0-425-20424-3 | An army base is attacked and NetForce is called in to track down the culprits. 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. | |
10.5 | Code War | 2013 | novella | ||
The books in the Tom Clancy's Net Force Relaunch series so far are:
# | Title | Publication date | ISBN | Plot | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.5 | Eye of the Drone | 2020 | ISBN 1-09-415001-0 | Prequel novella to Dark Web | |
1 | Dark Web | 2019 | ISBN 1-335-91784-5 | ||
2 | Attack Protocol | 2020 | ISBN 1-335-08084-8 | ||
2.5 | Kill Chain | 2021 | ISBN 1-66506-884-1 | Novella taking place between Attack Protocol and Threat Point | |
3 | Threat Point | 2021 | ISBN 1-335-65288-4 | ||
4 | Moving Target | 2023 | ISBN 1-335-66654-0 |
The first book of the series, Net Force, was adapted and altered into a made-for-TV film in 1999, starring Scott Bakula as Alex Michaels and Joanna Going as Toni Fiorella. [1]
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have been bestsellers and more than 100 million copies of his books have been sold. His name was also used on movie scripts written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games. He was a part-owner of his hometown Major League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles of the American League, and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a fictional black-ops sub-division within the NSA, dubbed "Third Echelon", as he overcomes his adversaries. Levels are created using Unreal Engine and emphasize light and darkness as gameplay elements. The series has been positively received, and was once considered to be one of Ubisoft's flagship franchises, selling more than 31 million copies by 2011. No further installments have been released since 2013, though a VR version and a remake of the first game have since been announced.
Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and studio of Ubisoft based in Cary, North Carolina. Founded in November 1996 between author Tom Clancy, manager Doug Littlejohns, and software development company Virtus Corporation, Red Storm develops games in the Tom Clancy's franchise. Ubisoft acquired the studio in August 2000.
Tom Clancy's Op-Center is a novel series, created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik, though the first 12 books were written by Jeff Rovin between 1995 and 2005. The four books in the series reboot from 2014 are written by Dick Couch, George Galdorisi and Jeff Rovin.
Steve Sohmer is a Shakespearean scholar, author of fiction and nonfiction books, television writer and producer, and former network television and motion picture studio executive.
NetForce is a 1999 American made-for-television science fiction action drama film directed by Robert Lieberman, written by Lionel Chetwynd, and starring Scott Bakula. Based on the Tom Clancy's Net Force series of novels created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik, it was broadcast on ABC in 1999.
Tom Clancy's Net Force Explorers or Net Force Explorers is a series of young adult novels created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik as a spin-off of the military fiction series Tom Clancy's Net Force. The first novel was published in 1998. In 2025, the Internet and its virtual reality network have to be policed by the Net Force to prevent cyber-terrorists from sabotaging it. They are assisted by the Net Force Explorers, a young people's auxiliary for computer experts who have completed a rigorous training program.
Jeff Rovin is an American magazine editor, freelance writer, columnist, and author, who has appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Gay teen fiction is a subgenre that overlaps with LGBTQ+ literature and young adult literature. This article covers books about gay and bisexual teenage characters who are male.
Net Force may refer to:
Op-Center or Tom Clancy's Op-Center (1995) is the first novel in Tom Clancy's Op-Center created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik. It was written by Jeff Rovin. It was adapted into the film of the same name.
Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Mirror Image is the second novel in Tom Clancy's Op-Center created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik first published in 1995. The actual novels are written by Jeff Rovin.
Bill McCay is an American author and has written over seventy books in total, mostly media tie-ins.
Virtual Vandals is the first book in the young adult series Net Force Explorers created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik. The book was released in 1998 and ghost written by Diane Duane.
The Deadliest Game is the second book in the young adult series Net Force Explorers created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik. The book was released in 1998 and ghost written by Diane Duane.
Private Lives is the ninth book in the young adult series Net Force Explorers created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik. The book was released in 2000 and ghost written by Bill McCay.
Tom Clancy's Op Center is a 114-minute action-political thriller film which was edited-down from a 170-minute, 4-hour television miniseries of the same name that aired in two parts on NBC on February 26–27, 1995.
The following is a complete list of books published by Tom Clancy, an American author of contemporary spy fiction and military fiction.
Tom Clancy's is a branding used by video game company Ubisoft for several video games, some of which feature the works of American author Tom Clancy, while others do not. Various sub-series are often unrelated to each other with a few exceptions, although most are shooters set in modern or near-future military settings.
Mark Greaney is an American novelist focusing on thriller. He is best known as Tom Clancy's collaborator on his final books during his lifetime, and for continuing the Jack Ryan character and the Tom Clancy universe following Clancy's death in 2013. He is also known for the Gray Man series of novels, which was produced by Netflix into a feature film.