Why did Tom Clancy stop writing?
 

I've read mentions that Clancy effectively stopped writing books more than a decade before his death and everything has been a partnership with other writers. Does anyone know more on this?

Re: Why did Tom Clancy stop writing?
 

I remember reading only that he died due to an undisclosed illness forcing the collaborations. Per the Wiki bio, one of his collaborators said it was heart problems.

Re: Why did Tom Clancy stop writing?
 

He definitely had a heart attack back in the early 2000s, which was right around the point he stopped, but there are also rumors that he did it to spite his ex-wife who had a stake in any subsequent Ryan novels.

Re: Why did Tom Clancy stop writing?
 

I have no idea why he quit but it's just a well he did. IMO his last good Jack Ryan/John Clark book was Rainbow Six (1998). I never read any Op-center, Net Force etc.

Re: Why did Tom Clancy stop writing?
 

I think Executive Orders was the last book he wrote that I really liked. Rainbow Six seemed very sloppy.

Re: Why did Tom Clancy stop writing?
 

I thought R6 was really well done. I was hoping for years they'd make it into a movie and have Willem Dafoe play John Clark for it. I read some of Clancy's books after, and while the Ryan novels were good, they weren't quite up to par as Patriot and Clear and Present Danger. It was Red Rabbit that I didn't care for, then Teeth of the Tiger where I started tuning out.

Re: Why did Tom Clancy stop writing?
 

I think the end of the Cold War is where the series went down the drain. Sum of All Fears was fantastic, but then the next one was basically, "What if Chuck Norris from Missing in Action and Charles Bronson from Death Wish were the same guy, and the events of both movies were taking place simultaneously?" After that he had to come up with new enemies to replace Russia and he never came up with one that worked. The one with Japan was at least entertainingly silly, but the next two were too long and not enough happened.