Opinion of Tom Clancy

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Clancy had some interesting ideas and a much better "technical" eye than most novelists do--he managed to make accurate educated guesses about a lot of fairly hush-hush military minutiae, which is remarkable--but he drifted sharply right in the 90s and 2000s and his writing suffered as a result. Compare Clear and Present Danger to any of his last few books and the former starts to look downright woke.

I think he was manifestly not "a great author" but that's okay; not everyone has to be. He had a clear worldview, style, narrative preoccupations, and themes, which is more than plenty of "great authors" can say.