With his lengthy books and complex plots, James Clavell could have set the standard to which Tom Clancy took to the next level.

In "Whirlwind" Clavell sets his story in 1979 at the start of the Iranian revolution. The country is in a life or death struggle after the Shah has left.

As the story opens, a British helicopter company is secretly controlled by the Noble House of Hong Cong. The members of the company question how much longer they will be able to operate their bases throughout the land.

In Aberdeen, Andrew Gavallan and Linbar Struan discuss the direction of the Noble House and what the proper course of management should be. It is easy to tell that these men intensely dislike each other.

The novel could well be a text book on the Iranian revolution. However, like most of the author's books, strick adherence to historical facts are not always adhered to.

The reader is shown the conflict Iranians had with Shiites and Sunnis as well as their dislike and distrust of outsiders such as the Canadians, Americans and British who were looking after their oil interests in Iran.

Good for the historical mystery fan. ( )

I have been reading this book for quite a while , I usually fly threw them

After completing this novel, I have now read two James Clavell works. I first read Shogun about 9 years ago and found it completely engrossing. I must admit, I had a hard time recalling that feeling for the first couple hundred pages of Whirlwind, and I didn't have much sympathy, one way or the other for a majority of the characters. But the story did have Clavell's trademark twists and nefarious plotters. He does a great job of creating intrigue and suspense. If you have the time and willpower to make it past the first quarter of the book, I highly recommend reading Whirlwind. ( )

James Clavell extends his Asian saga to revolutionary Iran. Not quite up to the standards of Shogun or Noble House, but a worthy effort nonetheless. ( )

A riveting read. It gave me a sense of what happened in Iran during the fall of the Shah. ( )