Book note: 24 Declassified: Cat's Claw, by John Whitman

I have to admit that I don't quite understand Jack Bauer mania. I've watched some of the show "24" this year (filling myself in at the show's website for the episodes I've missed), and I'll grant it's heart-poundingly well done, and has twists and turns aplenty, and lots of deep issues, so to speak. In its way, it's rewarding television, in that it deals with duty and self-sacrifice and steep odds and grit and mistakes people make and evil and greed and what goes wrong with people either under duress or when they're being misled or when they smell a chance to become a big player in some way. But so far it eludes me what people see in Jack Bauer himself that makes them elevate him to some kind of hero status. And since the show is quite violent, and since I don't have one of those fancy ways of getting rid of the ads (I don't mind ads per se, but I can't see any reason to sit through ad after ad for R-rated movies and previews for what appear to be highly twisted and super-violent television shows), I might never figure it out, since I'm not sure how much more I'm going to watch.

But for those of you who "get" the Jack Bauer popularity, and can't get enough of his exploits, there are (did you know?), books, too. For instance:


24 Declassified: Cat's Claw

Clicking on the book cover will take you to Barnes & Noble.

Update: Oh, good. The show's executive producer says they'll be cutting back on torture scenes. I'm with Danielle Bean on this. Only, I'd add, "Yay, Mrs. Gordon!"