Clear and Present Danger (A Jack Ryan Novel) - Softcover

Clancy, Tom

4.14

139,004 ratings by Goodreads

9780425122129: Clear and Present Danger (A Jack Ryan Novel)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425122123 ISBN 13: 9780425122129

Publisher: Berkley, 1990

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In this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan gets caught in a war between the United States and a Colombian drug cartel and uncovers a shocking conspiracy.

When Colombian drug lords assassinate both the U.S. ambassador and the visiting head of the FBI, their actions trigger a covert response from the American government—a response that goes horribly wrong...

As the newly named Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA, Jack Ryan should be privy to operations like the one in Colombia, but he’s been left completely in the dark. With the help of field officer John Clark, Ryan intends to find out what’s really going on. But while they expect danger from without, the greatest threat of all may come from within.

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Review:

At the end of the prologue to Clear and Present Danger, Clancy writes, "And so began something that had not quite begun and would not soon end, with many people in many places moving off in directions and on missions which they all mistakenly thought they understood. That was just as well. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected, illusory finish lines were things fated by the decisions made this morning--and, once decided, best unseen." In Clear and Present Danger nothing is as clear as it may seem.

The president, unsatisfied with the success of his "war on drugs," decides that he wants some immediate success. But after John Clark's covert strike team is deployed to Colombia for Operation Showboat, the drug lords strike back taking several civilian casualties. The chief executive's polls plummet. He orders Ritter to terminate their unofficial plan and leave no traces. Jack Ryan, who has just been named CIA deputy director of intelligence is enraged when he discovers that has been left out of the loop of Colombian operations. Several of America's most highly trained soldiers are stranded in an unfinished mission that, according to all records, never existed. Ryan decides to get the men out.

Ultimately, Clear and Present Danger is about good conscience, law, and politics, with Jack Ryan and CIA agent John Clark as its dual heroes. Ryan relentlessly pursues what he knows is right and legal, even if it means confronting the president of the United States. Clark is the perfect soldier, but a man who finally holds his men higher than the orders of any careless commander.

Along with the usual, stunning array of military hardware and the latest techno-gadgets, Clear and Present Danger further develops the relationships and characters that Clancy fans have grown to love. Admiral James Greer passes the CIA torch to his pupil, Ryan. Mr. Clark and Chavez meet for the first time. Other recurring characters like Robert Ritter and "the President" add continuity to Clancy's believable, alternate reality. This is Clancy at his best. --Patrick O'Kelley

From the Publisher:

The US ambassador to Columbia has been murdered by drug lords. Enemy covert agents filter into the jungles of South America---and Central America is ready to explode. CIA man Jack Ryan is in the eye of a storm---and for the US the stakes have never been greater. Tom Clancy captured worldwide attention with The Hunt For Red October and Red Storm Rising. He set new standards for storytelling excellence in The Cardinal of the Kremlin. Now he unleashes his most harrowing thriller yet---in a story of international brinkmanship that is as up-to-the minute as today's headlines and as frightening as the truth that lies behind them...

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