In The Sum of All Fears, Clancy continues the Jack Ryan saga. This spectacularly written book details a terrorist plot to hurt the United States and to push us into war with the soviets.
An Islamic terrorist orgainization recovers an Israeli nuclear bomb lost in the 1973 war in the Golan Heights. After ascertaining what it is they have recovered, they quietly obtain the services of a retired German engineer to remake the bomb using the nuclear material from their recovered device. Using obtainable machinery (used in applications like astronimical telesope manufacture and other technical applications) they are able to engineer and manufacture a two-stage nuclear fusion bomb (Hydrogen bomb). Their plan for delivery is to import the bomb into the US and detonate it at the Super Bowl in Denver. And this is precisely what they do. Meanwhile, other important events are unfolding. Ryan is Deputy Director of the CIA. Ryan has suggested a plan for Mid-East peace centering around a peaceful solution to the situation in Israel: Isreael and Palestine are given discreet borders, including the total withdrawl of Isreal from the West Bank. The United states and the United Nations guarantee security for the Israelis and the Palestinians. Jerusalem, the center of the tension, is governed by a committee of three clerics, one Christian (the head of the Orthodox Church), one Islamic, and one Jewish. This three-person panel is in charge of the operation of a large Swiss Guard force in charge of physical security of the city. It's actually a very brilliant plan, one that one wishes could be engineered in real life.
Ryan has butted heads with the President and the National Security Advisor, and the National Security Advisor, Elizabeth Elliott, sets out to undo him. She thinks she has uncovered dirt on financial and sexual impropriety, and sets out to smear Ryan. But Clark, head of Ryan's protective detail, sees the effects of the lies, and sets out to spread the truth, first by convincing Ryan's wife that the allegations are true. Once that is accomplished he goes to the reporter that printed the story and convinces him that he has been merely used in a smear campaign. While all this is going on, the US is getting intelligence from Russia that the Russian president may be in danger of losing control of his country and his military. As events are quickly moving to a head, Ryan is doubting the veracity of the report.
Then the bomb goes off. US and Soviet agencies both detect the signature double-blast pattern of a nuclear detonation, and chaos ensues. Nobody knows where the bomb came from. There is no inbound ballistic path (meaning a missile), but that is all they know. A second part of the terrorist's plot immediately ensues, as they pose as soviet officers and instigate a skirmish between Soviet and US tank forces in Berlin. This becomes one of a series of cascading events that add to the chaos and make both the Soviets and the Americans wonder if the other side is pushing for war. All the while, fragmentary information lacks the needed clarity. But slowly, a picture is beginning to emerge that the device, which first looked too large for a terrorist device, may in fact be just that. Ryan has tried to communicate these findings to the President, but President Fowler and NSA Elliott have realized that they were supposed to be at the game, and are slowly coming unglued under the pressure. Ryan finally sees that the Hot-Line messages from the President to Moscow are becoming more escalated, and he breaks into the Hot-Line area and speaks directly with Soviet President Narminov, giving him the news that the US knows it wasn't the Soviets, and helping to instigate an immediate step-down in violence and a pull-back of forces. The terrorist plot almost works.
This long and involved thriller pulls you along through all one thousand of its pages. Clancy has woven a realistic (almost prophetic) plot together with very good character development and exciting action. Again, vintage Clancy, and certainly worth the read. It is a great opportunity to reflect on terrorism and its implications, and also spurs us on to hope of a real peace in the Middle East. Worth reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment