President Jack Ryan faces a world crisis unlike any he has ever known, in Tom Clancy's extraordinary new novel. Time and again, Tom Clancy's novels have been praised, not only for their big-scale drama and propulsive narrative drive, but for their cutting-edge prescience in predicting future events. In The Bear and the Dragon, the future is very near at hand indeed. Newly elected in his own right, Jack Ryan has found that being President hasn't got any easier: domestic pitfalls. await him at every turn; the Asian economy is going down the tubes; and now, in Moscow, someone may have tried to take out the chairman of the SVR the former KGB-with a rocket-propelled grenade. Things are unstable enough in Russia without high-level assassination, but even more disturbing may be the identities of the potential assassins. Were they political enemies, the Russian Mafia, disaffected former KGB? Or, Ryan wonders, is something far more dangerous at work here? Ryan is right to wonder. For even while Russian investigators pursue the case, and some of his most trusted eyes and ears, including antiterrorism specialist John Clark, head to Moscow, forces in China are moving ahead with a plan of truly audacious proportions. Tired of what they view as the presumption of the West, eager to fulfil their destiny, they are taking matters into their own hands. If they succeed, the world as we know it will never look the same. If they fail ... the consequences may be unspeakable. Blending the exceptional realism and authenticity that are his hallmarks with intricate plotting, razor-sharp suspense and a remarkable cast of characters, this is Clancy at his best and there is none better.
Born April 12, 1947 was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have been bestsellers and more than 100 million copies of his books have been sold. His name was also used on screenplays written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games. He was a part-owner of his hometown Major League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles, and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees. Originally an insurance agent, his literary career began in 1984 when he sold his first military thriller novel The Hunt for Red October for $5,000 published by the small academic Naval Institute Press of Annapolis, Maryland. His works The Hunt for Red October (1984), Patriot Games (1987), Clear and Present Danger (1989), and The Sum of All Fears (1991) have been turned into commercially successful films. Tom Clancy's works also inspired games such as the Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, The Division, and Splinter Cell series. Since Clancy's death in 2013, the Jack Ryan series has been continued by his family estate through a series of authors. Clancy died of heart failure on October 1, 2013.