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While last year's Clancy novel, Red Rabbit, hit #1 first week out, sales reportedly were down from previous books, as were the thumbs of critics, who found the book slow, talky and lacking in action. In an effort to repair the damage as well as to revitalize his long-running Jack Ryan series, Clancy has scrapped his usual one-novel-every-two-years cycle to deliver a shorter, swifter tale featuring not Ryan but Ryan's son, also known as Jack, as well as two of young Jack's cousins, fraternal twins Dominic and Brian Caruso, the former an FBI agent, the latter a Marine. All three are recruited to a privately funded vigilante organization, Hendley Associates, that aims to strike at America's enemies-particularly, terrorists-when the Feds can't or won't. The narrative divides into two parts. The first concerns the training of the three, with young Ryan basically pushing his way into the organization while Dominic is signed on after taking the law into his own hands by shooting a child killer, and Brian after demonstrating smarts during combat in Afghanistan. Their grapplings with the moral and logistical demands of their new jobs alternate with a villains' plot, as Islamic terrorists cut a deal with Colombian drug smugglers, sneak into the U.S. and move toward their killing-field objectives, four shopping malls in mid-America. The plot strands tie up in a terrifically exciting sequence, the novel's highlight, as Dom and Brian, by chance shopping at one mall, take down four of the terrorists. But the terrorists kill scores of innocents, so the rest of the novel details American vengeance-the teeth of the tiger-as the twins fly to Europe, followed by Jack, to take out several of the terrorists' handlers. This isn't Clancy's strongest novel, but it's a big improvement over Red Rabbit. Geopolitical analysis and operational details overwhelm the few action sequences, perhaps to the chagrin of many Clancy fans, but the author knows this stuff like no one else and delivers it all in his inimitable clipped manner. Clancy's smart flag-waving and targeting of terrorists will please many, of course, and leaves plenty of room for sequels. Expect generally satisfied fans.

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.

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