G.P. Putnam's Sons (2000)

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As usual Clancy treats us to a contemporary, topical tale of political intrigue and adventure. The "usual suspects" are present, plus a few new ones. Jack Ryan is the newly elected President of the USA- (He became president by "default" a couple of books ago when a terrorist wiped out most of the federal government).

This time, the "bad guys" are the Communist Chinese- Their Politbureau (Minister Zhang, who we met in the previous book, in particular) and the Chinese military. Anyway, The Chinese have really "stepped in it". Because of their trade policies and the murders of some diplomats & missionaries, they have run out of money.

By a great stroke of luck, The Russians have just made two great strikes in Siberia- The richest gold strike and largest oil strike in the history of the world just a few hundred miles apart, and just a few hundred miles from the border with China.

The Chinese see this as an opportunity of pulling themselves out of their problems, so they send an invasion army to take over the gold and oil fields. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, they have had a weakened military, and they are unable to stop the Chinese on their own. So it is America to the rescue!

I really enjoyed this book- It was really nice to see a Presidential Administration that was honorable, moral and capable. As usual, Clancy's technical and geopolitical plotting are great, and could be taken right out of the "real world". I wish that America's Military readiness was as good in real life as it is in the book- after 8 years of our last administration we have lost most of our professional soldiers and our materiel readiness is deplorable.

ALL of Clancy's "real" books are great (some of his co-authored books are merely good, and some of the ones that say Tom Clancy on them but that he only had some publishing / editorial control are only mediocre), but I think that this one is one of the best.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
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