Executive Orders

The president is dead - and the weight, literally, of the world falls on Jack Ryan's shoulders, in Tom Clancy's newest and most extraordinary novel.I don't know what to do. Where's the manual, the training course, for the job ? Whom do I ask ? Where do I go ? Debt of Honor ended with Tom Clancy's most shocking conclusion ever; a joit session of Congress destroyed, the President dead, the Supreme Court and Joint Chiefs likewise. dazed and confused, the man who only minutes before had been confirmed as the new Vice-President of the United States is told that he is now President. President John Patrick Ryan. And that is where Executive Orders begins. Ryan had agreed to accept the vice-presidency only as caretaker for a year, and now, suddenly, an incalculable weight has fallen on his shoulders. How do you run a government ? Where do you even begin ? With stunning force, Ryan's responsabilities crush in on him. He must calm an anxious and grieving nation, allay the skepticism of the world's leaders, conduct a swift investigation of the tragedy, and arrange a massive state funeral- all while attempting to reconstitute a Cabinet and a Congress with the greatest possible speed. But that is not all. Many eyes are on him now, and many of them are unfriendly. In Beijing, Tehran, and other world capitals, including Washington, D.C., there are those eagerto take advantage where they may, some of whom bear a deep animus toward the United States-some of whom, from Ryan's past, harbor intense animosity toward the new President himself. Soon they will begin to move on their opportunities; soon they will present Jack Ryan with a crisis so great even he cannot imagine it. Tom Clancy has written remarkable novels before, but nothing comparable to the timeliness and drama of Executive Orders. Filled with the exceptional realism and intricate plotting that are him hallmarks, it attests to the words of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; 'This man can tell a story'. Tom Clancy is the author of The Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising, Patriot Games, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, Without Remorse and Debt of Honor. He is also the author of the nonfiction books Submarine, Armored Cav, Fighter Wing, and the forthcoming Marine, and a co-creator of the Op-Center series. He lives in Maryland.