gottahavacuppamocha

The Teeth of the Tiger is Tom Clancy’s latest novel, and is an off-shoot of the Jack Ryan series. Jack Ryan is retired from the presidency, but one of the final acts of his administration was to setup a small non-governmental organization that will do things the government can’t. It’s free from oversight and recieves no money from the government. “The Campus” is headed by a former senator who decides to take a chance on some new recruits, Jack Ryan Jr., and his cousins, Brian and Dominic Caruso.

We don’t actually see former President Ryan, but hear about him through his son, nephews, and their new boss, Gerald Hendley. While the story is solid on it’s own, it references some of the other novels in the series, such as Patriot Games and Executive Orders. The book takes place in a post September 11th world. Some of the backstory that is given is that Jack Ryan Sr. is retired from the Presidency and writing his biography (one for publication, and another for publication after he is dead). Robby Jackson became the nation’s first African American President, but the current President is Edward Kealty, from Executive Orders and Debt of Honor (I would love to see more of that story, preferably in a novel of it’s own). As one of the last acts of his presidency, Jack Ryan had a talk Senator Gerald Hendley, who setup Hendley Associates, a small brokerage house, and off-the-books intelligence service. Where Rainbow goes into action when something has already occured (as it did in Rainbow Six) the businessmen of Hendley Associates are more inclined to preventing things from happening in the first place. While this might seem like the role of government, if these kinds of duties are done correctly, no one would ever knew they were done, and of course you can’t fund an agency that appears to be doing nothing. So, Hendley Associates, with no governmental oversight or governmental funds, does the things the government can’t.

Dominic Caruso comes via the FBI, where he just solved a major kidnapping case, while his brother, Captain Brian Caruso comes via the Marine Corps, where he just finished a tour with Force Recon in Afghanistan. Jack Ryan Jr. is more or less fresh out of college and hasn’t decided what he wants to do with is life, or how he wants to make his mark on the world. Fate, or at least a story, has delivered them all to “The Campus.”

Overall, the story is pretty good. It’s not as thoroughly exciting as Sum of all Fears or Debt of Honor, but in it’s own way it’s a bit more cerebral (for lack of a better word), in that it tackles the pros and cons of some of the actions that are taken. We see some of the characters weigh their consciences on the actions they must take. It’s not simply a matter of following orders, but doing the right thing. The end of the book ensures that there will be more stories from “The Campus” in the future, and I guess the Jack Ryan series will have a spinoff.

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