Executive Orders

In Tom Clancy's most recent and amazing book, the President has passed away and Jack Ryan is now bearing the physical weight of the whole globe. I have no idea what to do. Where's the instruction manual and training for this work? Who should I ask? What should I do? The most startling finale to any Tom Clancy novel, Debt of Honor, included a devastated joint session of Congress, the President's death, the deaths of most members of the Cabinet and Congress, as well as the Supreme Court and Joint Chiefs. The man who had just been officially announced as the United States' next vice president is informed he is now president, leaving him bewildered and dazed. Ryan, President John Patrick. And it is the start of the Executive Orders. Ryan had consented to take on the vice presidency just as a temporary measure, but all of a sudden, he finds himself carrying an immense burden. Without a government, how can one operate one? How how do you start? Ryan is crushed by his obligations with incredible vigor. In addition to trying to quickly reassemble a Cabinet and a Congress, he must soothe a shaken and mourning country, assuage the doubts of foreign leaders, undertake a prompt inquiry into the disaster, and plan a large-scale state burial. That's not all, however. He's got a lot of eyes on him right now, most of them are not nice. There are those willing to take advantage of any opportunity in Beijing, Tehran, and other global capitals, including Washington, D.C. Some of these people have strong antipathy for the United States, and some of them have a profound hate toward Ryan, the newly elected President. They will soon start seizing their chances and confront Jack Ryan with a problem that is so immense that it would be beyond his comprehension. Although Tom Clancy has authored several amazing books in the past, none have quite matched the intensity and relevance of Executive Orders. Replete with the remarkable realism and complex storytelling that characterize him, it confirms the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's assessment: "This man can tell a story."