Shadow of 9-11 hangs over The Teeth of the Tiger in more ways than one
Written: Sep 06 '04 (Updated Sep 06 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Clancy's willingness to create new characters; nifty gadgets; focus on terrorism.
Cons: May be way too violent for some; scenario of shopping mall strikes is very scary!
The Bottom Line: If you like Clancy's other works, this, too, will be entertaining. If you are terrified by the prospect of more terrorist strikes, run, don't walk, away from this book.
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| alexdg1's Full Review: Tom Clancy - The Teeth of the Tiger Books |
As every good storyteller can tell you, it’s sometimes good to shake things up a bit, particularly in a long-established franchise as Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series.
Since 1984, Clancy’s readers have followed John Patrick Ryan’s ascent from Annapolis history professor to President of the United States, focusing particularly on Ryan’s fast rise within the ranks of the Central Intelligence Agency. From his stint as CIA liaison officer in London to a short and contentious stint as CIA Deputy Director, Clancy’s most famous character saw both the good and the dark side of the “black world” of the intelligence-gathering business.
But in order to keep Ryan believable and keep his fans interested, Clancy has shaken things up in the “Ryan-verse” several times. In 1991’s The Sum of All Fears Clancy placed Ryan in a no-win scenario in which part of a terrorist plot does work -- even though the ultimate goal is not achieved -- and ends his career at CIA. He also diverted readers’ attentions in Without Remorse and Rainbow Six to John Clark, a major (but secondary) player in most of the Jack Ryan novels. Finally, in a three-novel arc (Debt of Honor, Executive Orders, and The Bear and the Dragon), John Patrick Ryan is in the Oval Office as the nation’s Chief Executive.
Now, in The Teeth of the Tiger, Clancy stirs things up again by handing off the franchise to the “next generation” by making John Patrick Ryan, Jr. one of America’s newest clandestine agents.
It’s the early 21st Century. President Ryan is now retired and working on his memoirs. His wife Cathy is still a surgeon, and their oldest daughter Sally is attending medical school. In the White House, Edward Kealty (a man whose path to power was once seemingly halted by sexual scandal and his resignation from the Vice Presidency) is now occupant of the Oval Office, having been placed there by his predecessor’s assassination. In this time of transition, the war on terror goes on, and new departments and agencies have been created to fight it.
One of these secret agencies is “The Campus,” run jointly by the military and intelligence communities and set up by a very top secret Executive Order drafted by former President Ryan shortly before leaving the White House. Here, under the cover of a legitimate business outfit known as Hendley Associates, analysts under the direction of Gerald Hendley, a wealthy and influential ex-United States Senator, pore over vast amounts of data while field operatives carry out dangerous missions against targeted terrorists. One of the new analysts is the young, talented, but untried Jack Ryan, Jr.
His cousins Dominic and Brian Caruso, twins who have been serving their country well, join young Ryan in The Campus. Dominic, the FBI agent, has just finished one of his first and most harrowing cases, while Brian, a Marine captain, has recently completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan. While Ryan possesses his father’s sharp intellect and analytical skill, his cousins have the investigative and combat skills necessary for field assignments.
And when a Muslim terrorist group joins forces with a Colombian drug cartel to inflict grievous damage upon their common American enemy, these three young rookies will pit their courage and skills against this new and nefarious confederacy of evil. Led by the coldly calculating and intelligent Mohammed Hassan-al Din -- whose half-European ancestry and Cambridge education allow him to blend in where a more Arab Muslim would stand out -- this deadly assortment of enemies plans a series of attacks (including coordinated assaults in shopping malls throughout the Midwest) that will make September 11, 2001 look like a Sunday picnic:
Turning left, Mustafa passed a toy store and various clothing businesses on his way to the Center Court. His eyes were sweeping the area rapidly. Perhaps a hundred people to his immediate right, and judging by K*B Toys, the retail stores would all be well peopled. He passed the Sunglass Hut and turned right for the security office. It was conveniently located, just a few steps from the restrooms. All four went into the men's rooms together.
A few people had noted their presence -- four men of identically ethnic appearance was unusual -- but an American shopping mall is the nearest thing to a zoo for humans, and it took a lot to take much note of anything unusual, much less dangerous.
In the men's room, they all took their weapons from the shopping bags and assembled them. Bolts were pulled back. Magazines were inserted in the pistol grips. Each man slipped the five magazine pairs into pants pockets. Two screwed the lengthy suppressors onto their weapons. Mustafa and Rafi did not, deciding after rapid reflection that they preferred to hear the noise.
"Are we ready?" the leader asked. The replies were only nods.
"Then we shall eat lamb together in Paradise. To your places. When I shoot first, you will all begin."
Even though Red Rabbit preceded the publication of The Teeth of the Tiger by a year, the shadow of the 9-11 tragedy clearly hangs over the novel's narrative; there are references to Al Qaeda's devastating attack -- one character muses that he is avenging a lost relative who was killed in the World Trade Center. Clancy's choice of "bad guys" (Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic extremists) and his scenario of both a devastating attack on "soft targets" and swift, covert retribution feed directly into our preoccupation with further and even more spectacular attacks on American soil and our desire for revenge against the terrorists. (Clancy detractors who say he writes far-fetched stories should take note that not only have his novels tackled the thorny issue of international terrorism, but he also wrote a novel -- Debt of Honor -- in which an airliner was used as a weapon of mass destruction against an American landmark...seven years before 9-11.)
In comparison to Red Rabbit, The Teeth of the Tiger is far more violent and frightening than even his big "war" novels (Red Storm Rising, Debt of Honor, Executive Orders,and The Bear and the Dragon) The book begins with the murder of a Mossad station chief in Rome, and there are many instances of gunplay (the shooting of an unsavory child molester by Dominic early on in the story is particularly chilling). In addition, there are some other nifty weapons at hand, including a new gadget that gives new meaning to the term "poison pen."
Fast paced and crisply written, Clancy’s latest novel dares to take chances by changing the familiar Ryan-verse in unexpected ways. The introduction of a new generation of protagonists allows the author to avoid the President-Ryan-faces-another-international-crisis while showing readers the fates of familiar characters from previous novels, even though not all the developments are happy ones. All in all, however, The Teeth of the Tiger is still an entertaining work, despite its brevity (by Clancy standards), still somewhat clunky style, and the abrupt cliffhanger ending.
Recommended:
Yes
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