Debt of honor by Tom Clancy
’’Fundamentally, honor itself is a debt, a code of behaviour, a promise, something inside yourself that you owe to the others who saw it in you’’
Author’s Background
Tom Clancy has neither a naval nor an intelligence background.Still, his extensive research into military strategies and modern warfare has led to a new breed of thriller fictions. His books are usually, military simulations of What if? scenarios. USP of his novel is the breathtaking realism. He has lectured at the CIA and also been consulted by international intelligence experts.
Review
Jack Ryan is the protagonist of Debt of Honor. Jack Ryan is a character created by Tom Clancy and is the central figure in manny of his novels. He was never a CIA field officer but an intelligence analyst with a knack for financial markets. In this book, he returns to work for the Government as ’National Security Advisor’ to the President.
The novel starts with USA and Russia destroying all of their nuclear missiles. Japan decides to take advantage of this situation and takes on the might of the USA in order to gain superpower status. Years of cut backs have left US army depleted and Japan takes advantage of this. Japan attacks American financial system alongside the US army. Japan occupies the strategic island of Saipan which it invaded in World War II and which was freed by the Allied forces. Japan has also developed nuclear warheads to act as deterrent.Also, India is in the process of invading Sri Lanka.
With financial markets in turmoil, economy creeping towards depression, navy crippled by a preemptive strike from Japan and engaged on two sides in Indian Ocean by India & Japan coupled with elections closeby result in chaos in US Government. America’s response to each of these threats and the shift in balance of power worldwide forms the crux of the novel.
Debt of Honor is arguably Tom Clancy’s best work and his most famous novel. This is because in it, he predicts a 9/11 kind of attack with an aircraft slamming into a major American landmark with devastating consequences. The only negative point about the novel is its sheer volume - 990 pages but if you can sit through it, it is worth it