The Sum of All Fears
Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Sum of All Fears
The Sum of All Fears is a best-selling thriller novel by Tom Clancy, and part of the Jack Ryan series. It was the fourth book of the series to be turned into a film.
An interesting note is that this book was released just days before the Moscow uprising in 1991, which finally signaled the dissolving of the Soviet Union (in the book, Russian politics in the aftermath of the destruction of the Berlin Wall is a main element of the book).
Plot summary
The book begins with this quote:
- "Why, you may take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman or the most audacious soldier, put them at a table together - what do you get? The sum of their fears." — Winston Churchill
The plot then moves to the present day. After the Palestinians start using non-violent protesting and an unfortunate incident where an Israeli soldier kills such a protester, the U.S finds that they can no longer support Israel. But the U.S. also cannot leave Israel without this support since it would risk destabilizing the region. A clever plan to accelerate the peace process is put into action, and to everyone's surprise it seems to work.
A small group of Muslim extremist terrorists are not pleased though. With a lasting peace looming around the corner and the state of Israel still in existence, they are looking at a failure in their campaign. Their anger is directed towards the U.S which has supported Israel throughout the years and now is instrumental in creating a lasting peace that makes it impossible to eradicate the Jewish state.
When the terrorists come across the lost Israeli bomb, they manage to recover it and construct their own version using the plutonium as fissile material. They are also able to enhance the weapon and turn it into a thermonuclear device. The terrorists decide to use the weapon at the Super Bowl in Denver, Colorado. The goal of the terrorists is to start a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia.
The bomb explodes and destroys the stadium. The Secretary of Defense is one of the casualties. Through a series of coincidences, misunderstandings and further terrorist activities, the plan is almost a success and for a brief moment the U.S. assumes DEFCON-1. The crisis is averted when Jack Ryan, after receiving evidence that the bomb originates from the U.S., gains access to the Hot Line and manages to defuse the situation by communicating directly with the Russian president.
A curious twist is that the terrorists devise a backup plan in the event of failure. When this indeed happens and they are captured, they put it in the works by implicating the Iranian president as responsible for the attack. The American counterpart is enraged and orders the city of Qom destroyed through a nuclear attack. After Ryan averts the attack by enforcing the two-man rule the terrorists accidentally reveal the ruse and that they devised it in order to discredit and shame the U.S. in the eyes of the world. The upshot of this would be that the delicate peace process is destroyed and that the campaign against Israel thereby could continue. The plan can be seen as employing the commonly used terrorist tactic called "Agent provocateur", the provoking agent.
The book ends with the terrorists being executed by beheading in Saudi Arabia.
Themes
The book revolves around several themes.
- The ease with which nuclear weapons can be built. The book several times stresses that this process which was high science during World War II when the first nuclear weapons were created, is today a question of resources and mechanics if one manages to gain access to suitable fissile material.
- The importance of accurate and timely intelligence in a crisis. This is a central theme in most of Tom Clancy's books.
- Leadership. In the book, the crisis is escalated and nearly turns into disaster twice when the leadership and the president fail to function properly. Also in a side plot, the book explores the actions of a submarine captain that does not work to gain respect by his crew.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
| |
|---|
|
Fiction: 1980s: The Hunt for Red October | Red Storm Rising | Patriot Games | The Cardinal of the Kremlin | Clear and Present Danger 1990s: The Sum of All Fears | Without Remorse | Debt of Honor | Executive Orders | SSN | Rainbow Six 2000s: The Bear and the Dragon | Red Rabbit | The Teeth of the Tiger Non-fiction: 1990s: Submarine | Armored Cav | Fighter Wing | Marine | Into the Storm | Airborne | Carrier | Every Man a Tiger 2000s: Special Forces | Shadow Warriors | Battle Ready |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.