Tom Clancy is a master when it comes to writing espionage and political intrigue. I did think that he stumbled quite a bit as he jumped his characters into the modern error (and the next generation) with his previous book (The Teeth of the Tiger). The writing was good, but the storytelling just felt off or flat. With this newest title, the first in 8 years, Clancy continues the trend of writing with the next generation in mind, but he keeps a strong grasp on the characters that were so popular for so long.

Jack Ryan, Sr., long the star of Clancy's novels, has settled into retirement at the conclusion of his term as President. The new President, the very-liberal Edward Kealty, has been focusing on stripping the intelligence community of funding and resources. This is something that is particularly bothersome to Jack as the War on Terror continues. After some short discussions with colleagues, Ryan decides to run for a second term in the hopes of pushing Kealty out.

Jack's son, Jack Jr., is also keeping busy. He is tired of his job in the business world and finds himself being pulled into work at the Camp, a small intelligence agency that was created by his father and is largely made up of operatives from Rainbow-Six. The Campus' primary focus is on the big terrorists in thee world, and the members have every hope of bringing down the Emir, who is the current leader of the global terrorism network.

The Campus is quickly drawn into all sorts of intrigue being driven by the Emir, and much of it involves domestic terrorism and a number of cells that are operating throughout America. The cells will have to be stopped before too many people are hurt, but it is just as important to bring in the Emir in order to try and breakdown the global terrorism network.

I really thought this was a much stronger novel than Clancy's previous one, though I did think it jumped around too much to easily focus on a storyline. Clancy has always been a rich writer who carefully develops his primary and secondary characters, both good and bad. In this novel he draws on a large cast of characters that he has built up over the years.

Unfortunately, the resulting loos focus creates a novel that seems to lurch between fairly disparate plots and subplots. Things happen to characters that seem to serve no purpose other than to derive unnecessary emotions. There are definitely scenes of action, but they seem a bit rushed and are too few and far between, particularly from the master of espionage fiction. I have to admit to being a bit disappointed!