Name: Debt of Honor
Author: Thomas Leo Clancy Jr.

Thomas Leo Clancy Jr.

Book Content

Debt of Honor is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on August 17, 1994. A direct sequel to The Sum of All Fears (1991), Jack Ryan becomes the National Security Advisor when a secret cabal of Japanese industrialists seize control of their country’s government and wage war on the United States. The book debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list. The novel was later noted as containing plot elements which were similar to the circumstances of United Airlines Flight 93

Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels were bestsellers, and more than 100 million copies of his books were sold. His name was also used on movie scripts written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games. He was a part-owner of his hometown Major League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles of the American League and vice-chairman of their community activities and public affairs committees.

Clancy's literary career began in 1984 when he sold his first military thriller novel The Hunt for Red October for $5,000 published by the small academic Naval Institute Press of Annapolis, Maryland. His works The Hunt for Red October (1984), Patriot Games (1987), Clear and Present Danger (1989), and The Sum of All Fears (1991) have been turned into commercially successful films. Actors Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine, and John Krasinski have played Clancy's most famous fictional character, Jack Ryan. Another well-known character of his, John Clark, has been portrayed by actors Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber. Tom Clancy's works also inspired games such as the Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell series. Since Clancy's death in 2013, the Jack Ryan series has been continued by his family estate through a series of authors.

Film, television and media adaptations

Films

Year Title Filmmaker/Director Source material Notes

1990 The Hunt for Red October John McTiernan The book

1992 Patriot Games Phillip Noyce The book

1994 Clear and Present Danger Phillip Noyce The book

1995 Tom Clancy's Op Center Lewis Teague The series A 114-minute action/political thriller which was edited down from a 170-minute, 4-hour TV mini-series of the same name that aired in two parts on NBC in February 1995

1999 NetForce Robert Lieberman The series A television movie based on the Tom Clancy's Net Force series of novels created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik

2002 The Sum of All Fears Phil Alden Robinson The book

2014 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Kenneth Branagh Based on characters created by Clancy

2020 Without Remorse Stefano Sollima The book

Short films

Ghost Recon: Alpha

Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within the Cartel

Television series

Year Title Filmmaker/Director Notes

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Carlton Cuse–present 2018

Graham Roland An American eight-episode action political thriller web television series, based on characters from the fictional "Ryanverse", that premiered on August 31, 2018 on Amazon Video. The second season premiered on November 1, 2019, following the same eight-episode pattern. It serves as a sequel to the first season, taking Jack on a similar adventure through Venezuela.

Video games

Ubisoft has made many video game series based on Tom Clancy's books.

Year Title

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six saga1998–present

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon saga2001–present

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell saga2002–present

Tom Clancy's EndWar2008

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X saga2009–2010

Tom Clancy's The Division saga2016–present

Tom Clancy's Elite Squad2019

Reception

The novel received positive reviews. Publishers Weekly praised Clancy, who "spins out story threads in a rich but bewildering tangle of plot and setting, then vigorously weaves them together. Here, the heart-stopping climax is unexpected, but oddly appropriate." However, Christopher Buckley, in a review for The New York Times, called the book a "herniating experience" and criticized its "racist" depictions of Japanese characters.

Jack Ryan, now the President's National Security Adviser, finds himself embroiled in the buildup to a new world war-one in which the stock market and national economic policy are as critical as advanced weaponry. A power-hungry Japanese financier, still blaming America for his parents' deaths in WWII, plans to use his immense wealth to purchase his revenge. A fatal auto accident in the U.S., caused by faulty gas tanks in two Japanese cars, leads to the breakdown of U.S.-Japanese trade agreements. Spies track each other; nuclear weapons are built and hidden; Ryan and an assortment of his old colleagues maneuver ships, planes and spies into harm's way. As always, the author of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger spins out story threads in a rich but bewildering tangle of plot and setting, then vigorously weaves them together. Here, the heart-stopping climax is unexpected, but oddly appropriate. As always, Clancy instructs (sometimes didactically) as he entertains, teaching us about currency trading, Asian business etiquette and the daily life of an American politician. Without taking up Japan-bashing, as Michael Crichton did in Rising Sun, or partisan politics, Clancy warns that recent downsizing in the defense establishment has so depleted our military resources that the country is vulnerable to aggression that can arise anywhere, anytime. 2 million first printing; BOMC selection. (Aug.)

Reviewed on: 08/15/1994

Release date: 08/01/1994

Genre: Fiction

Hardcover - 978-0-425-14739-9

Peanut Press/Palm Reader - 1008 pages - 978-1-101-00101-1

Prebound-Glued - 1008 pages - 978-0-7857-6529-5

Open Ebook - 1008 pages - 978-1-101-00056-4

Prebound-Other - 978-0-606-17124-3

Open Ebook - 1008 pages - 978-1-101-00236-0

Mass Market Paperbound - 1008 pages - 978-0-425-14758-0

Mass Market Paperbound - 978-0-425-15958-3

Hardcover - 640 pages - 978-0-399-13960-4