Last week, Tom Clancy died at the age of 66. Now and then,
when I start reading a book by an author, they suddenly die. It happened with Elmore Leonard a few weeks
ago. In the past, it happened with David
Halberstam, James Clavell, and Joseph Heller.
(I am keeping that copy of War and Remembrance safely on its shelf out
of hope for Herman Wouk’s continued well-being.) I did not, however, accidentally cause Tom
Clancy’s death by reading one of his books, because I haven’t actually read one
in years.
At one point in time in my late high school / early college
years, the release of a Tom Clancy novel was a literary event; his main
character, Jack Ryan, was an adult version of Harry Potter. Harry Potter may have had 8 movies to his
credit, but Jack Ryan clocked in with a respectable 4 of his own (of varying
quality) with a “reboot” starring Chris Pine set for release in the next few
months. Pine’s involvement makes me
wonder if the plot will revolve around an aging Jack Ryan (in my mind played by
Alec Baldwin) desperately rushing to defuse an old Soviet artifact,
inadvertently creating an alternate continuity with a world gone mad, where the
Soviet Union no longer exists, and a rogue political party has forced a
government shutdown. Terrifying.
I jumped into the Ryanverse at the tail end of what I
consider to be the series prime. I
picked up a dog eared copy of my father’s paperback version of The Sum of All
Fears, not realizing that it starred the main character from the movie The Hunt
for Red October, or that it was the 4th in a series. As I can be OCD with my fictional tastes, I
immediately stopped reading The Sum of All Fears, and backtracked through the
older adventures of Jack Ryan, and his pal John Clark, weaving my way through those
fantastic earlier volumes, The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games (a prequel),
The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, and Without Remorse (yet
another prequel.)
(Be warned: the next few paragraphs are spoilers for books
from fifteen years ago.)
The first few novels were exciting; while Jack Ryan was not
an everyman in any way, shape, or form (an ex-Marine turned financial genius, turned
CIA analyst in his spare time), the character provided a somewhat relatable
perspective to the world of submarine theft, anti-missile defense systems, and
the use of special force units to combat the drug war. John Clark, his CIA hatchetman, was not at
all relatable, but was also a lot of fun to read about; the infallible Batman
to Ryan’s Harry Potter. Without Remorse,
focusing solely on John Clark, was full of his Batman: Year One type misadventures;
his non-flashback appearances showed a fully formed superhero, capable of
dispatching enemies at a whim.
Until a point about 80% through The Sum of All Fears, the
Ryanverse was a World Not Unlike Our Own, and indeed, similar or even identical
events could have happened in our world, and we would be none the wiser.
And then, 80% of the way through the Sum of All Fears, he
blew up Denver. During the Super Bowl. The world of Jack Ryan had diverged from our
own, now and (hopefully) forever.
The Sum of All Fears was fantastic, and to this day, remains
my favorite Jack Ryan book (the prior novels all being excellent as well.) But it marked a turning point that led to the
beginning of the end of Clancy’s heyday.
In future novels, Tom Clancy was forced to continually escalate the
stakes, leading to a war with Japan, the destruction of Congress during the State
of the Union Address (!), Jack Ryan inadvertently becoming the President of the
United States (!!!), and a three way free for all war between the United
States, China, and Russia.
By this point, Clancy had painted himself into a corner. Jack Ryan was the President of a United
States that had experienced the destruction of one of its major cities and had
witnessed multiple nuclear exchanges. There
was literally nowhere left for these characters to go without backsliding into
wholesale chaos; even the possibility of future movies was compromised, because
an action / suspense franchise where the tentpole character spends the movie
behind a desk is just not that appealing.
Perhaps a with different ending to the Sum Of All Fears, or other narrative
choices along the way, Jack Ryan would still be a viable character today. Hopefully the rebooted movie will change
that, and launch a new direction for an iconic character.
(I’m ignoring the prequel novel Red Rabbit because I didn’t
finish it due to awfulness, and the Jack Ryan, Jr. books, because I haven’t
read them. For me, the Ryanverse ended
with the Bear and the Dragon.)
I’ve gone over my half hour limit again, so I’ll wrap
up. Tom Clancy’s language could be overly
mechanical (not that I minded) and his unwavering worldview was made very
evident through the words deeds of his
protagonists. His characters, especially
in the first few books were unfailingly competent and honorable; somewhat
comforting in retrospect, but not terribly accurate.
Despite his faults, and the narrative choices that brought
the relevance of Jack Ryan to an early ending, Tom Clancy, at his best, was one
of the most riveting storytellers I have ever read.
