Tom Clancy's credible adventure

A walloping tale of espionage from the bestselling author that actually makes sense.

Dead or Alive

Tom Clancy

Putnam

Dh124

It's not a doorstop, it's the new Tom Clancy novel. Weighing in at 950 pages, Dead or Alive sends a familiar cast of characters on a perfervid hunt for terrorists. Employed by the secretive Campus organisation, Jack Ryan Jr and his cousins Brian and Dominic Caruso use their training, street smarts, analytical skills and the latest technology to track down "the Emir", 9/11 mastermind and stand-in for you-know-who.

Joining them are the former President Jack Ryan, the black-ops warriors John Clark and Domingo Chavez and the intelligence maven Mary Pat Foley as they race to prevent another horrific attack on America. Their exploits make for the 14th plausible Clancy tale of international intrigue. Plausible? Well, yes, especially in the details of covert operations. Despite Clancy's frequently turgid exposition, this is a page-turner, speeding you from a cave in the Hindu Kush to a warehouse in Dubai to a luxury condo in Las Vegas to the heartland cities of the US.