One split second is all it can take . . .

Jack Ryan, Jr. finds himself at the scene of a conspiracy to bring the world to the brink of war in the South China sea in the latest breathtaking Tom Clancy thriller. Jack Ryan, Jr.

is in a world of trouble. A mid-air collision between aircraft from rival nations in the South China Sea threatens to serve as a flash point for the entire region. As Jack frantically tries to put the pieces of the conspiracy together, the Campus is hit with a crippling attack.

When the dust settles, Jack is one of the few operators still standing and the Campus's de facto leader. But the fight is just beginning. As tensions escalate, Jack's mysterious adversary executes a brilliant campaign to paralyze the American government even as China inches closer to invading Taiwan.

With the odds stacked against him and no help in sight, Jack and his shattered team must stop the world's two remaining super powers from stumbling into war even as the noose around the Campus grows ever tighter. Every operation has a cost. This time the bill might just be too much to pay.

PRAISE FOR TOM CLANCY'Constantly taps the current world situation for its imminent dangers and spins them into an engrossing tale'New York Times'Heart-stopping action . . .

entertaining and eminently topical' Washington Post

'A virtuoso display of page-turning talent' Sunday Express

'Exhilarating. No other novelist is giving so full a picture of modern conflict' Sunday Times

'A brilliantly constructed thriller that packs a punch' Daily Mail