The President is dead and the weight of the world falls on Jack Ryan's shoulders, in Tom Clancy's most extraordinary work. Ryan had agreed to accept the position of Vice President only as a caretaker for a year. But when the President, most of the Cabinet, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs and the majority of Congress are killed, Ryan finds himself the new President. Around the world, unfriendly eyes are on Jack, eager to take advantage where they may and present Jack Ryan with a crisis so great that even he could not imagine it.