Commander in Chief

Commander in Chief (stylized as Tom Clancy Commander in Chief, Tom Clancy: Commander in Chief, or Tom Clancy’s Commander-in-Chief in the United Kingdom) is a political thriller novel, written by Mark Greaney and released on December 1, 2015. In the book, President Jack Ryan and The Campus must stop Russian president Valeri Volodin from launching a covert violent offensive in an effort to bring back Russia as a superpower. Commander in Chief is Greaney’s third solo entry in the Jack Ryan series, which is part of the overall Tom Clancy universe. The book debuted at number two on the New York Times bestseller list. Plot In Russia, the silovik, a group of military & intelligence officers and businessmen who basically control the country’s affairs, are concerned about the country’s economic decline. President Valeri Volodin brings up a plan of covert armed conflict within Europe that will ensure the restoration of Russia’s status as a superpower, while at the same time revamping its economy and benefiting the siloviki as a result. Privately however, Volodin tasks a financial expert, Andrei Limonov, with securing his assets worldwide in case his plan does not work. Weeks later, a string of attacks plague most of Eastern Europe. A Lithuanian LNG tanker, the Independence, gets attacked by an eco-terrorist group. A Russian military train transporting men and materiel to Kaliningrad Oblast gets attacked by a Polish terrorist group, which gives Volodin an excuse to increase military presence in the region. Russian submarines begin attacking the Lithuanian Navy, and had torpedoed another oil tanker bound for Estonia. U.S. President Jack Ryan immediately notices a pattern in the recent attacks and the corresponding increase in Russia’s oil profit. He tries to recruit the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)’s help, but they decline, fearing the consequences of an all-out war. Frustrated, he later deploys the U.S. Navy to dispatch its Russian counterpart. Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, Jr. is in Rome, Italy, investigating Russia’s money networks as well as spending time with his Iranian girlfriend Ysabel Kashani. He finds out about Limonov and moves to Luxembourg to follow up on his investigation, despite being followed by a paparazzo named Salvatore.