Believe it or not this is the Second Novel of the jack Ryan Series. The first one is Without Remourse which he only has a small part. Amazon.com does not list all the Jack Ryan Novel. Okay now this is a really great novel. It's about when Jack was in London one of the royal family members and his family were attacked by memebers of the URA.(I think that's the name) and Jack killed the one guys brother(Like in the movie) and so he targets jack and his Family. Unlike the the movie at the end the were are on the boat and Jack and Robby went and got on a coast graund boat(Didn't tell what type of boat) and Sean Miller, Kevin O'Donnell(Only two left) were both arrested. This is better then th movie

I'm a big fan of Tom Clancy's. Nothing deep or profound, just good beach/ bedtime reading. It starts off in dramatic style with Ryan single handely foiling an attack on the Prince Of Wales and his family. The trial scene in London's famous Old Bailey accurately portrays England ancient trial system. The book does tail off in the middle, which is a shame. Mr Clancy seems to have a soft spot for us Brits even if he is under the impression that it rains constantly, we drink tea all the time, our conversation is librally peppered with "bloody hell old chap" and we drive on the wrong side of the road. We don't, everyone else does. Clancy's portrayal of the "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland along with the sheer callous evil of the terrorists are chillingly. He takes the time to point out the disgust of the people of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, at the behaviour of these animals. He also empathsisis how little money was raised by the Irish Americans for these people, I can remeber how many people here thought it was solely funded by them.The scene when Ryan stays in Buckingham Palace and meets the Queen and other Royalty is ridiculous, but who cares. The book is good fun. Enjoy it.

Although not the first book written, Patriot Games is the first book in the Ryan series. While in London with his family, John Patrick Ryan happens onto an attack by what appers to be terrorists. With out thinking Ryan secures his family and jumps into action, rushing a gunman to take his pistol, and killing a terrorist armed with a Kalashnikov. Ryan later learns that the attack was by a terror group without ties to the IRA. The group calls them selves the ULA for Ulster Liberation Army. Becouse of Ryans interference, the ULA, led by Sean Miller, plan to kill him and his family. Miller took the defeat personally. For the first time, there's a open militant Irish cell operating in the United States. They attack Ryans wife, daughter and unborn son. causing Ryan to accept Admiral Greer's offer, and join the CIA. An excellent book and great read.

This is the back story on Jack Ryan, Clancy's protagonist in most of his books. To me this is one of his least technical books and it works out to be a great read. There's still plenty of tech talk but the story is much more important than anything else. This would not be the case in later Clancy books.

Unfortunately recent history with terrorists have made events in this book all to real for all of us. Terrorists try to strike targets in the states. This was unheard of when this book was first published. Patriot Games is worth reading today because even 20 plus years after the fact this book has something to say to all of us about the true nature of terrorism and how they win by stealing away our small freedoms.

I have to agree with the earlier reviewer who commented on the Teflon nature of the protagonist Jack Ryan. On p. 295, Tom Clancy writes, "Not once in his life had Jack experienced failure..." At this point, any remaining chance for me to feel some sympathy for - or even simple identification with - the Ryan character goes right out the window.

Clancy's plot is badly dated now but still largely serviceable; the pacing is quite uneven, but it does benefit from a genuinely strong opening scene, which provides enough momentum to skate over several inexplicable lulls. The scenes showing Ryan interacting with the royal family - barking manly reassurances at HRH The Prince of Wales or explaining to HRH The Queen what it really means to be Irish-American - are brilliant, if obviously unintentional, high comedy; these alone are almost enough to make this worth recommending just as a collection of howlers. But it's hard to take the book seriously as a thriller when I have this much trouble giving a damn about the main character.

(I do find that it's easier to read if I keep the image of Harrison Ford in mind, though; in the superior film adaptation of _Patriot Games_, Ford and the screenwriters and director managed to humanise Ryan just enough to make him bearable. I only wish the original writer had managed the same feat.)