The Sum of All Fears
First edition cover art
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| Author | Tom Clancy |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jack Ryan universe |
| Genre | Techno-thriller |
| Publisher | Putnam |
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Publication date
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1991 (1st Edition) |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 798 pp (Hardback Edition) |
| ISBN | (Hardback Edition) & (Paperback Edition) |
| OCLC | 23287312 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3553.L245 S8 1991 |
| Preceded by | Clear and Present Danger |
| Followed by | Debt of Honor |
The Sum of All Fears is a best-selling thriller novel by Tom Clancy and part of the Jack Ryan universe. It was the fourth of Clancy's "Jack Ryan" books to be turned into a film.
The book was released days before the August Coup in 1991, which signaled the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The title is a reference to nuclear war and to the plot by the novel's antagonists to reconstruct a lost nuclear weapon. The title comes from a Winston Churchill quote serving as the first of the novel's two epigraphs:
Why, you may take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman or the most audacious soldier, put them at a table together—what do you get? The sum of their fears.
During the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli Defense Force prepares to conduct a tactical nuclear strike to stave off defeat. The necessity for the strike is averted, but an Israeli copy of a Mark 12 nuclear bomb is accidentally left on an A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft, which is subsequently shot down over Syria. The nuclear weapon is lost, buried in the field of a Druze farmer. Eighteen years later, an Israeli captain (coincidentally the brother of the downed pilot) shoots and kills a Palestinian activist during a peaceful public demonstration. The United States finds itself unable to diplomatically defend Israel, yet knows it cannot withdraw its support without risk of destabilizing the Middle East.
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Wikipedia