Presidential Posturing -- Jack Ryan Is Back As Chief Executive In Tom Clancy's Latest Novel

"Executive Orders" by Tom Clancy Putnam, $27.95

Here it is, Clancy fans: another enormous (874 pages), action-packed, heat-seeking missile of a Tom Clancy novel, capable of inflicting serious damage if hurled at close range - and capable of inflicting serious sleep-deprivation if you get hooked on it late at night.

"Executive Orders" is the book that readers have known was on the way since the final cataclysmic pages of "Debt of Honor." There, in a few quick strokes of the word processor, Clancy wiped out the president, most of the cabinet, a joint session of Congress, the entire Supreme Court and Joint Chiefs of Staff - all torched and exploded by a vengeful Japanese pilot in the mother of all kamikaze flights.

One of the only public officials to escape the inferno was, of course, Jack Ryan, Clancy's favorite action hero, who had recently been named vice president of the United States after the forced resignation of the elected sleazeball. So now we have . . . ta-DAAA! President Jack Ryan!

Plenty of action

"Executive Orders" is the story of Ryan's fledgling presidency, and while it doesn't match the sheer firepower of its audacious predecessor, there is still plenty of action in this sequel. It isn't fair to call it formulaic, but Clancy again employs his time-tested narrative style, one you could liken to the process of knitting: Here are all the skeins of different-colored yarn, lying around in apparent tangle; and here is Clancy, blending in strand after strand until a pattern begins to emerge.

He ends up with a sort of gigantic, nuclear-powered sweater of a tale, and unlike the garments knitted by lesser storytellers, it's a sweater that millions are always eager to don.

In the opening pages, even as firefighters are still dragging toasted public officials from the dwindling flames of a flattened Capitol, the action begins hopping around, from Iran to China to the former Soviet Union. The eyes of the world are on the shell-shocked president: How will he react to the crisis? Or, is this the time to launch an assault against the crippled superpower?

As danger looms on every horizon, Clancy keeps quickly shifting the point of view. We get Washington's most massive funeral ever; the sleazy ex-veep plotting to steal back his letter of resignation and claim the presidency; and the evil Mahmoud Daryaei, plotting to form the United Islamic Republic, which would unite Iran and Iraq against the U.S.

Meanwhile, in a hospital bed far away, a young boy is dying of a dreaded virus . . .

Not your usual bureaucrat

Many characters from past Clancy novels reappear, as the hateful Washington press corps digs up details of Ryan's previous CIA operations. But the new president is undeterred, because he's different from your usual bureaucrat (around the world, foreign leaders struggle to translate the term "maverick").

Anyway, true leaders - such as the Japanese prime minister, Koga - recognize Ryan's real worth: "A man of courage . . . and honor, I think. He is samurai."

Samurai or not, Ryan has a mighty struggle ahead of him, as Clancy keeps knitting away, and the various forces of evil mobilize for germ warfare, terrorism and outright battle. Soon, very soon, all the appropriate military and governmental acronyms are flying as fast and furious as scud missiles. Of course, there's POTUS (President Of The United States) and FLOTUS (First Lady of same). Thank goodness we are spared SCROTUS (Saintly Children of the Ryans . . . etc.?) And on comes SNIE, COMSUBPAC, CINCPAC, MIA2s, MLRS, CINCLANT, MPS, DCI, KKMC, and a couple other alphabets-worth of upper-case arcana.

Clancy clearly is having a terrific time, as Ryan - with the sort of clear-the-decks bravado that would warm the hearts of militia members everywhere - remakes the country in his own image, calling for replacement Congress members who are not politicians but "real people who do real things in the real world."

Setting it all straight

Having instantly established a clean slate with term limits, Clancy/Ryan sets straight everything from abortion rights to drug controls, as the new president struggles to master the art of diplomacy with intractable foreign governments: " `I hope you can appreciate the fact that I am really not in a position to make serious changes in the government at the moment.' Drop dead."

You can almost see the motto hanging above Clancy's writing desk - "Women are people, too" - as he strives mightily to create a few interesting women characters (notably Secret Service agent Andrea Price). All of them, however, are essentially unbelievable; they're guy characters dressed up in female nomenclature.

But who cares? "Executive Orders" is vintage Clancy, political uncorrectness and all. All our public officials might pray for the same approval rating POTUS is winning by the end. As Bill Clinton and Bob Dole hobble and wobble down the 1996 campaign trail, many a wistful eye will be cast at the uncompromising derring-do of President Ryan.

Melinda Bargreen is The Seattle Times' classical music critic.