Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

 As I explained by the last post, the book WEAPONS GRADE is actually by Don Bentley. But let's get over that and say something about the plot. One thing that Clancy fans (and fans of the whole enterprise) like about these novels is that the author can often work in a surprising amount of quite technical exposition, ideally without losing the thread of a suspenseful spy story.  Consider the discussion of the process of enriching uranium into weapons grade material. That is crucial to the book, and in fact gives it the title. On p. 279 you get a full paragraph in which Mary Pat Foley, Director of National Intelligence, is describing this process, in the White House Situation Room, to Scott Adler, Secretary of State.  "The process of enriching uranium is a straight-forward, well-understood task. Feed material in the form of gaseous uranium hexaflouride is fed into a series of linked centrifuges, known as a cascade. The centrifuges spin at extremely high speeds, generating ce...

  Clancy isn't just a (dead) writer, he is a brand. He is the (continuing) spy-thriller factory.  Clancy passed away in 2013, although the brand lives on. Spy thriller paperbacks with the name "Tom Clancy" prominently displayed on the cover continue to be published. Clancy invented the memorable character of Jack Ryan, a dedicated espionage professional who repeatedly saved the world from its bumbling politicians and the evildoers they coddle, in novels like THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. In some of his appearances he is "only" an analyst, though always the crucial one who gets things right. In other novels he has to take a role in the field, and becomes a tough-guy action hero.  In the Clancy timeline, (the Ryanverse, as it is sometimes called) Ryan eventually becomes President of the United States.  Because that is the natural career path for intelligence analysts.  That limits the amount of derring-do of which he can be the center. Fortunately, he passes the mant...