The Teeth of the Tiger

Plot

In Rome, a Mossad station chief is assassinated. The murder piques the interest of the Campus, an off-the-books intelligence agency created by former United States president Jack Ryan before the end of his presidential term. Situated in a high-rise office building that has direct line-of-sight between the main headquarters for the CIA and the NSA, the organization was created to "identify, locate, and deal with terrorist threats" in anticipation of the current administration's neglect of the CIA and the NSA. A private trading and arbitrage company, Hendley Associates, serves as a legitimate front for the Campus by funding its operations via stock market trades influenced by the captured intelligence data, thus removing federal oversight and allowing free rein in its operations.

Jack Ryan Jr., son of the former president, soon discovers the Campus' operations. Wanting to serve his country in the post-9/11 world, he is hired by the agency as an analyst. Elsewhere, his cousin Brian Caruso is a U.S. Marine returning from Afghanistan to be decorated for his achievements in battle. His twin brother Dominic is an FBI agent who, while investigating a kidnapping of a little girl, finds her raped and killed. Caruso kills the suspect ostensibly in self defense after purposely getting noticed, and the suspect reacts by grabbing a knife at gun-point (thereby providing a "threat").

The Caruso brothers are soon recruited into a Campus strike team, chosen for their ability to kill enemies in cold blood. However, Brian is unsure of the morality of carrying out preemptive assassinations, even against terrorists. This changes when cells of Islamic fundamentalists cross the U.S.-Mexico border and attack several suburban malls. Brian and Dominic happen to be at one of the malls when the attack occurs. Although they efficiently find and dispatch all four shooters, dozens of people are killed; similar massacres occur at most of the other targeted sites. When a child dies in his arms after the attack, Brian abandons his earlier moral qualms. The Campus decides the brothers are ready and implements a "reconnaissance by fire" strategy to flush out the terrorist leaders.

To carry out the assassinations, the brothers are issued a weapon utilizing succinylcholine, developed by a Columbia University professor whose brother died in the 9/11 attacks. The succinylcholine is delivered through a hypodermic needle disguised as a pen. Twisting the nib switches the tip from a normal tip to a sharp needle that delivers 7 milligrams of the substance. Only 5 milligrams are necessary for death. The substance causes complete paralysis at 30 to 50 seconds and death at 3 minutes, shutting down all the muscles within the victim (including the diaphragm), with the exception of the heart. However, it makes the murder look like a heart attack, thus raising no suspicion.

Disguised as tourists, the team travels across Europe, finding and murdering several major players in the terrorist organization. The first three murders go off fairly routinely, and for the third assassination, the brothers are joined by their cousin Jack. Although originally present as an observer, Jack is forced to kill the target himself when a random accident spills wine on the brothers' suits, spoiling their anonymous appearance. After murdering the terrorist (coincidentally in the same men's room where the terrorist had killed the Mossad station chief), Jack uses his hotel key to gain access to his computer and downloads the entire contents for later analysis.

Characters

The Campus

• John Patrick "Jack" Ryan Jr.: The analyst and son of Jack Ryan
• Dominic "Enzo" Caruso: The operations officer and Jack's cousin. He is an FBI special agent assigned in Birmingham, Alabama.
• Brian "Aldo" Caruso: The operations officer and Dominic's twin brother. He is a Force Recon Marine who served in Afghanistan.
• Gerald Paul "Gerry" Hendley Jr.: The director of Hendley Associates and The Campus
• Jerome "Jerry" Rounds: The head of strategic planning and intelligence chief
• Sam Granger: The head of currency trading and operations chief
• Rick Bell: The analyst and son of Jack's training officer
• Tony Wills: The analyst and Jack's training officer
• Pete Alexander: The Caruso twins' training officer

The Organization

• Mohammed Hassan al-Din (MoHa): A high-level terrorist leader and the operations director who varies his location, also is half-British which allows hims to disguise himself in any country in europe is the killer of Mossad agent David Greengold, killed by Jack in Rome
• Uda bin Sali: The financier of the attacks, killed by Brian in London
• Anas Ali Atef: A terrorist recruiter, killed by Dominic in Munich
• Fa'ad Rahman Yasin: A terrorist messenger, killed by Brian in Vienna
• Mustafa: The leader of one of the four-man teams sent to attack four suburban malls across the United States
• The Emir: The leader of the Organization. He would later become the primary antagonist in the next novel Dead or Alive.
• Muhmad: A terrorist of unknown rank, who witnessed the deaths of both Fa'ad and Mohammed.

Other characters

• Ernesto: A senior member of the Cartel interfacing with Mohammed's men
• David Greengold: A Mossad chief of station based in Rome

Controversy

The depiction of violence in a real setting elicited a minor controversy among Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia residents at the time of its release, as reported by Charlottesville weekly newspaper The Hook. The scene includes accurate references to the mall's contemporary tenant stores, as well as to the University of Virginia.

A spokesperson for Charlottesville Fashion Square told The Hook that the mall's operators were not pleased with the mall's inclusion in the book. Albemarle County Police chief John Miller indicated that he did not consider the novel a threat to the town.

Reception

Commercial

The book debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. It also debuted at number one on the ''USA Today'''s Best-selling Books list for the week of August 21, 2003.

Critical

Like Red Rabbit, Clancy's The Teeth of the Tiger was poorly received by critics and reviews for The Teeth of the Tiger were "tepid at best." The Washington Post described it as a "bloated, boring, silly novel" with "inane dialogue, gossamer characterizations, endless repetition and bumper-sticker politics." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch panned it as well, saying that the most positive thing about the book was that it was "mercifully briefer than its chronological predecessor in the Jack Ryan series." The San Antonio Express-News described the novel as "an acceptable thriller" that is "an obvious attempt to reinvent the franchise [Clancy] has created."

References

References

1. (31 August 2003). "BEST SELLERS: August 31, 2003". The New York Times.
2. Stanek, Elizabeth. (October 9, 2003). "Fashion scare: Clancy book wreaks havoc in Mall". Better Publications LLC.
3. (November 9, 2003). "Fictionalizing special ops". The Washington Times.
4. "Tom Clancy made a splash with 7 No. 1 books".
5. Meagher, L.D.. (September 24, 2002). "Review: Clancy's 'Red Rabbit' rotten". [[CNN]].
6. Maslin, Janet. (August 15, 2002). "Books of the Times: Swipes About Hollywood And Other Media Types". [[The New York Times]].
7. [http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/teeth_of_the_tiger/ Book Reviews - The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy]
8. (June 2021)
9. [http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780399150791 Powell's Books - The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy]
10. [http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=1332 The Teeth of The Tiger: Summary and book reviews of The Teeth of The Tiger by Tom Clancy.]