Seventeen years ago Tom Clancy was an obscure Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history and only a letter to the editor and a brief article on the MX missile to his credit. Years before he had been an English major at Baltimores Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, The Hunt for Red Octoberthe story of a Russian submarine captain who defects to the United Statessold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it the perfect yarn and non-put-downable. Since then Clancy has established himself as an undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense.
