Line #35 Literature/DeadOrAlive


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomclancy_deadoralive_cover1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: The Emir's days are numbered.]]
3
4	''Dead or Alive'' is a political thriller novel by Creator/TomClancy and co-authored by Grant Blackwood, featuring Literature/JackRyan. It was published on December 7, 2010.
5
6	It unites characters from Clancy’s fictional world, including Jack Ryan (the former CIA analyst and president), his son, Jack Ryan, Jr., his cousins Dominic and Brian Caruso and former clandestine operatives John Clark and Ding Chavez of the novel ''Literature/RainbowSix''. It follows the characters on a mission to capture a middle eastern terrorist, Saif Rahman Yasin (known as "The Emir"), a character heavily based on Osama bin Laden, and responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the universe's storyline.
7
8	Unrelated to the FightingGame ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' or the English pop group Music/DeadOrAlive.
9
10	----
11	!!This book contains examples of:
12
13	* ActionGirl: Andrea, Jack Ryan Sr's favorite Secret Servicewoman.
14	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The Campus is illegal and doing illegal things but "blank pardons" provided by Jack Ryan while in office allow them to be cleared for any and all crimes they committed.
15	* BadassArmy: The US Rangers, hampered only by Washington.
16	* BadassBookworm: Both Jack Ryan and his son.
17	* BigBad: The Emir is responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
18	* BrotherSisterTeam: Citra and Purnoma Salim.
19	* CaptainErsatz: The Emir is Osama Bin Ladin in everything but name.
20	* ColdBloodedTorture: Used twice.
21	* EliteArmy: The USA is being slowly dismantled from this.
22	* FateWorseThanDeath: The interrogation of [[spoiler: The Emir]] goes beyond garden-variety torture to a simulated heart attack using succinylcholine. Properly administered, it can be done over and over and over again [[spoiler: although once is sufficient to break the Emir]].
23	* GenerationXerox: Jack Ryan Junior is a Wall Street executive turned Intelligence Analyst turned Badass. Just like Dear Old Dad.
24	* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The Campus is one, though it doesn't work for the government.
25	%%* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: A couple.
26	* HookersAndBlow: How the Emir spends his time in [[spoiler:Las Vegas]].
27	* InterserviceRivalry: The NSA and CIA don't cooperate very well.
28	* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Subverted, surprisingly, given the premise. Everyone says torture is a dumb way to find information. [[spoiler:Until the very end.]]
29	* KickTheDog: The Emir murders a prostitute on the possibility she might have recognized him.
30	* MurderInc: The Campus but one for good. Subverted by the fact their corporation exists only to fund their assassinations for good.
31	* OddlySmallOrganization: The Campus consists of less than a dozen people in total but is capable of doing work the CIA isn't in fighting terrorism.
32	* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The entirety of Edward Kealty's administration it seems.
33	* PayEvilUntoEvil: Much like in the previous book, The Campus some times uses tools and methods that are considered by some to be "evil" against those who would engage in terrorism.
34	* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Ryan and Kealty are contrasted at every turn. Ryan is President Good while Kealty is President Too-Dumb-To-Live.
35	* PerfectPoison: The succinylcholine poison.
36	* ProfessionalKiller: The Campus' entire staff it seems.
37	* RefugeInAudacity: The premise is an illegal murder organization for a non-sitting President is killing terrorists across the globe. However, they were given "signed pardons" so it's all legal, somehow.
38	* SpyFiction: The Campus pretends to be of the Stale Beer variety but is entirely a Martini flavored fantasy.
39	* SpySchool: The Campus has a small one.
40	* StrawmanPolitical:
41	** Ed Kealty is a horrible caricature of a liberal President.
42	** The Emir's lawyer also was a horrible caricature - from her name "Cochrane", to her delusional attraction to the terrorist mastermind.
43	* TakeThat: Against national health care.
44	* TooDumbToLive: Most of the people the URC hires, but especially [[spoiler: Vitaliy and Vanya, who have witnessed the theft of nuclear material, but still don't figure out that they're loose ends for their employers, even when one of the terrorists comes up to Vitaliy and literally asks him point-blank if there's anybody else around before murdering him.]]
45	* TortureAlwaysWorks: Subverted repeatedly in the dialogue until [[spoiler:the final act of the book where it suddenly worked]].
46	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: A terrorist group kills all but two people who worked with them while they were setting up for their attacks. The two exceptions are the prostitute hired to provide sex for the group's leader and the woman who was extracting the information from the Yucca Flats employee.

Context Literature / DeadOrAlive