History Literature / PatriotGames

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Sargent-Major Breckonridge pulls one of these when Ryan finally [[spoiler:has Miller at his mercy]]. Breckonridge says he was perfectly willing to cover for Ryan if he had gone through with it, but "if you'd really wanted to kill him, you would have remembered to cock [the gun]. Lieutenant, I had you figured out a long time ago." Ryan himself wonders if Breckonridge is right.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Several of the British characters reflect that the PIRA id dependent on donations from Irish expatriates in the United States, and their fundraisers are always careful not to mention that, ''"as committed Marxist-Leninists, their vision of a free Ireland was that of another Cuba"'', which would ''not'' go over well with their American sympathizers.

* EnemyCivilWar

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Miller is completely unable to understand why anybody would commit any altruistic action, and tends to either dismiss it as fake or the person who committed as being “soft”.

* FalseFlagOperation: The attempt to kill Ryan and his family on American soil is ultimately this, as it ends up being mistaken as a PIRA operation. [[spoiler: Which was the goal: the idea being that the political wing of the PIRA, Sinn Fein, would be in the US to make the case that they didn't attack the Prince and Princess of Wales, but that they would be implicated in attempting to kill the family of the man who stopped the operation, causing great embarrassment for the PIRA leaders.]]

** Ryan has another one later [[spoiler: when his wife and daughter are attacked]], but it only lasts until he decides he's going to join the CIA to help hunt down the terrorists.

** Miller also shoots Sgt. Bob Highland, the guard who saved him from PrisonRape, twice in the gut specifically to make it a slow and painful death. He wrongfully blamed Highland for having set up the rape as part of a Good Cop routine in the first place. [[spoiler: Highland survives, though he has to learn to walk again.]]

* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: At the end of the novel, with [[spoiler:Sean Miller]] in custody, Ryan is all set to take his gun [[spoiler:and personally execute Miller.]] As it happens, the gun was previously safed [[spoiler:by Sar-Major Breckinridge]], and he ended up avoiding committing murder, the better for his sanity. [[spoiler: Breckinridge says Ryan would have remembered to cock the gun if he'd really wanted to go through with it. Ryan's not so sure.]]

* OverrankedSoldier: Kevin O'Donnell inwardly scoffs that the commander of the PIRA's Belfast unit is known by the rank of "Brigadier", when he has less than a thousand men under him.[[note]] In both the American and British Armies, a brigade generally contains between three and five thousand soldiers. [[/note]]

* PrisonRape: Miller is brutally assaulted by a fellow inmate. Aside from a brief "Thanks" to the guard who rescues him, he shows little sign of being affected by it. [[spoiler: Until he escapes and shoots the guard who saved him in the gut to make it a slow, painful death. Turns out he believed the guard had arranged it the whole time.]]
* TheRadioDiesFirst: When they rescue Miller the ULA disables the radios (and engines) on the ferry transporting him to the Isle of Wight. [[spoiler: However they forget about the radio in the police van transporting him ''on'' the ferry, which saves Sgt. Highland's life and possibly the entire ferry, as they are able to call in help much sooner.]]

--> "The Prince and Princess Of Wales. And their new baby."

* OnlySaneMan: Dobbens is the most competent and sane of the villains, since Miller is batshit crazy, Cooley is in a self-righteous fury over MI5 forcing him to abandon his books, and O'Donnell is completely blind to Miller's downward spiral.

* GoodCopBadCop: Invoked in-universe. During Sean Miller's brief stint in prison, he's brutally assaulted by a pair of ordinary criminals, an incident that was arranged by the warden. The anti-terrorism officer assigned to Miller's case arrives just in time to save him, and is infuriated with the jailer for his behavior. Miller, however, assumes that the entire thing was a good-cop-bad-cop ploy in order to make him grateful and willing to talk to the officer, which explains his lack of remorse when he later tries to kill him in cold blood.

* OverrankedSoldier: Kevin O'Donnell inwardly scoffs that the commander of the PIRA's Belfast unit is known by the rank of "Brigadier", when he has less than a thousand men under him.[[note]] In both the American and British Armies, a brigade generally contains between three and five thousand soldiers.[[/note]]

* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse?: [[spoiler:O'Donnell disappears from the book during the climax, though later books make it clear that all members of the ULA are dead.]]