History Literature / PatriotGames

** These same analysts are also able to confirm the presence of a specific terrorist group at one camp by comparing details gleaned from a satellite photo showing a woman in camp to profiles of known female terrorists.[[labelnote:*]]Most notably, the woman is buxom enough for her cleavage to be evident even in the limited resolution of the image.[[/labelnote]] The French are sufficiently persuaded to launch a commando raid in response; the woman's body is positively identified in the raid's aftermath.

* BuxomIsBetter: An analyst is able to determine that an unidentified female has to have at least a C Cup, because otherwise, the satellite image wouldn't have been able to depict her cleavage.

* CrusadingWidower: Ryan re-joins the CIA in response to the nearly-fatal attack on his wife and child.

The second Literature/JackRyan novel written by Creator/TomClancy, and the second one chronologically (until ''Literature/WithoutRemorse'', it was the first chronologically). The book was published in 1987, and takes place in 1983-84 [[note]] Wiki/TheOtherWiki says 1982 based on Ryan's age, but the Princess of Wales says she's pregnant with their second child near the end of the novel, and a van used by the terrorists is described by the police as an '84 model at one point. Despite this, the following book in the series chronologically, ''Red Rabbit'', explicitly takes place in 1982 [[/note]].

* ImperiledInPregnancy: Cathy is in the second trimester of her pregnancy when she and Sally are injured in a car accident caused by Miller. Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales announces her second pregnancy during the dinner at the Ryan's house shortly before Miller and cronies attack

* WouldntHitAGirl: Invoked by Jack Ryan, when identifying a female French terrorist who's later executed by her government thanks to the intelligence he develops, something that troubles him greatly. He admits he wouldn't be nearly as bothered if she were male and ugly. Dobbens also expresses distaste about killing women (and children). His vocal insistence upon this is a contributing factor as to why [[spoiler:Miller kills him]].

* AgonizingStomachWound: [[spoiler:terrorist Sean Miller]] has a grudge against [[spoiler:Sgt. Highland]], so he makes a point of shooting him in the gut and leaving to die in slow agony instead of killing him outright. [[spoiler:Ironically, this means Highland survives long enough for medical help to arrive and save his life.]]

* ImperiledInPregnancy: Cathy is in the second trimester of her pregnancy when she and Sally are injured in a car accident caused by Miller.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: The CIA personnel are able to make some solid guesses on how many people are in a desert camp by measuring how many of the tents have heaters running - even in the summer time, deserts get rather cold at night. Thus, they are able to tell when a camp takes on many new residents who take care to avoid being seen by the SpySatellites, which they infer to be the ULA operatives being trained in secret when combined with various other clues.

* RealityEnsues: Constantly. Jack foils a major terrorist attack, gets shot for his trouble, and ends up in the hospital for a ''month'' recovering, and still needs another two months before he can properly use his arm again. The US produces ''reams'' of intelligence information, but lacks the funding and staff to actually ''analyze'' it all, and as a result, important information goes unnoticed until it's too late. Even at the end, when Jack and company manage to free themselves from the terrorist clutches, they ''run away'', because all they need to do to win is to get the primary objective (the Prince of Wales) away from the bad guys, and the tactical situation (3 armed men with 3 unarmed women and a child against an unknown number of terrorists) is adverse in the extreme.

* SpySpeak: Cooley, forced to abandon his bookshop, phones a number and [[TroubleEntendre deliberately asks for someone who isn't there]].

* ScaryBlackMan: Invoked by Robby Jackson in order to intimidate a terrorist, who had ''very'' unwisely dropped the N-Bomb towards Robby's wife.

* FreudianThreat: After capturing one of the terrorists, Robby Jackson points a shotgun at his groin and threatens to "make a girl out of" him if he doesn't talk.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Sean Miller thinks completely racist thoughts about the black revolutionaries his group allies with in the US.

* EvilIsPetty: The reason Miller goes on a crusade to kill Ryan and his family? Because Ryan broke his perfect record.
* 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”.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeFashionable: Cathy has Jack buy some rather nice English suits during their trip to England. It's extended on and commented on throughout many of the subsequent novels.

* MysteriousBacker: One of the few things known about the ULA is that they're being heavily bankrolled and supported, though it's not clear by whom. The backer is eventually revealed to be the Libyan government, which hosts the ULA's training camp and provides them with protection and funding: the Libyans do the same for a number of other terrorists, and are interested in establishing a similar relationship with Alex Dobbens' group. It's hinted that the Soviet Bloc may, in turn, be the BiggerBad behind the Libyans: the two are shown to have a close relationship, many of the Libyan-based terrorists have communist leanings, and Kevin O'Donnell is believed to have had plastic surgery done in a state hospital in the USSR.

* BlackBestFriend: Robby Jackson was introduced in this novel as Ryan's friend.

* IdiotBall: Multiple examples, but hosting the Prince and Princess of Wales at the home of the person responsible for breaking up the ULA attack is probably chief among them. This is made particularly egregious given that they know that the ULA has left their camp.

* WouldntHitAGirl: Invoked by Jack Ryan, when identifying a female French terrorist who's later executed by her government thanks to the intelligence he develops, something that troubles him greatly. He admits he wouldn't be nearly as bothered if she were male and ugly.

* {{Expy}}: A very subtle one. As noted above, the Prince and Princess of Wales are never named, but clearly are Charles and Diana. Equally, the Queen is not directly named, but the description clearly matches Queen Elizabeth. However, when Ryan watches the Key Ceremony at the Tower of London, the soldiers refer to "Queen Anne's keys." In the Key Ceremony, the soldiers name the current monarch. While many readers likely assume Queen Anne is a historical figure from the time of the ceremony's origin, in fact the dialog tells us that in the Ryanverse, England is ruled by an Elizabeth {{expy}} named Anne.

* BecomingTheMask: TheMole in the British Royal Family is a lover of classic books. As is Dennis Cooley. While it works well for their cover, Dennis ''is'' an expert in the field, and TheMole ''does'' actually love the collection of said books.

* AdaptationInducedPlothole: [[spoiler: In the movie, betrayal of Lord Holme's secretary come right out of left field compared to the passing justification in the novel.]]

** The novel and the movie actually focus on the limitations of the spy satellites, noting that the terrorists know when they will fly overhead and thus they hide any suspicious activity. They are only able to get those ambiguous satellite photos by re-routing the satellites to fly over at a new time.

* Prequel: To ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober''.

* RealityEnsues: Constantly. Jack foils a major terrorist attack, gets shot for his trouble, and ends up in the hospital for a ''month'' recovering, and still needs another two months before he can properly use his arm again. The US produces ''reams'' of intelligence information, but lacks the funding and staff to actually ''analyze'' it all, and as a result, important information goes unnoticed until it's too late. Even at the end, when Jack and company manage to free themselves from the terrorist clutches, they ''run away'', because all they need to do to win is to get the primary objective (The Prince of Wales) away from the bad guys, and the tactical situation (3 armed men with 3 unarmed women and a child against an unknown number of terrorists) is adverse in the extreme.

* {{Scotireland}}: The ULA takes advantage of Americans' tendency to fall for this trope, as it is hard for an American ear to tell the difference between a Scottish and Irish accent, so they pretend to be Scottish when entering the US with no one there the wiser at first.

** The satellites ''are'' able to tell when a previously dormant camp has taken on quite a few new (secret) occupants, despite their taking care not to be out when the satellites are overhead. Deserts get rather cold at night[[note]]no humidity and no foliage means nothing to keep the heat on the ground, and sand doesn't retain heat all that well in the absence of the sun[[/note]], so the satellites can easily tell when heaters are being used in more tents than usual.
* 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.]]

** ''Action Directe'' is a French radical left-wing terrorist group whose Libyan training camp Jack Ryan identifies while looking for the ULA. Similar groups are alluded to in West Germany, Italy, and elsewhere.

The second Literature/JackRyan novel written by Creator/TomClancy, and the second one chronologically (until ''Literature/WithoutRemorse'', it was the first chronologically). The book was published in 1987, and takes place in 1983-84 [[note]] Wiki/TheOtherWiki says 1982 based on Ryan's age, but the Princess of Wales says she's pregnant with their second child near the end of the novel, and a van used by the terrorists is described by the police as an '84 model at one point [[/note]].