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Literature / The Teeth of the Tiger

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The Teeth of the Tiger is a Spy Fiction novel written by Tom Clancy, and is notable for being the last Jack Ryan novel he wrote by himself before Dead or Alive restarted the book series again.

Set in a post-9/11 world, before Jack Ryan's term as President ended, he set up a covert intelligence agency to counter-act the CIA's failings and "identify, locate, and deal with terrorist threats" called The Campus, with the assistance of Gerald Hendley, who provided the front for the organization as a financial trading firm while serving as The Campus' director.

Meanwhile, a Mossad station chief is assassinated in Rome, catching the interest of The Campus. Later, they recruit Brian Caruso (a U.S Marine returning from Afghanistan), his brother Dominic (an FBI agent), and his cousin, Jack Ryan Jr. (who discovers the Campus' operations at first). Sounds familiar?

Preceded by The Bear and the Dragon (continuity-wise), Red Rabbit (release-wise). Followed by Dead or Alive.


This book contains examples of:

  • 0% Approval Rating: Ed Kealty's administration as President is heavily implied to suffer from this.
  • Arc Words: "Tiger" comes up often, down to the title and the Tag Line.
  • Artistic License – Law: The book has the protagonists running a privately funded assassination squad against terrorism suspects. This includes a stack of fill-form presidential pardons pre-signed by former President Jack Ryan (naturally throwing in a contrast with the Fox News Liberal administration that succeeded him). Besides the dubious legality of such a concept in the first place, this does absolutely nothing for an operator arrested by a foreign government or even by a US state government: the President can only pardon federal offenses.
  • Bash Brothers: A rather literal example. The Caruso brothers are twin brothers who end up working for the campus side-by-side. Dominic, who is an FBI agent, is the more analytical of the two. While Brian, a United States Force Recon Marine, is a battle-hardened combat vet.
  • Big Bad: The Emir (the book's stand-in for Osama Bin Laden) is set up to be one.
  • Bookends: The book begins and ends in the same bathroom where the Rome Mossad station chief was killed, right down to having both of their wallets being stolen.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Brian Caruso does it to one of the terrorists at the Charlottesville Fashion Square massacre.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The fact that the terrorists behind the Charlottesville Fashion Square massacre used credit cards to pay for their car fuel helps the Campus to track down one of the targets who supported the act.
  • Cliffhanger: The book ends on one. It did get picked up about seven years later, though.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • The events of Patriot Games are referred to by Jack Ryan Jr. several times.
    • The Jerusalem Treaty is mentioned to have fallen apart by the novel's time, thus allowing the plot to happen.
  • Covert Group with Mundane Front: On the surface, the Campus operates as Hendley Associates, an investment firm. Notably, the choice of an investment firm as a front company is actually important - as the Campus is officially "off the books" of the US Government, it finances its operations via the front company's profits.
  • Doorstopper: Surprisingly averted! The novel clocks in at 480 pages, making it Clancy's shortest novel (behind The Hunt for Red October's 387 pages).
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Robby Jackson is said to have become president in his own right and then been assassinated by a member of the KKK. This happens between books and is only barely mentioned in passing. Some of the newer books have tried to make this more meaningful by having it be one of the primary motivations for Jack running for president again, but still...
  • Elite Agents Above the Law: The Campus.
  • "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Taken up to 11 with the fill-form pre-signed presidential pardons for The Campus' operatives. The dubious legality of the concept is even lampshaded by the man in charge.
  • The Ghost: Former President Jack Ryan, despite only being mentioned in the novel, is responsible for setting up the Campus via Gerald Hendley.
  • Happy Ending Override: At the end of The Bear and the Dragon, things seemed to be looking up for the world: Russia was celebrating its victory over China and seemed to be on the path to becoming a stable and prosperous democracy, the conspirators in the Chinese government responsible for the War in Siberia had been arrested, and peace in the middle-east had been achieved thanks to the Jerusalem Treaty (from The Sum of All Fears) and the defeat of the United Islamic Republic in Executive Orders. But to keep the novel feeling contemporary in a post-9/11 world, many of these events were undone. The Jerusalem Treaty fell apart, the 9/11 attacks had happened and America was at war in Afghanistan, Robby Jackson is dead, Jack Ryan is consumed with grief over his passing, and the current American President is Ed Kealty (a corrupt and unpopular career politician). Then in later novels we learn that the Chinese Communist Party has re-established control over the country, while Russia is once against a dictatorship ruled by a Vladimir Putin expy.
  • No Such Agency: The Campus is so secret that even calling it a government agency might be a stretch. It receives no government funding, relying on its front company's profits to finance its operations. Likewise, it is under zero government oversight; those few in the government who are even aware of its existence function either as "talent scouts" for potential Campus operatives or as cutouts to ensure that any useful intelligence acquired by one of the "official" intelligence agencies makes its way into their hands. Even the President is unaware of the Campus' existence.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: The main theme of the story.
  • Reset Button: This appears to have been pushed in this one, along with Dead or Alive (much more obviously so in the latter case, since, in order to be able to incorporate 9/11 and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars into his plot, Clancy pretty much had to do away with the events of Executive Orders. This also applies to the US/Russian relationship.)
  • Retcon: This book marked the point at which Clancy, in an effort to keep up with the changing shape of politics, especially in the wake of 9/11, changed or threw out a lot of events that had been established in previous Ryanverse novels. Among other things, Robby Jackson was killed off, as detailed in the Dropped a Bridge on Him entry, and by a series of strange events, Ed Kealty — whose political career had supposedly been destroyed in Executive Orders — somehow ended up becoming President in his stead. These radical changes were, and are, highly controversial among fans.
  • Self-Defense Ruse: When Dominic Caruso gets the drop on a suspect in a kidnapping case, he deliberately knocks over a nearby piece of furniture. As Dominic had hoped, the man reacts by grabbing his knife and turning toward the noise, thereby becoming an armed threat whom Dominic is completely justified in shooting. Subverted, however, in that Dominic's superior at the FBI sees right through the ruse... though instead of being disciplined, Dominic instead finds himself recruited by the Campus.
  • Speed Demon: Dominic Caruso has earned the nickname "Enzo" (after Enzo Ferrari, the race car driver and engineer who founded the Ferrari automobile company) by his brother because Dominic has a lead foot. Indeed, the book mentions that he sometimes gets pulled over for speeding, but the local cops let him off when he flashes his FBI credentials.

Alternative Title(s): Teeth Of The Tiger

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