REAL TIME CHRONOLOGY OF TOM CLANCY’S
NOVELS
The
books take place in real time in the following order:
Without
Remorse
Patriot
Games
The
Hunt For Red October
The
Cardinal of the Kremlin
Clear
and Present Danger
The
Sum of All Fears
Debt
of Honor
Executive
Orders
Rainbow
Six
The
Bear and The Dragon
Red Storm
Rising -
Since there are neither historical events nor characters common
to any of the other Tom Clancy novels, it cannot be determined
when Red Storm Rising is set, so I was unable
to place that book in its proper place in the above sequencing.
That
above chronology sequence is demonstrated by the following:
Without
Remorse (Published
in 1993 but SET in 1971):
Clancy begins and
ends this novel with reference to actual historical events; Hurricane
Camille in October, 1969 and the return of the Prisoners of War
(POW) from Vietnam in February, 1973. The third historical
event in this book is the Son Tay Raid, which happened in November,
1970, and was an attempted rescue of some American POWs in Vietnam. On
page 437, Clancy also mentions a fourth historical event – the capture
of the USS Pueblo on January 23, 1968.
In
Chapter 1, Clancy actually tells us that it is November (he does
not specify the year) and John Kelly is demolishing a structure
damaged by Camille, so it has to be 1969 at least. In this
chapter, Trish Kelly is killed in the automobile accident and Helen
Waters is brutally murdered. Clancy then tells us that Chapter
2 takes place the subsequent May, (again, no specific year) when
Kelly meets Pam Madden and the real story begins. The story
ends with the “death” of John Kelly and his re-birth into the CIA
as John Clark. The book, however, doesn’t end until many months
later, in February 1973, with the return of the POWs Kelly tried
to rescue. The events in this story can best be dated by starting
at the end and working toward the beginning – and that is what I
have done below.
We have a
very accurate real (actual events) timeline at both ends of this
book (although it runs for almost 2 1/2 years); and it looks like
this:
– October,
1969 – Hurricane Camille ravages the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi
Gulf Coast (historical fact, no page reference);
– November 21,
1970 – The Son Tay Raid attempts to rescue some American Prisoners
of War (POW) from the North Vietnamese (historical fact, no page
reference);
– November,
1970 – John Kelly is demolishing a structure in the Gulf of Mexico
which was damaged by Hurricane Camille (page 11), Trish Kelly and
her unborn baby die in the vehicle accident (page 15) and Helen
Waters is murdered (page 16);
– May,
1971 (Memorial Day weekend – page 20) – Kelly meets Pam Madden and
the story begins (page 19);
–
July,
1971 – on page 165, we learn that the total time Kelly and Pam were
together was 3 weeks, which means Pam was killed in June; that plus
Kelly’s hospital time makes it July;
– Summer, 1971 – we learn on page 172
that Kelly was still in the Navy as a Boatswains Mate First Class
in 1968, was promoted to Chief Boatswains Mate by Admiral Maxwell
in 1968, that he rescued Admiral Maxwell’s son in 1968 and that his
firefighter father died on the job of a heart attack in 1968;
– Summer,
1971 – on page 174, Admiral Maxwell and Kelly are discussing a raid
to free some of the American POWs and Kelly says “…like Song Tay?”
(the correct spelling is Son Tay) so we know the conversation
happened after November, 1970;
– Summer,
1971 – on
page 175, Admiral Maxwell says “The mission has to go in the fall,
this fall…” so we know it is not yet fall;
–
Summer, 1971 – on page 279, a Marine Colonel says “The job will
last two to three months.” He is speaking of the attempt which
would be made to rescue some of the POWs, and it tracks with the
timeline of the story;
–
August, 1971 – on page 527, Emmet Ryan says “…they’d been on this
case, this endless series of deaths, for more than six months,…“. (6
months from Helen’s death would have been May and 6 months from
Pam’s death would be December, so this time reference doesn’t seem
to work with anything else in the story since Emmet says it on the
same page as the college reference below.);
– August,
1971 – on page 527, Emmet Ryan says of his son – “Jack would be
returning to Boston College in another week or so”; so we know the
end of summer is imminent;
– October,
1971 – on page 537, Emmet Ryan says to his son, Jack, “Eleven months’
worth, Jack” referring to the murder cases he had been working on
since November, 1970. That would make it October, 1971,which
tracks with the timeline of the story.
– ??, 1971
– on page 605, Tom Douglas says “…it was eight months now since
the death of a sad, petite girl named Helen Waters. Then Pamela
Madden. Then Doris Brown.” (8 months from Helen’s death would
have been July, so this time reference doesn’t seem to work with
anything else in the story since we know it is already at least
October.);
– January,
1972 (at the latest, it could have been earlier) – John Kelly
“dies” and is re-born into the CIA as John Clark (pages 635 and
636), thus ending the story;
– June, 1972
(at the latest, it could have been earlier) – 5 months after
Kelly “dies”, Sandy O’Toole quits her job in Baltimore and relocates
to the Tidewater area of Virginia (page 637);
– June, 1972
(at the latest, it could have been earlier) – John Clark
and Sandy O’Toole are married (assumption based on moral climate
at the time, no page reference);
– June, 1972
– Maggie Clark is conceived (assumption based on birth date, no
page reference);
– February,
1973 – some of the American POWs return home (historical fact, also
page 639);
– Early in
1973 (for our purposes, let us say March) – Margaret Pamela “Maggie”
Clark is born. On page 639, February 12, 1973, Sandy rests
John’s hand on her belly to “…feel the movement of their soon-to-be
firstborn…” and that was Maggie.
Ages
of: John Kelly
– 26 (see page 582). Kelly was still in the Navy in 1968 (page
172) but it was late in his enlistment and we know that he served
for 6 years (page 582). He was promoted to Chief in 1968,
so let’s say he got out in 1969. That means he enlisted in
1963 at age 18 (page 582), so he was born in 1945. If he was
26 in W.R., then it dates the preponderance of the story in the
novel to 1971.
Emmet
Ryan – 48. We learn on page 71 of T.H.F.R.O. that Emmet was
19 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked in December, 1941; that
means he was born in 1922 and 48 years later is 1970, not quite
confirming the above date sequences, but coming close;
Jack
Ryan – 19 years old as a sophomore at Boston College (see page 527). This
is somewhat confusing because Emmet Ryan only says (in 1971) “Jack
would be returning to Boston College in another week or so”. He
could be going back for his sophomore, junior or senior year. I’m
guessing sophomore year, because Jack has told his Dad that the
Marines would “…pay for the last two years…” (meaning ROTC); if
so, Jack was born in 1952;
“Portagee”
Oreza – nearly 28 (see page 34);
Rachael
Oreza – 5 years old (see page 572).
Patriot
Games (Published
in 1987 but SET in 1983 and 1984):
This
book opens on a Fall Wednesday in London (pages 13 and 57). We
know Sally Ryan is 4 years old near the beginning of the book and
that her Dad, Jack, is 31. If Jack was born in 1952 (see W.R.),
then P.G. starts in 1983 and ends in July 1984 with the birth of
Jack Jr. That is contradicted by the electrician on page 438
who says it is almost 70 years since 1919, which makes it 1988 at
the latest. I would be more comfortable with dating the book
if he had said almost 65 years, but then Clancy has also provided
conflicting date information in other books.
Ages
of: Jack Ryan
– 31 (see page 34). On page 35, we learn that Jack’s Marine
Corps career only lasted 3 months, that his back was injured in
a helicopter crash in Crete and that he had been treated at Bethesda
Naval Medical Center. (Also, on page 570 of C.A.P.D., we learn
that Jack was 23 years old when he was injured – which makes it
1975 at the time of the accident.) On page 46, we learn that
Jack met Cathy through her father, Joe Muller, that Jack was wearing
a back brace and that the Navy surgeons had made inadequate repairs
to his back. Subsequently Cathy, who was studying to become
a surgeon and by now engaged to Jack, brought him to Doctor Stanley
Rabinowitz, professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, to be evaluated. Dr.
Rabinowitz repaired Ryan’s back. On page 53, we learn that
the Queen intends to invest Jack as a Knight Commander of the Victorian
Order (KCVO), that henceforth he shall be Sir John and Cathy shall
be Lady Ryan. Ryan’s adaptation of The Canary Trap (the function
of which is to determine who “sang”), is explained on page 101. Jack
wrote a document, Agents and Agencies, which had four sections,
each with a summary paragraph. Each summary paragraph has
six different versions and the mixture of those paragraphs is unique
in each numbered copy of the document. The expertness of the
report, plus the adaptation, provided by Ryan while he was an outside
consultant, caused Admiral Greer to offer Ryan a slot within the
CIA which he turned down. On page 140, we learn that Ryan’s
parents died in a crash at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport
only 19 months after his crash in Crete. On page 167, we learn
that Ryan met Robbie Jackson the preceding March, only 9 months
earlier.
Cathy
Ryan – undetermined. On page 41 we learn that Cathy’s Mom
died about 3 years ago. On page 110, we learn that she was
raised in Westchester County, NY. On Christmas morning (page
181), Jack gives Cathy a gold necklace which will be mentioned in
three other books – T.C.O.T.K. (page 314), T.S.O.A.F. (page
531) and E.O. (page 269).
Sally
Ryan – 4 (see pages 14 and 94)
Jack
Ryan Jr. – born in mid-summer (on July 31st) at the end
of this book
Kevin
O’Donnell – 34 (see page 74
Dan
Murray – 40s (see page 85)
Bill
Shaw – mid-forties (see page 216)
Gus
Werner – 35 (see page 489)
The
Hunt For Red October (Published
in 1984 but SET in 1986):
We know the Ryan
family is in England and Christmas is approaching (pages 19 and
37). Sally is worried that Santa won’t find them because “We’re
not where we were last year.” Also, Jack decides (page 20)
to “..play with his kids.” This book therefore takes
place after Patriot Games since they only had one kid, Sally, until
the very end of P.G. Based on Sally’s age, this book takes
place in 1985; based on Jack Junior’s age, it takes place in 1986. The
Ryan family has been in England “close to a year” – and Ryan had
been a stockbroker for 4 years - page 44; meaning before P.G. On
page 100 we learn that Ryan’s Marine career had ended after only
3 months when his platoon’s helicopter had crashed on Crete; the
3 month time is confirmed on page 289. On page 339 we learn
that his Father and Mother were killed in an aircraft accident 10
years ago and that he started work full time for the CIA 2 years
ago (1984, which checks with P.G. if it is 1986). The preponderance
of the information indicates Red October takes place in 1986.
Ages of: Jack
Ryan – 34 (based on his year of birth being 1952)
Cathy Ryan – undisclosed
Sally Ryan – 6 (first grade, see page 38)
Jack Ryan Jr. – 2 (see page 38)
James
Greer - 66 (see page 37); he made the switch from Line Officer to
Professional Spook in the early sixties – and that was 20 years
ago (page 42)
Skip
Tyler was playing football at Annapolis 16 years before (see page
45)
Mike
Mancuso – 8 (see page 383)
Dominick
Mancuso – 4 (see page 383)
The
Cardinal of the Kremlin (Published
in 1988 but SET in 1987):
On page 19, we
learn that T.C.O.T.K. starts almost one year after T.H.F.R.O. when
Clancy says of Red October…”wetting the submarine’s keel
for the first time in nearly a year.” That places this book
in the 1987 timeframe. Jack’s age also makes it 1987. Ryan
also says he will fly to Moscow in January (page 20), so the book
probably starts in November. On page 33, Golovko references
P.G. which he says happened “almost five years before”. That
would indicate this book takes place in 1988. However, Jack
also says, on page 150, “Five years ago, I had people try to kill
my wife and kid. They had to fly three thousand miles to do
it, but they came anyway.” That reference to P.G. would make
it 1989 and so would little Jack’s age; but it can’t be 1989 because
of Ryan’s age so it seems that Clancy has provided conflicting information
once again. Additionally, on page 44 we learn that the CARDINAL’s
wife died 30 years ago next month. It is January, so she died
in February and they would have been married 50 years this coming
July 14th. Since the elder son was killed in 1956,
short of his 17th birthday, he was born in late 1939
or early 1940 with the marriage taking place in 1939 – and that
also indicates that it is 1989. Filitov was arrested in February
– page 293. On page 314, Ryan refers to a gold necklace which
he’d given to Cathy “…a few years before.” This is the same necklace
mentioned on page 181 of P.G., page 531 of T.S.O.A.F. and page 269
of E.O. On pages 347 and 348 we learn that Jack Ryan was in
second grade in 1958; if so, he was probably born in 1951, not 1952
as gleaned from W.R. and it is 1986 now. But that isn’t too
precise, because since we don’t know the actual MONTH of his birth,
he still could have been born in 1952. On page 460, we learn
Jack Ryan joined the CIA on a part-time basis 4 years ago (P.G.)
and became a full-time analyst soon after, that also confirms that
it is 1987. On page 469, we learn that Gerasimov has been
married for 25 years.
Ages
of: Jack Ryan
– 35 (see pages 33 and 334)
Cathy
Ryan – undisclosed
Sally
Ryan – undisclosed
Jack
Ryan Jr. – 5 as a kindergartner (see page 65)
Eddie
Foley – 7 (see page 78)
Ed
Foley – 33 (see page 79)
John
Clark – “a little over 40” (see page 232)
Al
Gregory – 29 (see page 50)
Nikolay
Gerasimov –53 (see page 212)
Maria
Gerasimova – 50 (see page 468)
Katryn
Gerasimova – 18 (see page 470)
Clear and
Present Danger (Published
in 1989 and SET in 1989):
We know from page
15 that the sitting President has been in office for over 3 years
and that it is late Spring, so Election Day is only 5 or 6 months
away (recognizing that 1989 was not a Presidential election year). The
book ends in early November, when Bob Fowler is elected President
of the United States. John Clark has been in the CIA for nearly
twenty years (page 45) – a full 20 won’t happen until late 1991. On
page 121, Ritter says “Just a few months ago a crash operation went
bad because of an illegal turn” – he refers to T.C.O.T.K. which
took place in 1987. On page 123, Ryan tells us that it has
been “only six years since he started with the Agency” and that
he had “known Greer for less than seven…” and he repeats the 6 year
timeline on page 306. Since Jack started working for the CIA
as a response to the terrorist attack on his family (in Patriot
Games) in 1983, it must now be 1989. The President of the
United States is serving his first term – page 394 and doesn’t repeat
because Bob Fowler beats him. John Clark talks about W.R.
as happening “…almost 20 years earlier” on page 417 – and that doesn’t
rule out that C.A.P.D. happens in 1989.
Ages
of: Jack Ryan
– 37 (see pages 123 and 306 where Jack tells us he has been with
the CIA for 6 years – that is, since Patriot Games when he was 31. Also,
on page 215, Ryan says he is “…short of 40” and on page 476, Ryan
tells us his feeling “…as he marched toward 40”. We also learn
on page 570 that the CH-46 helicopter crash on Crete happened when
Jack Ryan was 23 years old, which was in 1975.)
Cathy
Ryan – undisclosed
Sally
Ryan – undisclosed
Jack
Ryan Jr. – undisclosed
Ding
Chavez – 26 (see page 47) and Ding has completed 9 years of Army
service
John
Clark – well over 40 (see page 44)
Bronco
Winters – 27 (see page 153)
Carol
Zimmer – 36 (see page 164)
Maggie
Clark – 17 (see page 282; since we know she was born in the Spring
of 1973, it is now supposedly at least March of 1990)
Patsy
Clark – 14 (see page 282)
Pete
Connor – 40 (see page 14)
Book
Title To Be Determined (Published
in 200?, but set in 1990/1991)
I believe there
is another Clancy book, albeit an unpublished one, that takes
place between the end of C.A.P.D. and the beginning of T.S.O.A.F. I
base this belief on the following:
On page 576 of
T.S.O.A.F. we learn that there is an aircraft silhouette painted
on the left side of Robby Jackson’s F-14. Under it, Clancy
tells us, printed in small letters, is : “MiG-29, 17-1-91”. What
that means is that Robby shot down a MiG-29 on January 17th,
1991. Note well the specific date; Clancy isn’t all that
generous with dates, is he? (One of the other month/day/year
references I recall is the Epilogue title on page 639 of W.R.) Since
the shoot-down doesn’t appear in any Clancy book yet published,
he must intend to fill the gap at some future date (this was written
when I figured it out in Fairfax, VA on 05/25/01). Also, on
page 669 of T.S.O.A.F., Robbie talks about “his Iraqi victim” in
a shoot-down. Furthermore, on page 629 of D.O.H., we learn
that Robbie had gotten a kill during the Persian Gulf War. (Not
to be confused with Robby shooting down four Libyan MiG-29s
on pages 668 and 669 of T.S.O.A.F.).
The
Sum of All Fears (Published
in 1991 and SET in 1991 and 1992):
This book
takes place almost two years after C.A.P.D. The
book opens early in the baseball season (page 44) and Bob Fowler
is the President (page 24). On page 126, Fowler recognizes
that “the first two years of his administration…” were already
history he and speaks of the upcoming mid-term election; so since
he was elected at the end of C.A.P.D., it is now 1991. That
two year timeline is repeated on page 149 where the election is
marked as “almost two Novembers ago”. On pages 342 and 343,
we learn that it is September and the Ryan kids are back in school. Sally
should be 11 years old since she was already 4 when her brother
was born…but Clancy says 10 for Sally and 7 for Jack Jr. on page
345. So, since little Jack was born in July, 1984, that
confirms it as being 1991 and Jack Ryan would therefore be 39
years of age. On page 257, Liz Elliot asks of the CIA; “Did
they predict 1989?” That past tense question also means
we are past 1989 in time.
On page 46, Clancy
tells us about the eight Zimmer kids, but Buck Zimmer dies
in Ryan’s arms (end of C.A.P.D.) telling Ryan he has seven kids
and Ryan promises to take care of them. Presumably, Carol
was pregnant and Buck didn’t know. We learn the truth of this
at the bottom of page 512. Anyway, in T.S.O.A.F. much is made
of the relationship Ryan has with the Zimmer family. The newest
child, Jacqueline Theresa Zimmer, was born after Buck died (page
294). Liz Elliot tries to destroy Jack and break up his marriage
by exposing his alleged “illicit” relationship to Carol Zimmer.
On page 249,
General Ben Jakob says, of Ryan, “…been in the trade for what
– not even ten years…” This is good news; if it is now
1991, as I believe, and P.G. began in 1983, as I believe, Ben Jakob’s
statement is within those years.
A recapitulation
of Ryan’s career (through the time of this book) is on page 340. In
reverse order, he was:
- Deputy
Director of the CIA;
- Deputy
Director (Intelligence) of the CIA;
- Analyst,
then Special Assistant, to Admiral James Greer, the Deputy Director
(Intelligence) of the CIA;
- Instructor
in History at the Naval Academy;
- Graduate
(Ph.D. candidate) student at Georgetown University;
- Broker
at the Baltimore office of Merrill Lynch;
- An
Officer in the US Marine Corps.
On page 526,
Clark makes a bargain with Bob Holtzman. Clark agrees to tell
Holtzman the details of Gerasimov’s defection “…Five years from
today…” In return, Holtzman agrees to reveal the
source of the leaked information about Ryan. Holtzman subsequently
identifies Liz Elliott as the source and Cathy Ryan decides to seek
her revenge after Clark tells her who tried to break up her marriage.
On page 531,
Clancy has Jack place a gold necklace around Cathy’s neck and comment
that “It was one he’d given her on the Christmas before Little Jack
was born.” This is the same necklace mentioned on page 314
of T.C.O.T.K., page 181 of P.G. and page 269 of E.O.
On page 574,
Ryan promises Cathy that he would be out of the CIA no later than
April 1st of the current year – and that is very good
news for Cathy!
On page 626,
we hear about the new Strategic Air Command (SAC) command post completed
in 1989...and we’re still within the 1991/1992 timeframe. At
the end of this book, Bob Fowler resigns the Presidency and is succeeded
by the Vice President, Roger Durling. After the deaths of
Qati and Ghosn, the three hundred year old sword by which they were
executed is presented to Jack Ryan by Prince Ali – page 796.
Ages of: Jack
Ryan – undisclosed, but probably 39. Ryan’s three Intelligence
Stars are mentioned on page 24, but only two of them are tied to
specific events. We know that the other one was for C.A.P.D. Jack
is in the number two position at the CIA in this book, after what
he calls his “brief stint as DDI” (page 47).
Cathy
Ryan – 36 (see page 346)
Sally
Ryan – 10 (see page 345) (11 would be the correct age here)
Jack
Ryan Jr. – 7 (see page 345)
Katie
Ryan – conceived in mid-to-late January, before the Super Bowl (see
pages 540 and 773 where Cathy tells Jack she is a late, but only
a day late), so she was probably born in November, 1992
Arnie
van Damm – 50 (see page 23)
Ben
Goodley – 27 (see page 257)
Dutch
Claggett – 36 (see page 281)
John
Clark – late 40s (see page 295)
Daryaei
– approaching 70 (see page 793)
Debt
of Honor (Published
in 1994 and SET from October 1994 to February 1995):
D.O.H. begins
in October, 2 ½ years after T.S.O.A.F. ends (see pages 15 and 16)
and Jack Ryan has been in the business world of Merchant Banking
the whole time. On page 23 we learn that Katie Ryan would
be 2 years old in another month; so that confirms she was born in
November. On page 751 we learn that D.O.H. is ending 10 years
after P.G., or in 1994. By Sally’s age, by Katie’s age and
by Ding Chavez’s age it is also 1994. That much confirmation
makes it pretty convincing that the book must be set in 1994.
Even more surprising
is the confirmation provided by Manuel “Portagee” Oreza’a age. In
W.R., he was 27, and that was 1971. In D.O.H. he is 50; that’s
23 years older and makes the year 1994!!
On page 250,
the fabrication of the nuclear device in a cave in Lebanon is described,
confirming that D.O.H. tales place after T.S.O.A.F.
And finally,
near the end of the book on page 748, the President says “…my main
job for the next nine months is to get reelected.” So, since
election day is in early November, that tells us that it must be
early in February and the book started the preceding October.
Ages of: Jack
Ryan – undisclosed. On page 23 we learn that Jack Ryan
had never had a brother.
Cathy
Ryan – undisclosed
Sally
Ryan – 15 (see page ??) On page 82 Jack says his elder daughter
would soon start dating.
Jack
Ryan Jr. – undisclosed
Katie
Ryan – 23 months (see page 23) (if she was born in November 1992,
as I believe, it would now be October 1994)
Ding
Chavez – 31 (see page 30)
Patsy
Clark – 21 (see page 30) Patsy’s age doesn’t match the expected
time line. She was only 14 in C.A.P.D., and 7 years later
would make it 1996, not 1994.
George
Winston – 40 (see page 61)
John
Clark – undisclosed. On page 69 we learn that Clark
trained Mary Pat and Ed Foley “20 years ago”
Chris
Scott – 34 (see page 216)
Ron
Jones – short of 40 (see page 256)
Rachael
(Oreza) Chandler – approaching 30 years old (see page 360)
“Portagee”
Oreza – 50 (see page 404)
Sandy
Richter – 46 (see page 648) over 29 years of Military service and
6,751 flight hours (see page 649)
Executive
Orders (Published
in 1996 but SET from February to August, 1995):
(I say August because
Jack Ryan talks of running for office for 10 weeks
on page 18 of T.B.A.T.D. Since he did say he would run at
the end of E.O. (page 874) and he hadn’t even started running at
the end of the book, 10 weeks before the first week of November
is some time in August).
PROBLEM: On
page 16, Pat O’Day tells Dan Murray that the death toll from the
destruction of the Capitol Building was “…lots worse’n Oklahoma”. The
Oklahoma City bombing happened on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people
– so either I have all the dates wrong or Clancy is providing bad
information.
We know that
E.O. is a continuation of D.O.H. with the last scene in D.O.H. being
the first scene in E.O. The month is still February, confirmed
on pages 83 and 86. Sally Ryan is still 15, Katie is still
2. On page 151, Jack Ryan says he “…started working inside”
when he was 31 – that refers to P.G. when he was 31 and Sally was
4. That makes E.O. 11 years later, and yet again, 1995.
Also, Ryan, stunned
as he is, thinks he will be serving as President for only a few
months. This book starts in February and ends well before
election day since Ryan says he will run for the office on
page 874. (Ryan’s election “run” is partially described in
T.B.A.T.D., pages 18 – 20. It is Spring when the attack on
Katie is made – page 605.
The fate of Bob
Fowler is confirmed on page 20; he resigned after the end of T.S.O.A.F.
and his Vice president, Roger Durling, took over. The sequencing
of the books is also confirmed on page 60 where we see “…after the
terrorist incident in Denver…”, which was T.S.O.A.F. Also,
Cathy speaks of her associate Bernie Katz who “went over (to Saudi
Arabia) in 1994”; clearly speaking in the past tense on page 112.
On page 257,
Bob Holtzman tries to get John Clark to give him some information. Holtzman
cites a “deal” they had made on page 526 of T.S.O.A.F. Holtzman
provided some information to Clark in return for Clark’s promise
to tell Holtzman about Gerasimov’s defection. The deal had
a five year time clause on it (starting no earlier than 1991) and
Clark tells Holtzman that “Time isn’t up yet”, so we know it is
not yet 1996. On pages 751 and 765 we learn that John Clark
was in Iran in 1979 and in 1980. This fits the time line of
these novels, because these two years are not included in any of
the books.
Ages of: Jack
Ryan – undisclosed. (Theoretically, he would be 43 if he was
born in 1952). His Quantico time was “more than 20 years before”
(page 107) and that would check with the dates above. Ryan’s
first Intelligence Star is mentioned on page 419 by a disgruntled
CIA employee leaking information to Donner.
Cathy
Ryan – 40 (see page 352) Cathy learns she is winning the Lasker
Memorial Public Service Award on page 76.
Sally
Ryan – 15 (see page 75) Interestingly, on page 115, Clancy
tells us the Ryans took their daughter (Sally) to Disney World “just
after their daughter’s third birthday, not long before their trip
to England”, and that trip was at the beginning of P.G. This
means Sally would be three years old in P.G., not four as Clancy
tells us on page 94 of P.G. – another apparent inconsistency.
Jack
Ryan Jr. – undisclosed. (We do learn, on page 359, that Jack
Jr. and Sally attend Saint Mary’s School outside Annapolis, MD. Saint
Mary’s School enrolls students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.)
Katie
Ryan – not-yet-three-year-old (see page 631)
Kyle
Ryan – on page 685 we learn that Cathy has discovered that she is
pregnant with what will turn out to be Kyle
Mark
Durling – 9 (see page 98)
Amy
Durling – older than Mark (see page 100)
Ding
Chavez – undisclosed
George
Winston – undisclosed.
Megan
O’Day – 2 ½ (see page 279)
Daryaei
– 72 (see pages 225 and 590) This works – if he was “approaching
70” in 1992 (page 793 of T.S.O.A.F., then he could certainly be 72
in 1995!!
Rainbow Six (Published
in 1998 but SET in 1995, 1996 or 1997, I really can’t tell):
R.S. is full
of conflicting time line information. It
is almost as if Clancy can’t make up his mind, OR he wrote both
books (R.S. and T.B.A.T.D.) simultaneously and just got confused
as to which one he was working on at any particular moment. For
instance:
- Virtually
all the evidence in T.B.A.T.D. points to the fact that T.B.A.T.D.
happens within a few months of the end of E.O. and therefore R.S.
would come after T.B.A.T.D. But that can’t be because
there are two major (and many more minor) problems with that sequence. The
first and most obvious is the age of John Conner Chavez, Patsy and
Ding’s son. He is born on page 550 of R.S. and Clancy has
him just learning to walk on page 277 of T.B.A.T.D., clearly the
walking comes after the birth. The second big one is the first
half of Chapter 19, starting on page 270 of T.B.A.T.D. In
this section, all the RAINBOW exploits from R.S. are in the past
tense. It’s almost as if R.S. starts before the end of E.O.
and ends before the start of T.B.A.T.D., but there doesn’t appear
to be enough time for that to have happened.
- Kirilenko
and Popov talk about NATO being a possible threat to Russia (page
354) when we know Russia was admitted to NATO in T.B.A.T.D.,
so we know this part of R.S. came before that part of T.B.A.T.D.
- On
the bottom of page 219 we learn that two years have passed since
E.O. But that has to be incorrect, since we already know that
T.B.A.T.D. takes place in the year immediately following E.O.
- Kirilenko
is talking to his desk officer in Moscow (page 358) and he learns
that Clark has met personally with Golovko. On page 621 we
learn that the meeting happened just 18 months ago. That happened
first in E.O., so this part of R.S. happens 18 months after that
part of E.O. which makes it early in 1997.
- On
page 477 Clancy has the character Popov say “…only a relatively
few months before, America had been attacked with biological
warfare”, killing about five thousand people. That also refers
to E.O.
Patsy Chavez is
now a Medical Doctor (pages 75 and 76) and is in her intern year
(page 90). She was only in pre-med (not Medical School) on
page 70 of D.O.H. (set in 1994 and 1995), so Clancy hasn’t had enough
time to put her through three years of Med School to get to her
intern year, and that event didn’t make it into one of the books
– just another time inconsistency unless this book is really set
in 2001 as two of the clues would indicate. Her Dad thinks
she probably got pregnant on her wedding night (page 2), six weeks
ago (page 11), so they probably married in early to mid- October.
Al Stanley was
a Major in the Special Air Service SAS before being seconded to
the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) before being assigned to RAINBOW. John
Clark worked with him in Romania eight years before (page 2). (We
haven’t heard that story from Mr. Clancy yet). Also on page
2 we learn that Clark was a “friend” of the President (the only
President he was friends with was Jack Ryan). On page 3 we
learn that Clark, by moving to England, will be “missing the end
of the football season”, so it’s Fall (confirmed on page 16), probably
around Thanksgiving. On page 11 we learn that John and Sandy
had been married 25 years – since they were married in 1972 (W.R.),
it is now 1997. On the other hand, page 23 tells us that Clark
had 30 years in the CIA; that started in 1971, so it would now be
2001.
On page 23 we learn
that RAINBOW was Clark’s idea. His history is presented on
page 28. We learn that:
Clark
was a former Chief Boatswains Mate in the US Navy and that, as a SEAL,
he had been awarded the Navy Cross, 2 Silver Stars, 4 Bronze Stars,
with Combat-V and 3 Purple Hearts. (That makes him a very, very
serious player). Additionally, he has been awarded 4 Intelligence
Stars by the CIA.
On page 369 we learn that the Russian
file on Clark contains information that he:
Had
met with Golovko, had gotten Gerasimov’s wife and daughter out of
Russia, had operated in Romania (second time we were told this, but
it is not yet the subject of a Clancy book), had rescued Koga and
helped eliminate Daryaei. Golovko set up Ding and John’s entry
into Iran (page 344) – past tense. The removal of Gerasimov’s
wife and daughter happened “…10 years ago…” (page 374) and that took
place in T.H.F.R.O. in 1986.
Clancy speaks of
the “new” President on page 79 and a “new” Senator on page 80. The
indication is we are not very far past Jack’s swearing-in. On
page 93 he tells us that the President was “…in his first year and
a half of holding office…”. Jack was sworn-in upon
the death of his predecessor in February 1995 – 18 months after
is August 1996. Conversely, Jack was inaugurated in
January 1996, and if that is the start date Clancy had in mind,
then 18 months after that is July 1997.
On page 522 Clancy
has Julio Vega say “He and Chavez went back nearly ten years.” He
refers to when the two met – in C.A.P.D. which was published and
set in 1989, but that only makes almost ten years between the publication
dates, not the real time dates. On page 642 Clancy tells us
that the ebola attack (E.O.) happened 18 months ago. This
18 month time line keeps repeating and that makes it 1997. Page
651 tells us that Carol Brightling didn’t join the government until
after the ebola attack.
PROBLEM: On
page 574 Clancy gives us another hard date – this one is November
21, 2000. It is supposedly the date on which a batch of vaccine
was manufactured and I suppose it is intended to show that it is
now 2001. If it is, it contradicts a whole lot of other information
in the book. Clancy is pretty stingy with actual dates, so
when he gives us one, we should pay attention. Either I have
all the dates wrong again or Clancy is providing bad information
again.
Ages of: Jack
Ryan – undisclosed, Jack is hardly mentioned in this book.
Cathy
Ryan – undisclosed
Sally
Ryan – undisclosed
Jack
Ryan Jr. – undisclosed
Katie
Ryan – undisclosed
John
Clark – page 34 tells us Clark is “…closer to 60 than to
50…; and he is described as “…well over 50…” on page 90
Malloy
daughters – 10 and 8 (see page 187)
Eddie
Price – 41 (see page 30)
Colonel
Johns – undisclosed, but he “retired about 5 years ago” (page 198)
Mary
Pat Foley – mid-forties (see page 349)
JC
Chavez – born (see page 550)
Ding
Chavez – undisclosed, but he has completed his MS in International
Relations (page 90); on page 25 Clancy tells us Ding is 5’ 7”; on
page 48 of C.A.P.D., he told us he was 5’ 8” tall.
Patsy
Chavez – undisclosed, but she has completed Medical School (pages
75 and 76) and is in her Intern year (page 90)
Al
Stanley – younger than John Clark by 5 years (see page 485)
The Bear
and The Dragon (Published
in 2000 but SET in 1996):
This book takes
place in the year after Executive Orders. We know that
primarily because Jack Ryan is the newly elected President
of the United States (see pages 18 and 49). Remember, in D.O.H.,
Ryan became President on the death of President Durling at the end
of the book. And Durling only asked Ryan to become Vice president
until the election was over and the new administration took over
– a period of only 11 months (page 748 of D.O.H.)! So,
since the election itself isn’t described in either E.O. or this
book, we know that all of E.O. took place prior to that election,
that the new administration has been in place since the January
Inauguration, and it is a Ryan administration. Additional
confirmation is below.
Ben Goodley is
the National Security Advisor (page 16), not the Acting National
Security Advisor he was in E.O. The Premier of the People’s
Republic of China mentions details from D.O.H. and E.O. on page
27 and Zhang Han San mentions them on page 33. Ryan says “…O’Day
had saved his daughter’s life less than a year ago…”
on page 83 and we know it was Spring when Katie’s life was threatened. On
the same page, Ryan says “…last year we got the jerseys and
stuff for his son”…; referring to the Stanley Cup winners’ visit
to the White House (page 576 of E.O.). Speaking of educating
Ryan about politics, on page 86 Arnie van Damm says “…I’ve been
trying to do that for over a year now…”, referring to the
lessons he has constantly provided ever since Jack first entered
the Oval Office upon the death of Roger Durling. Also, Arnie
tells Jack on page 139 that “…you can be in this job another seven-plus
years and retire…”; this confirms that Jack is still in the first
year of his (elected) Presidency. On page 247, Scott Adler
says “…last year, after the Airbus shoot-down…”, another reference
to E.O. On page 253, Clancy speaks of “…soldiers who’d fought
the previous year in Saudi Arabia”, yet another reference to E.O.
The 747 crash into
the House of Representatives (the end of D.O.H.) happened “15 months
ago” – see page 88 of T.B.A.T.D. On page 264, Bart Mancuso
says, (of D.O.H.), “…the little shooting war they’d engaged in 2
years before…”. We get another timeline on page 727 where
Fang Gan says “Iran underestimated the Americans just last year,
causing disaster for them and the death of their leader…”, a reference
to E.O. Additionally, on page 738, speaking about the
potential compromise of a member of the Russian President’s
security detail, an FSS officer says “…that nearly happened to the
American President last year, you may have heard,…”, another
E.O. reference. A troubling statement is made on page 878,
where we read “America had fought against China only once, in Korea nearly
60 years ago.” That would make it 2010 at least!!! Also,
Ed Foley, on page 978, says “Clark had been CIA’s official iceman
for close to 20 years.” And since he didn’t undertake that role
until 1972, that would make it about 1990 or 1991; so again, there
is some conflicting timeline information at both ends of the spectrum
presented by Mr. Clancy.
On page 987, Clark
says: “…Couple years ago we set up this group, called RAINBOW, special
operations, counter-terror…”; but this two year time line doesn’t
fit. On pages 987 and 988, we learn that Colonel Malloy left
RAINBOW and took over VMH-1, flying the President and the First
Lady, something he does throughout T.B.A.T.D.
Ages of: Jack
Ryan – undisclosed.
Cathy
Ryan – undisclosed.
Sally
Ryan – undisclosed.
Jack
Ryan Jr. – undisclosed.
Katie
Ryan – 4 (see page 561)
Kyle
Ryan – less than 12 months (the description of his birth is on page
182)
John
Clark – over 50 (see page 978)
Chet
Nomuri – 29 (see page 113)
Lian
Ming – 24 (see page 104)
Megan
O’Day – pre-schooler (see page 561)
Mike
Mancuso – college age (see page 53), 22, based on Dominick being
4 years younger in T.H.F.R.O.
Dominick
Mancuso – college age (see page 53) 18, based on Mike’s age
Eddie
Foley – 18; freshman in college (see page 115) (Eddie was
not yet in college on page 576 of E.O., when the Captain of the
team winning the Stanley Cup suggested he go to Renssalaer – where
he is in this book)
Katie
Foley – 16 or 17 since she already drives and hasn’t completed high
school (see page 303)
General
Sinyavskiy – 46 (see page 881)
Red Storm
Rising (Published
in 1986 but since there are neither historical events nor characters
common to any of the other Tom Clancy novels, it cannot
be determined in which year the book is SET therefore
I cannot place it in the chronology).
Written by: Robert
Keith Miller. P.E.
Captain,
Civil Engineer Corps
United
States Navy (Retired)
Fairfax, Virginia
Unpublished work © 2001
Robert K. Miller
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