Jack Ryan Book 27
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
May 2026
Tom Clancy’s Rules of Engagement by Ward Larsen is his first book in the Clancy series, but hopefully not his last. Larsen includes everything that Tom Clancy wrote into his novels: international conspiracy involving rogue mercenaries, advanced drone warfare, high tech intelligence analysis, and geopolitical maneuvering with high stakes.
Larsen noted, “I’m probably just writing the one book. The guys that were doing it, Andrews and Wilson, had some scheduling issues and it kind of became a crunch, so they asked me to step in and write this book. I think Mike Woodward, MP Woodward, is going to do the next one. After that, I’m not sure what the plan is, but right now it’s just a single book for me to write.”
The plot begins with the crash of a U.S. Air Force C-32A near Bodrum, Turkey, killing all aboard, including the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary was on an important mission; on the surface he was making an appearance at an economic conference, but the CIA was also using the flight as cover to extract an important asset from the Middle East.
Thankfully, both President Jack Ryan’s children, Katie and Kyle play a pivotal role in this story. Lt. Commander Katie Ryan and DIA cybersecurity expert Kyle Ryan, as well as John Clark and his Task Force 99 crew are a strong part of the action. Katie discovers a chilling discrepancy in the flight’s manifest. Sixteen people boarded the aircraft before its crash, but only fifteen bodies were recovered. Gunther Klaus, a Swiss moneyman for the Russians, was supposed to be on that plane, asking for asylum and has information to get to the West to expose Russian trickery.
“I think Katie’s sort of Jack Ryan’s alter ego. She has that same analyst mindset that he has. And he sees a lot of himself in his daughter. I think Katie is kind of a chip off the old Jack Ryan Block. She has a sense of humor, especially where her brother is concerned. Katie has that kind of mindset that works well in the intelligence community. In the past she has gotten herself into some actual kinetic situations. In the last couple of books where she was on scene, there were naval battles going on. I didn’t want to put her quite that out front in this book. I don’t want to put family members at risk time after time after time because that gets a little, not believable. Although she was investigating, being more the detective in this one, doing more analysis stuff, which I think is something that Jack Ryan can relate to.”
Klye also plays a pivot role after he was handpicked to join an elite group of DIA programmers regarding a top-secret new technology. They created MAADN, a massive computing power, to have impacts on national security. It would extract large amounts of raw data into usable time-sensitive intelligence. In essence, it was the “ultimate intelligence analyst.”
“Kyle, is very different. He’s kind of a tech savant, but he’s not as good with people and social situations. In the previous book, he was very involved out in the field. He was in peril. So, we didn’t want to do that again. Jack Ryan Jr. has been on the scene for a long time. He has his own series now. Katie and Kyle are a new edition in the last few books, but I think it’s sort of a natural progression for the Ryan family. I think it fits well. Katie and Kyle are very different and they recognize that. Their father recognizes that. But they’re both kind of finding their own way and finding a way to help the country, using the things that they do best. And for Kyle, that’s tech. He’s a tech guy. He’s very much at home with data. I think that’s his niche.”
The villain is Andrei Malenkov, formerly in the Russian SSD (a real unit). He has a “little squadron” of drones he plans to load with radioactive cesium chloride that would change the world and make him rich with the intended target in North Africa.
“We’ve had the Russian president, Nikita Yermilov, who’s been on the scene for a while now, and has not changed, a thorn in Jack Ryan’s side. I brought in a new guy, Malenkov, formerly in SSD, which is a real unit. It’s sort of an overseeing agency now in Russia. And it’s very hush hush. It’s pretty much directly under the control of the president. And that guy in this book, Rules of Engagement, is the former head of this new agency. He has been out of it a little while, or so we think. And that’s kind of the whole crux throughout the book. Is he still working for the president of Russia, or is he gone off on his own? Is he, as a private contractor now, just working for profit? And that’s sort of the question till the very end of the book.”
Along with the previous book, this plot seems to be the passing of the torch where President Ryan has his children, the next generation, taking on an increasingly important role in the series. Larsen has used the best parts of a Clancy novel to deliver a riveting plot. He has intelligence gathering, military realism, political maneuvering, and boots-on-the-ground action that makes for a thrilling ride.
