The Bear and the Dragon

The Bear and the Dragon is a techno-thriller by the American writer Tom Clancy, released in August 2000. It is a direct sequel to Executive Orders, and its title refers to Russia and China, the bear and the dragon of the story. It reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

In Moscow the director of the SVR, Sergey Golovko, survives an attack on his way to work when a car identical to the armoured Mercedes he is riding in is hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing everyone inside it. Investigation by the Russian police and then by intelligence officers points to Chinese involvement and suggests that Golovko himself was the intended target.

President Jack Ryan, newly elected, sends his most trusted people, among them the anti-terrorism specialist John Clark, to Moscow because he expects worse to follow, and it does. The novel deals with a war between Russia and China and with the politics of a Washington that has crises of its own to manage, and at more than a thousand pages it is Clancy's longest book.