President Jack Ryan faces a global threat on the verge of going nuclear in this thriller in Tom Clancy's number one New York Times bestselling series. A North Korean ICBM crashes into the Sea of Japan. A veteran CIA officer is murdered in Ho Chi Minh City. A package of forged documents goes missing. The pieces are there, but assembling the puzzle will cost Jack Ryan Jr. and his fellow campus agents precious time. Time they don't have. The challenge facing President Jack Ryan is an old one with a terrifying new twist. As the international stalemate with North Korea continues into its seventh decade, a young, untested dictator is determined to prove his strength by breaking the deadlock. Like his father before him, he hangs his plans on the country's nuclear ambitions, a program impeded by a lack of resources until now. A recently discovered deposit of valuable minerals has caused a dramatic change.