What would you do if you became the president of the United States overnight? That is the situation facing Jack Ryan, the protagonist of Executive Orders, an action thriller novel written by Tom Clancy and published in 1996.

Ryan is a former CIA agent who had assumed the position of vice president after the resignation of the previous one due to a sex scandal. But when a Japanese terrorist crashes a plane into the Capitol, killing the president and most members of Congress and the Supreme Court, Ryan is forced to be sworn in as the new president.

It is not an easy task. Ryan has to rebuild the government, deal with a diplomatic crisis with China and Taiwan, deal with a legal challenge to his legitimacy by the former vice president, and most of all, stop a deadly threat looming over the country: a biological attack with the Ebola virus, orchestrated by the Iranian leader who has unified Iran and Iraq into a United Islamic Republic and who plans to invade Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to dominate the Middle East.

Executive Orders is a novel that will keep you on your toes from the first to the last page. With a complex but compelling plot, Clancy immerses you in the world of politics, war, espionage and technology, with well-developed characters and fast-paced action scenes. If you like political and military thrillers, you cant miss this masterpiece from one of the masters of the genre.