A Book Spy Review: ‘Tom Clancy Rules of Engagement’ by Ward Larsen

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Veteran New York Times bestselling author Ward Larsen steps into the Ryanverse with the unenviable task of following a rotating lineup of authors while honoring decades of continuity, and somehow manages to make the franchise feel thrilling and urgent again—staying true to Tom Clancy’s spirit while putting his own distinct stamp on Jack Ryan and company.

Set after Executive Power (Andrews & Wilson’s final contribution to the franchise), Larsen kicks off the 27th Jack Ryan novel with a deadly plane crash in Turkey that kills the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and immediately throws President Ryan into crisis mode.

As experienced readers may expect, what initially appears to be a tragic accident quickly spirals into something far darker after investigators—including Jack’s daughter, Katie Ryan—discover a chilling discrepancy in the flight’s manifest. Sixteen people boarded the aircraft before its crash, but only fifteen bodies were recovered. Complicating matters further, the Secretary, who was a friend of the president, had also been tasked with a secret mission. While the trip to Turkey was publicly billed as a quick appearance at an economic conference, the Secretary’s flight was also being used by the CIA to extract a key asset from the Middle East.

Jack Ryan wants answers, knowing deep down that he may not like where things head, and as Larsen drags his readers into a sprawling international conspiracy involving rogue mercenaries, advanced drone warfare, AI-driven intelligence analysis, and geopolitical manipulation with catastrophic global stakes, things quickly become worse than he could have imagined…

The clock to global chaos is rapidly ticking down, and once again, it’s up to President Ryan to oversee things from the Oval Office while his most trusted allies do what they do best, as America races to eliminate an enemy that threatens to upend the balance of power as we know it today.

With Rules of Engagement, Ward Larsen, who’s currently in the middle of an impressive run that includes co-writing Cold Zero (one of the year’s best thrillers) with Brad Thor, now proves he’s more than capable of carrying one of the biggest brands in thriller fiction today, delivering a novel that feels every bit worthy of the Clancy name. The setup here is pure Ryanverse gold, and it’s crazy how naturally Larsen fits into this world. He understands the balance that made Clancy’s books work—the intelligence gathering, military realism, political maneuvering, and boots-on-the-ground action—and he keeps all those moving parts firing in sync from start to finish here.

At the same time, Larsen’s own storytelling fingerprints are all over Rules of Engagement, particularly in the dialogue and hard-smashing action sequences that make every page and every chapter fly by. He also makes good use of characters, mainly Katie—whose star grew in Andrews & Wilson’s Act of Defiance, a direct sequel to Clancy’s iconic novel The Hunt for Red October—and, altogether, stabilized the Ryanverse at a time when certain authors have exited the aircraft, creating a shakeup that will see M.P Woodward (who had been writing the Jack Junior books) step into the main series, while fellow pilot turned bestselling author Jack Stewart (one of the genre’s main rising stars) has been given the controls over Junior and the Campus.

All things considered, Larsen’s job couldn’t have been easy, and yet he delivered in a big way. It’s uncertain if he will contribute to Clancy’s universe in the future, but after they get their hands on Rules of Engagement, I would expect readers to push to see more Ryan adventures from him at some point.

Ward Larsen didn’t just survive his first trip into the Ryanverse—he delivered one of the strongest recent entries in the franchise. Fast, timely, and packed with adrenaline, Tom Clancy Rules of Engagement is the kind of high-octane technothriller that proves Jack Ryan still has plenty of fight left in him.

(Keep reading below for a sneak-peak at my review of Jack Stewart’s Tom Clancy Pressure Depth, my thoughts on the current author rotation, and a look at what’s next for Jack Ryan and this series.)

Book Details

Author: Ward Larsen
Series: Jack Ryan #27
Pages: 448 Hardcover)
ISBN: ‎0593718097
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Release Date: May 19, 2026