Set in a post-9/11 world, it is the first book to feature The Campus, a covert intelligence agency created by President Jack Ryan before the end of his term as chief executive.

The book debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list,[1] and would become Clancy's last solely written novel before a seven-year break from writing fiction.

The murder piques the interest of the Campus, an off-the-books intelligence agency created by former United States president Jack Ryan before the end of his presidential term.

Although they efficiently find and dispatch all four shooters, dozens of people are killed; similar massacres occur at most of the other targeted sites.

The substance causes complete paralysis at 30 to 50 seconds and death at 3 minutes, shutting down all the muscles within the victim (including the diaphragm), with the exception of the heart.

Although originally present as an observer, Jack is forced to kill the target himself when a random accident spills wine on the brothers' suits, spoiling their anonymous appearance.

"[6] The Washington Post described it as a "bloated, boring, silly novel"[7] with "inane dialogue, gossamer characterizations, endless repetition and bumper-sticker politics.

"[7] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch panned it as well, saying that the most positive thing about the book was that it was "mercifully briefer than its chronological predecessor in the Jack Ryan series.