Jack Ryan has only just moved back into the Oval Office when he is faced with a new international threat. An aborted coup in the People's Republic of China has left President Wei Zhen Lin with no choice but to agree with the expansionist policies of General Su Ke Quiang. They have declared the South China Sea a protectorate and are planning an invasion of Taiwan. The Ryan administration is determined to thwart these Chinese ambitions, but the stakes are dangerously high as hundreds of Chinese anti-ship missiles thwart the US Navy's plans to protect the island. Meanwhile, Chinese cyber warfare experts have launched a devastating attack on American infrastructure. It's a new combat arena, but it's every bit as deadly as any that has gone before. Jack Ryan, Jr. and his colleagues at the Campus may be just the wild card that his father needs to stack the deck. There's just one problem: someone knows about the off-the-books intelligence agency and may be ready to blow their cover sky high.

New York Assistant D.A. Alexandra Cooper is in France, visiting her restaurateur boyfriend, Luc Rouget, but her holiday is curtailed when a young woman is found murdered. The only evidence: one of Luc's matchboxes promoting his new restaurant in New York. However, Alex is summoned back home to handle a high-profile case. The head of the World Economic Bureau stands accused of attacking a maid in his hotel. Alex is torn between preparing the alleged victim to testify - and a murder case too close to home. When a second body is found - in Brooklyn - with Luc's matchbox, Alex fears that the two cases are connected...and that uncovering the secrets of the city's most powerful could cost her and her loved ones everything they hold dear.