A floating natural gas facility in Lithuania is blown up. A Venezuelan prosecutor is assassinated. A devastating attack on a Russian troop train kills dozens. A chaotic world is the best camouflage for a series of seemingly unrelated attacks.
Only one man recognizes an ominous pattern in the reports of terror from around the globe. U.S. President Jack Ryan sees a guiding hand in the worldwide chaos.

Faced with collapsing energy prices the Russian economy depends on expansion abroad. But it's a strategy that has been, in the past, thwarted by the United States. And so now it seems the Russian Leader, fearful of losing his grip on power, is pursuing his ambitions more indirectly.

While Jack Ryan's intelligence agencies race to uncover the truth behind the attacks, the President struggles to unite a fractious and distrustful coalition of Western nations against the schemes of the Russian dictator.

With five thousand Russian troops poised to invade a NATO nation, can Jack Ryan move swiftly enough to stop Volodin's grand plan of global conflict and conquest? Or will he succeed in changing the balance of world power forever?