C lear and Present Danger focuses on the terrible problems created by the transportation and sale of illegal drugs to the United States. Although there are frequent references to the evils done to America's citizens by drugs — its young people in particular — the novel focuses primarily on the evils of rape, murder, torture, and theft committed by leaders of the Colombian drug cartel and their followers. Of Clancy's novels to date, Clear and Present Danger presents the most immediate portrait of cruelty and murder. Even Red Storm Rising's (1986) awful slaughter of thousands of soldiers and civilians has a detached air about it, with the killings seemingly abstract and remote. But Clear and Present Danger has several scenes of outright horror, and its detailed references to rape, torture, and murder vivify the vile natures of the drug smugglers. This is a tough look at the...