Another for the first lines series. I've been adding some other series into my series reading quest. Right now I'm into Clear and Present Danger . . . Book 5 of the Clancy series. I have to admit, I love this book. I think I've read it four times. It's the quintessential techno-thriller if you ask me.
It stands up too. I'm reading it now, it's 2023, and it was written in 1989, and it still stands up and is relevant. 25 years later and it's still awesome!
The first line, in fact the first 30% of the book doesn't even (or hardly doesn't) mention the main character . . . Jack Ryan. I think it's silly they've re-titled these as "the Jack Ryan series." I think they're just perfect military techno-thrillers.
First line?
The room was still empty. The Oval Office is in the southeast corner of the White House West Wing.
Three doors lead into it, one from the office of the President's personal secretary, another from a small kitchen which leads in turn to the President's study, and a third into a corridor, directly opposite the entrance to the Roosevelt Room. The room itself is of only medium size for a senior executive, and visitors always remark afterward that it seemed smaller than they expected. The President's desk, set just in front of thick windows of bullet-resistant polycarbonate that distort the view of the White House lawn, is made from wood of HMS Resolute, a British ship that sank in American waters during the 1850's. Americans salvaged and returned it to the United Kingdom, and a grateful Queen Victoria ordered a desk made from its oaken timbers by way of official thanks. Made in an age when men were shorter than today, the desk was increased somewhat in height during the Reagan presidency. The President's desk was laden with folders and position papers capped with a printout of his appointment schedule, plus an intercom box, a conventional push-button multiline telephone, and another ordinary-looking but highly sophisticated secure instrument for sensitive conversations.
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