Tom Clancy

The quintessential spy novelist, Tom Clancy is a legend among crime-fiction, thriller, and espionage writers alike. Born in 1947 just as tensions with the Soviet Union were heating up, Clancy centered many of his books on Cold War espionage. Born in Baltimore, Maryland Clancy graduated from Loyola College in Baltimore in 1969.

The best place to start is the Military Reference Non-Fiction series, the earliest of Tom Clancy's multi-book series: it opens with Submarine (1993) and runs to 8 books across 1993–2000, ending with Special Forces (2000). Tom Clancy's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Tom Clancy has 207 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1984 and 2027. 202 of them belong to 15 named series — the largest being the Jack Ryan, Jr. / Campus series with 23 books — and 5 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Tom Clancy's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Military Reference Non-Fiction (1993–2000, 8 books), Tom Clancy's Op-Center (1995–2023, 23 books) and Tom Clancy's Power Play (1997–2004, 8 books), plus 10 more.

This guide splits Tom Clancy's 207 books into 15 named series and 5 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Jack Ryan, Jr. / Campus (23 books, 2003–2027); Tom Clancy's Op-Center (23 books, 1995–2023); Tom Clancy's Net Force Explorers (19 books, 1998–2003); Tom Clancy's Net Force Relaunch (16 books, 1998–2022); Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (9 books, 2004–2023), plus 10 further series.