Debt of Honor
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Debt of Honor (1994) is a novel by Tom Clancy. It is a continuation of the series featuring his character "Jack Ryan". In this installment, Ryan has become the National Security Advisor when the Japanese government (controlled by a group of corporate tycoons, called the Zaibatsu) goes to war with the United States. In an attempt to cripple the U.S. Navy (as part of a grand plan involving China and India to radically alter the global power balance), the Japanese attack American submarines and ships and occupy the Mariana Islands. Simultaneously, the Japanese cabal engineers the collapse of the American stock market. Thus, America is both economically and militarily at a disadvantage, which Japan hopes to exploit.
America's reaction is swift and deadly, and at the end of the novel the status quo ante is restored.
After the real-life September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, the book will be largely be remembered for its disturbingly prophetic conclusion, in which an embittered Japanese airline pilot crashes his Boeing 747 into the U.S. Capitol building during a joint session of Congress with the President attending. He does this to avenge the deaths of his family members during the war. This paves the way for Ryan, who has just been appointed Vice President, to become President in the next book, Executive Orders.