By Amelia Nielson-Stowell
Police officers killed four terrorists at the Provo Towne Centre, during a battle the FBI termed a 'bungled attack.'
Just kidding!
However, this fictional account can be found in Tom Clancy''s latest book, 'The Teeth of the Tiger.'
Clancy has previously targeted Mormons and their culture for an excerpt in his books.
Clancy has created minor fictional Mormon characters as a standard stock for his novels.
In 'Without Remorse,' a downed Mormon pilot is taken prisoner in Vietnam.
The 'Hunt for Red October' features a Navy Medical Captain who is a graduate of BYU and 'avoids everything with caffeine.'
A Mormon FBI agent in 'The Cardinal of the Kremlin' gets highly embarrassed when his job requires him to spy on a man and a woman in a bedroom setting.
An excerpt in 'Clear and Present Danger' reads, 'Jack looked out the window as they passed the Mormon temple, just outside the beltway near Connecticut Avenue. A decidedly odd-looking building, it had grandeur with its marble columns and gilt spires. The beliefs represented by that impressive structure seemed curious to Ryan, a lifelong Catholic, but the people who held them were honest and hardworking, and fiercely loyal to their country, because they believed in what America stood for.'
And those are just a few examples. But why Mormons?
'What Clancy does is he uses Mormons as a very easy way to convey a whole host of association,' said Michael Austin, Chair of the English and modern languages department at Shepherd College in West Virginia. 'He can say ''Mormon'' and people know that this person is a little uptight, very straight arrow, won''t drink, won''t smoke and probably a little nervous. That freezes him up so he won''t have to ... take time and narrative to develop the character.'
Austin, who bases a portion of his research on Mormon stereotypes in popular fiction, said Clancy is never critical of Mormons.
'I don''t find it very objectable; Clancy is just taking what the culture gives him,' he said. 'I don''t think he does it to be hostile, I think he does it to be lazy -- save time for more important characters. It tells you something about how Mormons are viewed in the culture.'
Yuya Ogawa, from Mesa, Ariz. and an international business major, said he has noticed Mormon characters in the Tom Clancy books he has read.
'The first time it was kind of shocking; I had to read it twice,' Ogawa said. 'He always makes the Mormon character perfect -- the good example. is placed opposite of the evil character. I think he respects Mormons by putting it in.'
Steve Mills, from Phoenix, Ariz. and a Spanish translation major, has been a Tom Clancy fan for six years.
'I think he''s come across Mormons in the past, and has respect for them ... he shows them in a good light,' Mills said.
Mills said he was excited when he saw a Mormon character in one of Clancy''s novels, because Clancy is such a prominent fiction writer.
'I''m excited because he''s thinking of us,' Mills said.
Clancy and his editor did not return contacts by the Daily Universe for comments.