Do you really think most people who read Tom Clancy ever supposed it might come true? Do you suppose many people worry about getting stuck in the middle of a Bruce Willis movie? I think that's part of the reason this was such a shock when it happened - it was like something we would read or watch for entertainment, but real.
Having read
The Sum of All Fears" many times, I have been well aware that such things can and do happen. Informed fiction is just that, fiction based on a factual base.
If you want to have another book that bears reading, try Vector by Robin Cook, the whole anthrax thing is there. Warnings and novels about this have been around for years, but nobody cared about actual protection. MAY GOD BLESS AND PROTECT THIS HONORABLE REPUBLIC
Greg