Rating: 
Summary: Classic, and epitome of a sub book
Review: Clancy hit a home run into the upper deck with this novel and established a standard by which other submarine thrillers can be judged.
With a sympathetic, yet old man of the sea Russian captian, and a young, witty intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy...the plotline is exciting, captivating, at times humorous and very compelling. The technology, weaponry, operations and at sea experiences are very realistic and well researched.
The story line regarding the Russian's "losing" a high value submarine that is in actuality trying to defect, and the efforts by the Russians to contain it, and by the U.S. to figure out what is going on, could come off today's headlines.
If you haven't read this classic, pick it up and do so. You will not be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: The Book that Started it All
Review: As a fairly rabid Clancy fan, I like just about everything the man has written. This one is something special, though. Not only was it his first, but it still ranks among his best. Easily the best sea chase novel since 'Sink the Bismark,' Red October is one of the great cold war thrillers, if not the very best of the breed. At a time when most military writers were portraying Soviet adversaries as trigger-happy maniacs, Clancy gave us Captain Marko Ramius. A tactical genius and a master of submarine warfare, Ramius places sanity above national loyalty, and compassion above revenge. With the world creeping toward nuclear apocalypse, he must purchase peace at the cost of treason.
Jeff Edwards, Author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"
Rating:
Summary: long but worth it!
Review: this book takes a while to get its feet with some action on and off. But when it does it has one of the most incredible plots. though confusing at first it all comes together at the end into an incredible conclusion. this is the first time i've read a clancy book and definatly not the last.
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting but fundamentally flawed
Review: I don't want to trash a really good book, but one aspect of this book is really off the mark. Tom Clancy's research is legendary so I don't know how this got by him. Captain Marko Ramius is the Lithuanian-born commanding officer on the Soviet nuclear submarine Red October. That's the problem right there. The Soviets would never, ever, ever, ever, ever let a Lithuanian (even a half Lithuanian) be captian of anything....ever. It never happened, it never would. So that ruined the beginning of the book for me.
Rating: 
Summary: The Hunt For Red October
Review: I was really dissapointed in this book. It's the first and only book i've read by clancy. The book starts out ok during the first few pages, but after that it gets purely ridiculous. Page after page after page of technical information on nuclear submerines.
I've heard by a lot of people that this is his best book. If thats the case then his other books must be horrible. Nothing even remotely related to suspense or action occured during the first 300 pages of the book. Clancy just BSed his way through this. Then at the end, when their was some action it was hard to follow. Everybody saying- Comrade Captain, Alfa spotted at 2-3-7 at 7 knots reduce speed by 1/3! Aye,Aye, Captain. Speed reduced by 1/3.
BS like that. So I will try another one of his books to see if it's any good. But I would not recommend this book. Its a real turnoff.
Rating: 
Summary: Still, one of his best.
Review: A great novel that introduced us to Jack Ryan, and kicked off the techno-thriller novel. Captain Marko Ramius, commander of the Soviet missile submarine Red October, uses his vessel as a getaway vehicle to defect to the US, and only CIA analyst Jack Ryan can convince the West of his intentions. Meanwhile, the Soviet Navy is at sea, with orders to pursue and destroy Ramius. The main story is always tense, and exciting, and the characters are quite memorable. The book does have a number of flaws, aside from the already dated plot. Like many Clancy novels, British characters are stereotyped ("Jolly good"). There are also a number of inaccuracies like F-14s dropping balloons to decoy missiles. Some of the sub-plots can be distracting and often slow the pace down, but it always picks up again when it switches back to the main story. Still, it's a much simpler, and more accessible novel than some of Clancy's later flag-waving novels.
Rating:
Summary: Dull, dull, dull
Review: This has to be one of the most boring "thrillers" I have ever read. It starts out strong, but just when Clancy has succeeded in getting you interested, the book dramatically runs out of steam. The plot then becomes embroiled in a welter of names, details and acronyms-too much to keep up with. The hero, Jack Ryan, is completely abandoned while the author plows through labyrinthine policy meetings and technical descriptions that sound like regurgitations from a textbook. If the writing had even a bit of spark or flair, it might have redeemed the book, but Clancy's writing is flat and uninspired. Worse still, he attempts to conceal this by throwing vast amounts of information at his readers, in the hope that they will be sufficiently impressed to overlook his deficiencies as a writer.This is a perfect example of a great plot ruined by a terrible writer. Save your time and money; I'd vote for Frederick Forsyth as a far better representative of this genre.
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