The Hunt for Red October

Rating:
Summary: He's the Man for His Time and Place
Review: Clancy's first and most famous novel is a classic. And I don't mean that in a nice way. The story displays complete ignorance of Russian military culture; the dialogue is unworthy of cartoon characters; the "action" is a far-fetched excuse for long pedantic discourses on weaponry lifted from the pages of Jane's and Aviation Week; and the author is a draftdodging hypocrite rightwinger who somehow elected not to fight in Vietnam and spent the rest of his life becoming enormously rich lecturing fellow cowards on the wonders of modern warfare. In short, it's the perfect book for the American electorate. You go girls!

Rating:
Summary: One of his Best
Review: For my money this is by far the best book on the market to deal with this topic. This is probably one of the best books he has put out in my opinion. The story is really good, he keeps it moving and it is really engrossing. The characters come to life and you can really see the environment with his skillful writing. This book is defiantly worth the time to read it, once you start you will not want to stop.

Rating:
Summary: ....shows why Clancy remains on top
Review: During one of the heights of the cold war (specifically, a week or so before Christmas during what must be Reagans 2nd term) the Soviet Union launches its newest strategic weapon - a nuclear missile carrying submarine (or SSBN) larger and more powerful than any ever built. While many navies have subs, the Russian's "Red October" adds a new wrinkle - though larger than many large warships, it can't be detected by conventional sensor technology of any country. Her captain, Marko Ramius, is a diehard Soviet, the son of another diehard soviet, and the most formidable naval tactician in any navy. But he's got a plan - conspire with most of the ship's executive officers (excluding the hated "zampolit" or political officer, and the ship's doctor who is "useless") and sail for the west and for freedom against the soviet empire that he holds responsible for his dead wife and cursed life. He goads his former superiors, telling them of his plans (though fudging the details), causing the Russians to send every ship they have to sea. The Russian mobilization triggers an American response, and soon there are enough warships in the Atlantic to allow a man to walk from Norfolk to Ireland without getting his feet wet. The Russians aren't forthcoming but the Americans, knowing of the missing sub, can't take the chance that Ramius hasn't gone rogue with plans to lob his missiles directly at Washington. Only CIA freelance analyst Jack Ryan, is convinced of Ramius's intention to defect. From Washington to the mid-Atlantic, Ryan tracks the rogue Russian. Coming from the other direction is Tupolev, captain of a Russian attack sub, an Alfa-class boat faster than anything else in the sea. Worse, a saboteur is loose aboard the Red October, apparently aware of Ramius's plans, and determined to do keep the ship from making it to the west.

This first Tom Clancy novel had me looking for years for another one anywhere near as good. (Only "Kill the Potemkin" matched it, and on a lesser scale). Most books were satisfied to follow the treads of "October" without offering anything new. Clancy fleshes out the now familiar lore of the naval technothriller - craven "political officers", "Crazy Ivan" and "cavitation" - that other books just mention. Though Clancy essentially invented the genre, few others have learned the valuable lessons of this book. The hero here is a bright and successful guy, but Clancy makes it clear how out of his element Ryan really is (he's no submarine commander, he fears heights and doesn't know what cavitation means; when Ryan finally meets Ramius, the Russian puts down one of his recent books). Clancy also lards it up on details, but puts a fair amount of flesh on them as well - a Russian fighter pilot resentful of the Americans for their backing of Afghan freedom fighters (boy is this book old), an American watch officer who barely survived cancer - and knows how to draw the line between the back- and foreground. He also spices things up with incidents between the Russian and Yankee fleets (a dogfight between an F-14 and a Yak "Forger") and a meltdown on a Russian sub, details jettisoned from the movie but which work here. Even the double climax of the film occur as separate incidents (the gunfight in the October's missile room, and the submarine dogfight with Tupolev, but it all works. Just about every technothriller author since 1984 has either been called the "new Tom Clancy" or used his name on their jacket-blurbs - all without any of them ever really replacing his name for their own. This book is the reason why.

Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to the Jack Ryan universe
Review: I've enjoyed reading Tom Clancy for years. I have red this story at least 3-4 times. It can be a little techinical for some people, but the story is great. I've reccomended this to many of my friends.

Rating:
Summary: Clancy, this is a little Confusing...
Review: A review by Philippe
This story is about a submarine called the Red October where the crew and their captain were assigned a mission to escort it to East Side Bay. It uses the technology of a silent propulsion system that's so quiet that the Soviet Fleet or the United States wouldn't be able to detect Red October. Captain Jones wanted to have a certain assistant chief who thinks he knows the nature of the Red Fleet operation. So, recruit one of the best C.I.A agents and end up with a veteran name Jack Ryan, who has is known for his performance in other Tom Clancy novels like Patriot Games. After Ryan's training, he's finally ready to embark on a dangerous mission, which you must figure out yourself.

I can't believe how confusing this book was to me. There were characters that enter the story from left to right. But of course, there are always the main characters that are known best. Personally, I liked Jack Ryan because of his commanding skills that showed how intelligent he was. For example, during a battle he already knew the enemy's tactics already that's explained in good detail. "We cannot run from him- he is faster. We hide- his sonar is better. He will move east, use his speed to contain us and his sonar to contain us and his sonar to locate us. By moving west, we have the best chance to escape. This he will not expect." I liked the way he could tell what to do before the enemy attempts their strike. But the language in this story is a little complicated, using unfamiliar words or names like pessimistic, Shabilikov or interdiction. The language also had a little bit of profanity, which is usually Tom Clancy's style that he uses in other books that he writes. Some of it was easy to follow and some sentences felt long to read. I felt this book dragged its story a little too long. It had some information that was quite confusing to me and almost threw me off. This book should have cut to the action and the important parts instead of a long briefing or how the story changes from one place to another. But I felt the story should have continued because the end felt dull when they said that Jack Ryan fell asleep on an airplane for the first time. SO WHAT! At least they could say more on what Jack will do next.

I would recommend this story to either adults or advanced readers who can understand concepts of submarine battles. It's a good book in all but should be carefully read to understand the story.

Rating:
Summary: The Hunt for Red Cherries
Review: OK, George W. Bush is president of the US of A. That's fine. But Mr. Alec Baldwin promised to move to Canada if Bush won. Baldwin has yet to move his ever-growing rear to Winnipeg. I suggest that you refrain from buying this book or the movie, starring Alec Baldwin as Admiral Smirnoff, until Alec moves to the Great White North. Speaking of which, a war between Canada and the US would be a great idea for Clancy's newest book; unless he is too busy briefing Regan (Ray-gun) about US military capability.

"We can destroy them, Mr. President!"
"What?"
"Mr. President, we have big bombs!"
"Who are you?"
"Tom Clancy, Mr. President!"
"Get out of the White House, mister!"
"This is your ranch in California, Mr. President!"
"I want more Jello(tm)! Nancy!"

Rating:
Summary: Taut, well-told story of cold war drama and intrigue
Review: This is the book that introduced me to Jack Ryan, Tom Clancy's pre-eminent hero of such political action stories as Patriot Games, A Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears. I guess if this book wasn't such a fantastic novel, I probably wouldn't have read any of his other stories. But this book truly has it all, and I'm thankful that it introduced me to the Jack Ryan saga.

This book starts out in a menacing-enough fashhion, with the launch of Russia's most powerful new nuclear submarine, the Red October. The captain is one of the USSR's greatest war heroes, Marko Ramius. His mission is to test out new stealth technology intended to confound the Americans, and help win the Cold War.

Arrayed against Ramius and his crew is Jack Ryan and quite a large cast of military personnel (my favorite is the sonar operator known as Jonesy). What follows is a cat and mouse game that's as good as any I've read. The Americans must find out what the Red October is up to, while Ramius is playing a deadly game with both the American navy and his own government.

Ramius's goal is to defect to the West, and hand over the contents of the Red October while not letting his crew know what's happened. It's up to Jack Ryan to determine what Ramius's intentions are before war is declared. Then, it also falls on his shoulders to find a way to get Ramius and the Red October to safety without the Russians finding out.

This is one of those 'edge of your seat' novels that literally keeps you up all night reading to find out what happens next. It's not too long (like some of Clancy's later books become), and it has some very nice descriptions of military hardware and tactics being used by both sides today. His research is impeccable, and his story is fantastic.

This book has been turned into a movie with Alec Baldwin starring as Jack Ryan and Sean Connery as Marko Ramius. While most people see Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan these days (even though A Clear and Present Danger was, in my opinion, a truly awful movie when compared to Clancy's fine book), I thought Alec Baldwin did a good job, and that this was one of the most faithful movie adaptations of Clancy's books so far (we'll see what happens with The Sum of All Fears...).

If high-tech military action and suspense are appealing to you, and somehow you still haven't read this book, do so immediately. It's one of the best by Tom Clancy, and Tom Clancy is the Stephen King of great military fiction.

Rating:
Summary: A Mind-Crushing Bore
Review: It's pretty hard to make a movie better than the book, but therein lies the problem with Clancy's The Hunt for Red October: he's a genius at laying out a plot, but then he makes the mistake of writing the story.

The Hunt for Red October reads more like a dry government report than a thriller. Characters are cardboard vehicles of the action, nothing more. Clancy gets lost in describing the forensic details of every machine the characters go near, from fuel capacity to maximum range, regardless of whether they're relevant to the story. It's hard to bore me with a tale of espionage, international intrigue, and military adventure, but Clancy has done it. See the movie instead (rare advice). It has the depth and flow that the book lacks.

Rating:
Summary: Detailed, yet appropriately so...
Review: "Hunt For Red October" is a great thriller, which allows its readers to understand, in detail, the complex workings of various political and military bodies. Though the book's primary focus is on the events concerning 'The Red October', Clancy does not fail to outline the surrounding elements; given that the writing gets very detailed, this is only because the bodies cited in the book have a very complex make-up. Anyone complaining about the detail given in the book should perhaps try reading the "Goosebumps" serious for a less thought-provoking thriller.

Rating:
Summary: Underwater and under control
Review: That is what this books shows you. How captains of submarines use the state of the art in technology and tactics to seek and destroy each other. This book was slighly differnt from the film, as are all the Clancy books I have read to date. It certainly will not disappoint, and it reveals the depth of some of our military's unsung heroes.