Red Rabbit

Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother!
Review: Five years ago, a book this size by Tom Clancy would have taken me about a week to rip through. Red Rabbit took me a month and a half. This is definitely not due to poor eyesight. Since Rainbow Six, Clancy's tales have fallen short, each one worse than the last. Red Rabbit reaches a new low. Only two characters hold any excitement, the CIA Station Chief in Moscow, and his wife, and even then this is a stretch. Think about trying to decide which of the rotten apples to eat, these two characters don't have too many worms.

I forced myself to finish it, as I wanted to give Clancy one last chance before his career is considered retired for me and my wallet. The story was weak, the characters were shallow, the ending was pathetic. Perhaps the most thrilling part of the story was glazed over in a couple of pages.

This is the last new Clancy book I'll ever read. He has utterly failed me and I have no interest in seeing what he can vomit up next.

Do yourself and your intelligence a favor, don't read Red Rabbit.

Rating:
Summary: so so
Review: Taking place 5 months after Patriot Games, Jack Ryan and his family have moved to England. His first day on the job over there as a CIA anayalist, he sees a letter from the pope and realizes there could be problems! And problems there is. The russians are not happy with the current pope and end up wanting to assinate him. Put in a soviet who actually has a conscience, decides to defect to the west. So he travels to Hungary, where he meets Mr Ryan and is flown to England where Jack gets all the info he needs and ends up flying to Itlay to try and prevent the pope from being killed. I will not say how it ends. If you know history, you have a good idea. Also this book shows the beginning dislike of Rob Ritter and Jack Ryan and is a prequel to Cardinal of the Kremlin in many ways. All in all, not bad, but could have been better.

Rating:
Summary: Still Good
Review: Although this Clancy novel is not as tense and exciting as
his usual top-notch work, it is still very good.
The book details much of the facts and action that preceded
one of the most inhumane acts of Communism, the attempt to kill
the Pope. The shooter was a Turk, sponsored by the Bulgarian
Secret Police, at the behest of the Soviet Union's KGB, and the
plan had been initiated by one of the top KGB killers, Andropov,
who became, of course, the Communist Party's First Secretary.
Anyone interested in the Cold War needs to acquaint themselves
with this extreme action by the Soviets, and the Clancy book
gives a lot of detail, enhanced by the author's knowledge and
understanding of the true character of that Cold War.
The future of all of us was at stake during those years, and
Clancy is one who fully understands and can explain that.
Yes, there is less "action" in this book, which takes place
in the early years of hero Jack Ryan's place on the international stage, but the workings of the CIA and the British
SIS are further explored to great satisfaction, and the reactions of our great conservative leaders, Reagan and Thacher,
form a good background to Western civilization's response to
the truly evil actions by the USSR.
Clancy does a good job of explaining and exploring the movements
of people in the Cold War, and his writing remains fascinating
and engaging. He understands that not every battle results in
a lot of lost blood, and we, as readers, may need to be reminded
of that. An engrossing exposition, well written.

Rating:
Summary: Clancy gets worse as he gets older
Review: Don't even bother with this attempt. The plot had no imagination and was completely predictable. The so-called "good guy" Jack Ryan was pathetic. Someone with his education and professional experience wouldn't drop the "F-bomb" every other sentence or whine like a baby.

In the last half of the book Clancy reminds us, at least every other page, that Ryan hates flying and that he is "no field spook". This was repetitious and very boring.

Over the last few of his books I've become use to his characters staring out of a window and thinking inconsequential thought for pages on end with no plot advancement but this book brought it to a new low. How sad.

Rating:
Summary: Not Clancy's finest hour.
Review: I have to admit, I wasn't looking foreward to reading the novel after all of the negative reviews on amazon.com, but it wasn't that bad. It's probably the worst book in the series, it moves rather slowly, and it wasn't really neccisary in the Jack Ryan timeline, but it was kind of interesting. If your bored or you have nothing to do, read the book. I won't read it again, this would probably the last book in the series that I would read twice (followed closely by THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON).

Rating:
Summary: Pretty disappointing, coming from the King
Review: I have been a long time Clancy fan. This book is a sleeper. In fact, I am at page 301 right now, and I cant even read any more. I skipped half the pages actually, and didnt regret it... I dont want page after page of ... dialogue that signifies nothing. I want some action. I want suspense. Heck, I would even settle for some drama,... or even humor ...

My advice is to go back and read Clancy's earlier books, and just skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Book But Not Clancy's Best
Review: "Red Rabbit" is a good, well-written book from Tom Clancy. The primary reason it does not quite live up to his earlier works is the plot, which deals with the real-life 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. The problem is, we already KNOW the pope did not die, so that takes a lot of the suspense out of it. Having said that, I will reiterate that this is a good book that I did enjoy reading; I just hope that Clancy shows a bit more originality in his next book.

Rating:
Summary: Red Rabbit
Review: What a disappointment! Tom Clancy must have written this book in his sleep -- and that is where it usually put me.
I had gotten away from his fiction after some of the mid-term efforts seemed to lose their edge. I thought I would give this one a chance hoping for a turnaround in the quality of the writing. Boy, was I wrong.
Please tell me Tom Clancy actually had a ghostwriter for this one. If this is his best effort at fiction, he needs to stick to his non-fiction books.
The dialog was atrocious, especially that between the American characters. As a person who seems fixated on getting the facts correct, Mr. Clancy really dropped the ball. For example, he keeps referring to the Baltimore Orioles World Series, but that was in 1983. Also, where were the editors? The main Soviet character has the rank of Major, but he is referred to as a Colonel and also as a Captain on more than one occasion by other Soviet characters -- they seem unable to recognize their own system of ranks.

Give yourself a break and skip this book. We can all hope for a better effort in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Boring!!!
Review: This was the most boring book written! Tom Clancy, known for his action and excitement, totally missed the mark in this long, dragging, uneventful, and uninspiring effort. A sure cure for insomnea!

Rating:
Summary: Well, Jack Ryan fans have to read it, newbies won't.
Review: I see the arrival of a new Clancy as a sign to take a holiday. I've read most of the Ryan-Clancy books on vacation, and therefore see all 600 odd pages in a couple of weeks.

So to 'Red Rabbit'. Clancy had made Ryan President and the real world of the early 2000's leaves him no room for 'Red October', 'Rainbow Six' or 'The Bear & The Dragon' type blockbusters. So back to the early 1980's - between 'Patriot Games' and 'Red October' on Ryan's timeline.

If you are into Jack Ryan you will read it but won't love it. There are many pages that are just repeated 'cut & paste' style a couple of hundred pages later. Deja vu is one thing but it happens too often. Being placed in our history, Ryan is showed to be a genius at predicting the future by investing $100,000 with a coffee startup called Starbucks. The plot - to stop the KGB shooting the Pope has a known end and therefore no surprises.

The characters need to be viewed from their position in their evolution. Jack & Cathy are in their early thirties and are
don't read right. It is supposed to be less then a year after 'Patriot Games' and their son is 9 months old but they do not sound like new parents. Cathy doesn't seem like the Mrs Dr Ryan we see in the later books and Jack seems more then a little insipid - occassionally you want to see some backbone and all you have is a wimpy Jack being told by the Brits how courageous he is for saving the Royals last year. Ed and Mary-Pat, newly installed in Moscow, don't seem to be super-spooks of Executive Orders.

It is a time period Clancy is more comfortable with - Reagan and Thatcher lead the free world against the Evil Empire of Brezhnev.

If you have read the rest of the Ryan story, you will read 'Red Rabbit' regardless of this review. Indeed you have probably already read it. If you are new to the Ryan story, start somewhere else - Patriot Games is probably a good place.