Rating: 
Summary: A Quiet Thriller that Was a Joy to Read
Review: I really don't know what book the naysayers read--they sure didn't read "Red Rabbit." This book explains Jack Ryan's phenominal rise through the Agency, and Mary Pat and Ed Foley's incredible service reputation and phenaminal record. It's about time Clancy gave the Foley's the backstory they so richly deserve. Now can we get one for Dan Murray?
Rating: 
Summary: YAWN!!!
Review: Let me begin by stating that Tom Clancy was one of my favorite novelists, however he remains a casulty of the breakup of the Soviet Union. He hasn't really written a decent book since and this is a pathetic attempt to regain some of the past glory of his brilliant stories before the collapse of the Soviet Union.This book contains no suspense at all. The characters do not encounter any difficulties with anything they attempt, which would remain a problem even if this book was a third the length. And you could easily chop two thirds of this novel by freeing us from having to endure endless and repetitive information regarding the saintly qualities of all of the lead characters. Did I mention the repetitive nature of this information? Did I mention the repetitive nature of this information? Did I mention the repetitive nature of this information? By far the worst Tom Clancy novel ever and right up there as one of the worst novels ever written. Signed,
A very disappointed fan
Rating:
Summary: YAWN!!!
Review: Let me begin by stating that Tom Clancy was one of my favorite novelists, however he remains a casulty of the breakup of the Soviet Union. He hasn't really written a decent book since and this is a [bad] attempt to regain some of the past glory of his brilliant stories before the collapse of the Soviet Union. This book contains no suspense at all. The characters do not encounter any difficulties with anything they attempt, which would remain a problem even if this book was a third the length. And you could easily chop two thirds of this novel by freeing us from having to endure endless and repetitive information regarding the saintly qualities of all of the lead characters. Did I mention the repetitive nature of this information? Did I mention the repetitive nature of this information? Did I mention the repetitive nature of this information? By far the worst Tom Clancy novel ever and right up there as one of the worst novels ever written. Signed,
A very disappointed fan
Rating: 
Summary: Penance before redemption
Review: When you know the ultimate answer, did the pope survive an assassination attempt, before you begin, the writer needs to keep our attention. "The Day of the Jackal" accomplished this many years ago. This book isn't even close. Do we really need the personal political philosophies of every major character? Or the benefits of single faucet sinks? The last 100 pages is rewarding but not worth the effort of the first 500.
Rating:
Summary: Russophobic junk
Review: I am not Russian. I am a Ukrainian. Yet I can not stand the fact that Tom Clancy always relives the Cold War in his books. This guy must have a deep hatred for Russians. He always romanticizes and depicts the CIA in a heroic light. This is the CIA that is responsible for the deaths of millions of innocents of the world. He idolizes Reagan, the same man who supported fascist dictatorships in Central-South America and Asia. The same man who provided fuel for the Islamic extremism that propagated the demon known as bin Laden. And I should not even get started on Margaret Thatcher. Oh, by the way, this book is damn boring!
Rating:
Summary: A Poor Effort for a Great Author
Review: This book took almost half of it's length getting started. It was good when it finally got started but way too much of the book was quite dry. Unusual for Clancy. It's like Clancy was just trying to fill most of the pages. Glad I read it but it was not the book you'd expect from Clancy and I don't recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Red-Eyed from Crying
Review: Here's the thing. I love Clancy. Red October, Clear and Present, Sum, Remorse, you name 'em, I love 'em. Sure, they've gotten a bit weaker over the years, the last few actually melting into each other for me (though that may be because I'm getting older over the years). But this... Boring. Slow. Repetitive. Inane inner thoughts and conversations. The dialog has gone well into sappy soap-opera, with ridiculous and repetitive "pal's" and "man's" and "babe's" terminating nearly every quote. It makes me wince. I hope Clancy doesn't actually talk like this with his friends. Pal. There is also a suspension of disbelief that Clancy sufficiently maintained (in fact, this is his strong suit) in each of his previous novels... Here, the melding of fact with fiction, ultimately placing Ryan at the assasination attempt of the Pope in '81 (hoo boy -- took 600 pages for us to get to where I knew we were going!), just blows the whole deal. Slow. Boring. If you've read his other books, you've already gathered all of the interesting insights into the Politburo and the Russian mindset, the KGB, CIA... If Clancy didn't write this book, it would've been on the scrap heap.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: As this book was very long and very boring, I was waiting for a surprise at the end. But no, nothing... All what we know is that Ryan just hate to sleep far from his wife (it is explained at least five times in the book). People are waiting for other people and nothing happens. Many real stories are by far much more interesting than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Red Rabbit... unpublished if not written by Clancey
Review: KGB insider plans to defect and tell his secrets. The CIA brings him out according to plan. End of story. No suspense. No suprises. No action. Let me look again, maybe this was written by Tim Clancey, not the Tom Clancey that wrote Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising. I guess he had a contract to write another, and ran out of time. He also ran out of ideas, so he just rehashed all the cliches he invented for his previous books, redeveloped (not as well) all the characters he already invented, and left out the suspense that he couldn't figure out how to work in. I felt cheated. Of my money, but moreso of my time.
Rating:
Summary: Big, Red, and Long
Review: Tom Clancy knows his stuff. It may not always be the right stuff, but he doesn't have to rely on tricks and gimmicks while sacrificing plot and credibility to get a story across. And you do have to put up with his politics, but, hey, he is the author. "Red Rabbit" starts out ever so slowly but builds to a small crescendo. Students of history will enjoy the behind the scene nuggets that he works into the story. The basic plot involves a letter that Pope John Paul II purportedly writes in which he threatens to resign and return to Poland if the Soviet Union doesn't start to behave itself. This would make him a formidable foe to the Iron Curatin. In actuality, John Paul did write such a letter. At the heart of the conflict is a KGB courier with a heart of gold who is passing information from KGB Centre to Bulgaria as then-KGB boss Yuri Andropov sets in motion a plan to take care of this problem by assasinating the Pope. Zaitsev the message man doesn't believe that the Pope deserves to die and he makes a move towards the American COS in Moscow Ed Foley. Clancy brings back his usual suspects from the early Jack Ryan days. Admiral Greer is here, Bob Ritter, Moore, etc. But it is Ed and Mary Pat Foley who finally get their shot at a leading role. Actually, the parts of the book that involve Jack Ryan are the most superfluous and add unnecessarily to its length. No one cares how Jack's eggs benedict are or how he gets along with his wife and kids. While there is an interesting detour with Cathy Ryan where a couple of British surgeons leave a patient on the operating table to go grab a pint at lunch, but that really adds nothing to the story. Clancy could easily have cut 100 pages without blinking an eye. The book is peppered with real people, like Andropov, that add some credibility to the story, which is fiction just like "The Day of the Jackal", the book this one will inevitably be compared with. There is even a fictional person named Emma Thompson. But, it seems like Clancy occasionally is operating on automatic pilot. He refers to Czechoslavkia as a city and calls Yugoslavia the "Communist San Francisco". I bet Joseph Alioto would have loved that. When some of Zaitsev's information makes it to the British, one of them says, "He says the KGB is going to kill someone who doesn't deserve to die" and the operative immediately suggests the Pope. That's quite a reach, don't you think? As is Ryan and a British operative spotting one guy in a crowd of thousands, and Sir Jack still having time to sing the Marine's Hymn to himself. This book is a long one to get through, easily over written, in my opinion, as I said. But, it is a satisfying read on the subject. Still, the way it is put together - with an eye toward the eventual movie - it's as if Miramax, New Line Cinema, or Warner Brothers said to Clancy, "Look Tom, we have Ben under contract. Can you accommodate us with another young Jack Ryan story?"
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