Rating: 
Summary: Clearly the weakest Tom Clancy yet
Review: This typically thick Clancy volume rates better than any of the series novels, but is clearly the weakest novel that he has produced. Historically, it is disjointed and facts were not researched to agree with actual events. The book mentions an operation plan approved in August 1982 to assassinate Pope John Paul through Bulgarian and Turkish sources. Historically, the Pope was actually shot by a Turkish national in May of 1981 a full year before the fiction depicted in this latest novel. Clancy also intersperses the book throughout with baseball references, particularly the Baltimore Orioles and their World Series win over the Phillies that actually happened in 1983, but was going on right along with the plot of the book. So, you have a timeline in the book that is proceeding along in a plot that lasts over a few months, but actually occurred in three separate years. This was distracting to me as a reader that enjoyed Clancy's clarity and foresight in previous novels. Perhaps his hindsight and desire to float this novel throughout with 1980's references needs a little work as I am aware he is working on other prequel-type novels for future publication.Finally, I did enjoy the development of the Foley husband-and-wife CIA-team characters that have appeared in previous novels and overall I still liked this book. But, it was NOT a page turner like other of his novels and I hope that better effort will be made in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Tom Clancy on autopilot
Review: Chronologically, the events in Red Rabbit take place immediately prior to those in the Hunt for Red October, the first book of the Jack Ryan series that Tom Clancy wrote, but there's a world of difference between the gut feeling Red Rabbit conveys to the reader and that which was felt in Red October. In Red October, you clearly felt Clancy had a story he wanted to tell; a compelling story filled with intrigue and pizazz. In contrast, Red Rabbit feels like Clancy is merely punching the clock on his job as the preeminent techno-thriller author. There's nothing terribly wrong with Red Rabbit, and in fact if this is the first time you've read any of the Jack Ryan books you might find it very enjoyable, but compared to some of his other books (notably Red October) the events that unfold are neither exciting or suspenseful. Clancy doesn't make the atrocious sin of assuming the reader is already familiar with his characters, but what he does to describe each person's motives and personality is depressingly similar to what he says in all the other books. Prepare to be bored. Jack Ryan is particularly wasted in this book. Contrary to another review I read he's not truly relegated to bit player status since much of the book is told from his perspective, but the fact is that Clancy doesn't give him anything interesting to do, and that's really a change from the way his character is used in the other books. For me the elements of the book that were worthwhile were the KGB planning stages of the assassination plot and the actual execution of it. The bulk of the book however, concerns the defection of the "Red Rabbit", and to me it's a meandering process that was told much better in Red October and Cardinal of the Kremlin. True to Clancy form you'll have to read practically 90% of the book before you get to the big payoff, and since the biggest payoff is already historically documented the only unique payoff in the book is sharing the defection experience, and as I said even that isn't as well done as in Red October or Cardinal of the Kremlin. And now for my personal rant: Count for yourself the number of times the phrase "And that was that" is used. That may be a petty complaint, but it became an aggravating running joke for me. It's gotta be used at least 30 times or more in the book and is a way for Clancy to muse about character possibilities and motives and then to tritely dismiss them. I swear that you can actually see Clancy holding this phrase in hand, just waiting to be bored with his own writing so that he can drop it into place and thus conclude a tedious passage. On the flipside the book IS remarkably focused on the core story. There aren't a bazillion subplots to keep track of or interfere with the main plot, although he does lose it for a bit and indulges in some distracting jabs at the English medical system. My advice? Read the book, but pick it up at your local library.
Rating:
Summary: Red Rabbit
Review: Clancy is quickly slipping off my list of must read authors. Most of his books start out slowly and eventually pick up the pace. This book never picked up the pace. Character dialouge was painfully stilted. Finally, both Clancy and his editor need to do better research. The assassination attempt of John Paul occurred in 1981. On at least two occasions in the book the intelligence sharing between the US and Great Britian that occurred during the Falklands War was mentioned: small problem, that conflict occured in 1982!
Rating:
Summary: Note to Tom Clancy- get a better editor!
Review: Until recently, I read every Tom Clancy book. However,each new book got bigger and bigger and bigger, without much plotting to fill out the pages.
I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this story. Unfortunatly, it's too long and wordy, and the women are too perfect. If only this book had been about 200 pages shorter!
Jack Ryan get's his first taste as a real live CIA agent. The details on the Soviets are delicious fun. A better editor and this would have been fabulous!
Rating: 
Summary: Oh Dear!!
Review: Oh, Tom!
I have read all of your Ryan books and have enormous admiration for the way you weave multiple threads and characters into a coherent, highly readable and immensely enjoyable whole.
I could not understand it when you teamed up with another "co-writer" and produced, in my estimation, very inferior stories: after all, I'm sure you no longer needed the money.
Still - I thought - Red Rabbit, written solo, will return to your best storytelling...........
WRONG!
Red Rabbit is pedestrian, almost completely lacking in believable multiple plot-lines and with so little real interest that for the first time I had to force myself to read something that you have written. Where you have excelled in the past in bringing together many differing events to a satisfying conclusion, I'm afraid to say that this is at the same level as so many other, second rate, efforts.
Do try again!
Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment
Review: After waiting that long for something better than "Net-Force" Clancy fell down. Clancy's usual strength, the underlying plot, was dated, rehashed, and weak; and the meaningless rambling jingoistic "good-guy-American" character thoughts/editorials became incredibly annoying. For the first time ever with Clancy, I scanned many pages just to be able to get through it. Glad I waited for it to come into the library...
Rating:
Summary: Just awful
Review: This one reads like a Rush Limbaugh tribute to Ronald Reagan. Clancy seems to have adopted the "Great Communicator" as some sort of real politician and stops at nothing to hand out accolades to Ronnie and the Right. We don't pay the big bucks to hear your strange personal political agenda Mr. Clancy. Stick to what you do best and skip the pandering to the right wing. In the future I will study several pages before purchasing this kind of drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy
Review: Up to page 173 so far after 2 months picking it up and letting it down. Too slow and full of minutiae that was OK 10/15 years ago but is now well documented and passe. Does not seem to be written by Clancy. Maybe if I have the patience I will get to the ending!!
A slow read.
Rating:
Summary: Red Rabbit
Review: I have read most of Tom Clancy's novels and for some reason found this one to be one of the most boring of all of them. While Clancy can still put scenes together and craft some excellent dialogues, the suspense and intrigue wee old hat stuff. Pick it up Tom!
Rating:
Summary: Clancy- not bad, could be better
Review: Red Rabbit, by Tom Clancy, is based during the cold war and on an assassination attempt on the pope. This is his 10th novel featuring Jack Ryan, the young CIA analyst in Clancy's 1984 debut, The Hunt for Red October. Clancy has been writing for over fifteen years and prefers to write historical fiction techno thrillers. For all of the hype though, this book is nothing like his past books.
The plot of this story is very straightforward. It is 1981, and the KGB is planning to murder the pope. This plan enrages a communications officer so much that he decides to defect to warn the west about the plan. Meanwhile, Jack Ryan has moved from Washington D.C. to London so he can be a liaison between CIA and MI6. He does not know just how important he will be to this defection.
One reason for the dullness of this novel by Clancy is the slow moving, boring plot. To be concise, the KGB wants to kill the pope, a communications specialist turns traitor, and Jack Ryan moves into a new house. This plot is so simple; it bores many diehard Clancy fans that are used to action, suspense, and danger. This story has over four hundred pages of fluff and only about one hundred that actually pertain to the outcome. One example of the fluff is Clancy's illustrations of a character's thoughts for three or for pages at a time. This leads to a very slow moving plot and a lot of fluff.
Although Clancy screwed up on the plot, he did an exceptional job of characterization. He is able to describe each character in a livid and interesting way that allows you to become that character. One way that Clancy did this was by illustrating the thoughts of the characters. This shows us how the characters feel and what they believe. One character in particular that Clancy did a brilliant job of characterization on was Zaitzev, the defecting KGB communications technician. Through his characterization, we were able to learn what Zaitzev thought about other people his worries and anxieties, and his intelligence.
In conclusion, Clancy did an okay job on Red Rabbit, but it could have been better. Clancy did not do a good job on plot, but he did a stellar job on characterization. If you are still going to read this book, wait until it is in paperback or at your local library.
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