Red Rabbit

Rating:
Summary: Clancy's Formula Getting Stale?
Review: Having read all of Clancy's previous Jack Ryan books, I was very disappointed in his latest effort. It stuck me that Clancy's formula is getting stale, he is getting lazy, or he finished writing this book in a hurry in order to meet a publishing deadline. The first 500 pages of this 600 page book resemble a typical Clancy effort with multiple plot lines and heavy detail. However, at about the 500 page mark it is as if Clancy decided he had to wrap this book up in a hurry. Anticipation and suspense disappear, and plot developments become predictable because of the known history about the attempt on Pope John Paul II's life. As a result, the story falls flat. Like many other authors that have sought to wring every possible story out of characters that have captured readers imaginations, Clancy's imagination seems to have reached the bottom of the barrel with Jack Ryan in Red Rabbit.

Rating:
Summary: Giant Yawn
Review: Just echoing the reviews before me, but this was a giant yawn and a waste of time. Clancy is the master of the techno-thriller. However, Red Rabbit is a spy "procedural" in the genre of John LeCarre, but Clancy ain't no LeCarre.
All the previous war, military, combat, technology, special forces emphasis covered up the fact that Clancy is a bore. Take away all that, as he's done in Red Rabbit, and you have nothing.

Rating:
Summary: Two words - nothing happens!
Review: A techno-thriller when the most exciting part is a shopping spree? C'mon Tom, it's dog-track time.
This is the one that killed the franchise for me. The last one had some action, at least, despite its obnoxiously racist tone.
This one has NOTHING going for it...

Rating:
Summary: Only for the money -----
Review: Tom Clancy was on the local TV station recently promoting a book signing. I was going to go, but after seeing this interview, I don't think I'll buy any of his books again. He was arrogant, insulting, and if you read between the lines, he now writes only for the money, he "doesn't like to write."

Rating:
Summary: A Hard One To Digest
Review: RED RABBIT, loosely based on real-world events, revisits Jack Ryan's early CIA days in London, prior to his meteoric rise within the government ranks. He is debriefing KGB defector Oleg Zaitzev, who reveals a high-level Soviet plot to assassinate the Pope. This revelation pits Ryan against political enemies and allies which test his fortitude and put the balance of world power at stake.

True to form, Clancy hands us heavy doses of technical information, evidence of his genius for laborious research. I found this "regurgitation of knowledge" a bit hard to digest, considering that the fast-paced dialogue and relentless action he is known for is all but devoid from this book.

RED RABBIT is a valuable source of information, but can prove to be a formidable challenge, even for the most die-hard Clancy fan. It tends to read more like a 618-page documentary rather than a work of fiction.

Rating:
Summary: TOM IS BACK
Review: Yeah, after going off into never land with Jack Ryan as president, Tom is finially back to writting about our favorite characters doing what they do best.

Definately a book that will keep you up late at night...:)

Rating:
Summary: Rabbit retread
Review: Tom Clancy needs a sabbatical - and a fresh idea. Fans of Jack Ryan might like this one, but only if they want to read for the umpteenth time about a broken back from a helicopter crash, fear of flying, and Dr. Catherine Ryan, M.D., FACS, and world's greatest wife.

Clancy has few original thoughts in this "retracing" of Jack Ryan's early years. Basing his story line on a long known theory about the Soviet and Bulgarian governments' involvement in the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, Clancy goes to even greater lengths than usual to stretch a 200 page story into about 650 pages. The story itself is predictable, as is the outcome of Mary Pat and Ed Foley's extraction of a KGB defector with critical information regarding the attempt on the Pope.

John LeCarre left George Smiley alone after three books. It is time for Clancy to move on to something more fresh and to a new character. Retire Mr. Clark, Domingo, the Foleys, and, yes, Jack Ryan, and come up with something relevant in these post-September 11 times.

Rating:
Summary: An unfortunate failure.
Review: This book could have been great: a young Jack Ryan, a historical basis, and a previously strong cast of characters. Alas, this book falls flat.

Clancy repeats himself over and over, ad nauseum: Russians like children, but don't smile; Brits and Americans have honor, the Russians have stupid patriotism; Little girls give the best hugs; Russians like children, but don't smile. Blah, blah, blah.

For a former Marine, Jack Ryan is shown to be a surprising wimp, completely out of the character we've seen elsewhere.

The book is completely lacking in suspense and shouldn't be classified as a thriller.

Copyediting is decent, with only a dozen typos and a handful of incomprehensible sentences.

My recommendation: Buy and re-read another of the Ryan stories instead. This one only rehashes the existing characters and adds nothing but an embarrasing misstep for Clancy.

After Shadow Warriors, this book is Clancy's worst book to date. Let's hope it doesn't portend his future efforts.

Rating:
Summary: Tom, hire a dialog consultant
Review: I'm one of those Clancy devotees who has the new book finished the day it comes out, and then has to wait another two years or so for he next one. Jack Ryan, John Clark and the rest have become important to me within my literary interests, and with each new book in the series, it's always my fervent hope that Clancy will keep each character true to our perceptions of what they're been in the past, and what we think they should be in the future.
In this vein, Red Rabbit disappoints. Clancy's dialog has always been borderline ridiculous, but this has always been secondary to his amazing plot twists and fervent pride in being an American. In Red Rabbit, however, the lines spoken by Ryan and others are so stupid (for want of a better word), that I would go so far as to say I was annoyed in certain spots. Did Ryan have to end every sentence with "pal" or "guy" whenever he was speaking to an Englishman? In addition, it seemed that Clancy couldn't even send Ryan to the toilet without two pages of needless bathroom philosophy. Do normal people think back over their entire life's experiences with every action they take?
And what was the point of his commentary on England's socialized medicine? Did he really have to waste three pages on two physicians having a beer?
Clancy would have been better off giving the idea to an experienced screenwriter, and having the script sent right off to Ben Affleck, because it seems as though that were the purpose of this book.

Rating:
Summary: What Happened to the Real Jack Ryan?
Review: I've enjoyed all of Clancy's books and have read several more than once (Red October, Patriot Games, Clear & Present Danger.) This edition of Jack Ryan left me cold in a number of ways. I'd like to know who the whingy, whiny jerk is who professes to be Jack Ryan. It seems all he can do is bellyache about everyone's terrible (Except Cathy's) coffee and bland food. I almost put the book down for good near the end after reading the repetitive complaints about Taster's Choice coffee. Also, we know he doesn't like to fly, but for God's sake, do we have to hear about it endlessly? The Brits offered him a copter ride from Heathrow to Mildenhall and he had the audacity to refuse. He doesn't do choppers after his accident. What a sissy!

I have a copy I'll donate to someone with the patience to read this one and the cost of the hardbound is a gift, Mr. Clancy. Put another of these on the bookstand, & you'll lose my respect and my $$.