Red Storm Rising

Rating:
Summary: Clancy's Best
Review: Hunt for Red October was great, but I still think this is Clancy's best work to date. It's a huge novel, but a dramatic page turning great read! I re-read it at least once a year because it really is that good.

Rating:
Summary: A look back at my favorite book
Review: In 1996 I read this as a 7th grader, not really understanding what it meant, not really understanding the horror of war. I had to get books and read about all of the military policies and geopolitical intricacies of the USA-USSR and NATO-Warpac conflict (Commitment to Purpose by Kugler is a good companion book although nonfiction).

Like Elton John's masterpiece discovered at the same time, "Live in Australia," I turn to it again and again.
I have read this book about 20 times in the past 8 years.
Like the previous reviewers said, "It's almost like being there." Only Team Yankee, a more-in-depth look at the front lines, is an equivalent. The Third World War, August 1985, is more encompassing (A previous reviewer complained RSR didn't talk about the failed currencies and riots and hunger. TWW does that, and talks about the worldwide impact). Team Yankee is a microcosm of TWW. RSR seems more like a Larry Bond book, "Red Phoenix," a fictional tale of the 2nd Korean War (still likely today!)

Some of the fact changes in this book are marginal but not really crucial to the book's plot:
1) Aegis cruisers CG 47-51 carried 88 missiles in 2 racks of 44, not 96 as mentioned. VLS (122 missiles) came with CG 52 Bunker Hill and later. Remember, DDG 51 class hadn't been developed yet so Kidd DDG 996 was the most advanced destroyer at the time.
2) The M-1s mentioned had 105mm guns, although the A1 might not have been readied yet for CENTAG or NORTHAG by summer 1985.
3) MiG-29 Fulcrums died in mass amounts in the air battle over Iceland. Like a previous reviewer said, they were not easy kills like -21 Fishbeds.
4) Was the T-80 operational by summer 1985 anyway? I remember people telling me in ROTC (I am a college student) that the -64 was the main tank for a long time. -72s were acquired by Poland and Eastern Bloc countries and were made by a different manufacturer.
5) There is no definite statement that the 688 class subs were able to dive "only" to 950 feet. A submariner said the exact diving depth is classified. Although the Alfa did dive to 1900 ft or so...
6) The description of the FFG-7 class was very realistic, especially about the Mk 13 single-arm launcher. The book had a fictional "Seahawk-Foxtrot" model. Most of them were B models, and had 2 on board instead of one F, which was a prototype.

Interesting parts about the book. A lot of foreshadowing:
1) The activation of the Battleships to retake Iceland (BB-61, Iowa). This was repeated in the Persian Gulf War.
2) The launching of DOOLITTLE. Doolittle was the first operation that used Tomahawks to knock out airfields. Up until that point the Tom hadn't been used and the traditional way was to go in with a large strike force. The Soviets had obviously prepared for this, but not for cruise missiles. Again, this operation foreshadowed the Persian Gulf War. The loss of 7 airfields changed the whole war at that point.
3) The F-19 Dreamstar. I remember the glow-in-the-dark Testors frisbee-shaped aircraft with rounded ailerons at the leading and trailing edges. This was in reality, the F-117A stealth.
4) The use of mobility in FM-100.5 and AirLandBattle to beat the Sovs. Alekseyev talks about the mobility of the American forces, when he says, "...two men and a jeep (he used the American term for it) pop up fire and vanish...reappear again down the road and attack..."
5) The luck factor with NATO. Soviet insistence on using what they had, and not being adaptable. In the end of the book it mentions two Category-A units in South Ukraine. Luckily, for SACEUR, they aren't used and B-units are coming instead.
6) The goalkeeper (an Aegis cruiser). It would make more sense for the US to have TWO Aegis cruisers protecting Nimitz, not just one. Although at the time there were only 5 (Bunker Hill being commissioned 9-20-86).
7) The neat combat tactics. Blackout of EMCON and tricking the Bear into searching and having fighters knock him down before he alerted the Backfires. Also the hard astern, full steam splitting manuever by Battleaxe and Reuben James to draw missile bait away from the convoys.
8) The use of the VCR to track vehicle movement and positioning.
9) The final discovery from Toland from the downed MiG pilot. It's all about the oil.

The end of the book seemed forced. The Russians could have won had they used category-A units in Ukraine instead of CinC-West being stubborn and refusing to accede to Alekseyev and Sergetov's hints. That helped NATO immensely.

Betting Western Europe on a pair of fives was a risk, but somehow, SACEUR won yet again.









Rating:
Summary: Best "Cold War wit hRussia turns Hot"WW III Novel available
Review: This is classic Clancy at his best. Along with The Hunt for Red October, it stands as one of the best two novels he ever wrote in my opinion.

The details of the technology and the tactics associated with 1980's warfare, NATO angainst the WarSaw Pact are astounding. The action is almost non-stop, and the battle scenes riveting and captivating.

For anyone wanting to read a great war story that you can't put down, and who wants to see a foretaste of the "shock and awe" warfare practised by the Unites States today...but practised on both sides when the cold war was at its height...you simply have to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: a chilling war [no spoilers]
Review: Due to political reasons, the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic decides to initiate a bold offensive against NATO in the intense book titled "Red Storm Rising". A realistic scenario during the Cold War period unfolds with authentic technology and exceptional writing.

Throughout the novel, the reader follows key politicians while the military point of views include all aspects of the armed forces, from naval and air force crew to the foot soldiers. While the air and land combat scenes are powerful, the submarine warfare is the most detailed, reminiscent of Clancy's prior novel, "The Hunt for Red October".

Having a non-military background, it might be difficult to follow some military jargon and acronyms and a glossary for those unfamiliar with the terms would have been excellent. The ending of the book doesn't finish the war well, similar to a movie when the ramifications of crimes against humanity and how characters deal with the success and loss of battles are neglected for the sake of a clean and speedy conclusion.

Overall "Red Storm Rising" is an excellent Tom Clancy novel for any fan of the Cold War genre.

Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Clancy in his prime
Review: I'm just now wrapping up reading this book for the third time, and it's almost bittersweet to realize how good Clancy was, and how far he's fallen since his best source material, the Cold War, has ended.

I'll echo the comments about it being slow to start. You know the book is about a Soviet/NATO war, so getting through the reasons and build-up can be a bit tedious. Then the book is so long that I almost wished it would start wrapping up at the 2/3 mark. But the story itself is very compelling. In true Clancy fashion, you follow the paths of several characters which sometimes cross or affect each other in powerful or subtle ways.

Since it was written in 1986, it could have been easy for Clancy to portray all the Russians as evil and/or stupid, but with the exception of the leaders who plunge Europe into war, most of the Russian characters are given sympathetic personalities and are just as intellegent and human as their NATO counterparts. A balanced viewpoint that Clancy has seemingly forgotten how to write lately.

The book does suffer a bit from being written nearly 20 years ago. It depends significantly on describing the "gee wiz" technology being used, much of which is now antique in the high-tech world. So I would occasionally chuckle at some of the descriptions that were meant to be awe-inspiring (like the fact that a sub was transmitting data at half the speed of a 56k modem!!!). I also thought it suffered from the strange problem that, while it has a rather large (and sometimes confusingly so) cast (4 primary Americans, 1 Russian, and probably 2 dozen minor characters), the conflict sometimes seemed more about the equipment rather than the people. Perhaps this was due to the fact that, besides the small party in Iceland, the land war is told from either the perspective of the tanks/APC's or command posts. There's very little written about the tens if not hundreds of thousands of infantry engaged in the war.

Still, this is an exceptional book, and an example of Clancy at his sharpest. If only he could still write about characters who are believable instead of the squeaky clean heros that whine nonstop and pure evil villans that do nothing but plot America's downfall.

Rating:
Summary: World War III minus the Nukes...
Review: This Cold War thriller gets off to a slow start, but it's entirely worth the wait. The action heats up about 100 pages in, and never lets up after that. Middle Eastern terrorists sabotage the USSR's most productive oil fields, leaving the paranoid Soviet Politburo without the fuel needed to run their military and industry. In a few months, when their stockpiles of oil begin to run low, they will become vulnerable to attack. They decide to attack first, while they still have the fuel reserves to seize the upper hand. The Soviet military hits NATO head-on, and the result is a slugfest in the air, on the ground, and at sea. If you like military action, this book has got it in spades.
Red Storm Rising has gathered a lot of criticism from Armchair Generals, but I spent a decade and a half studying for, planning for, and training for war with the Soviet Navy, and I think Clancy did a better job with the subject than anyone else. In hindsight, his descriptions of stealth aircraft were a little off the mark, but he made a lot of pretty shrewd guesses about a branch of technology that was still completely under wraps when he wrote the book. Slow start and minor errors aside, Red Storm is a page-turner.

Jeff Edwards, Author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"

Rating:
Summary: Red Storm Rising
Review: This book while lengthy is very well organized in the multiple plot lines. There is humor and suspense at every turn. The novel is based on the US Dept. of Defense analysis of the invasion of the Western part of Europe by the Soviet Union. This was a real assessment that was turned into a book. "Red Storm Rising" is Clancy's finest non-Ryan work. This book really doesn't fit with any other of his books so there is no need to worry the order to read this book. Some may not like the length; it is not quick read, but it will keep you interested throughout. I had a hard time putting it down even when I was dead tired and my eyes hurt. This work is fabulous and very realistic for the time period (early to mid 1980's).

Rating:
Summary: Chilling Look at Terrorism, Its Aftermath: Our Future WWIII
Review: This is the second book written by Tom Clancy which establishes him as a powerful storyteller, a global tactician of power politics and of military technology. Did he have a crystal ball with which to read the future? It seems he zoned in on the possible effects of Muslim terrorism *way* before the "real world" woke up to the truth ...

An Ajzerbaijani Muslim student received special treatment at the Moscow University for his loyalty due to his good standing in the Communist Party. After 15 years in the Party, he attained the respect of his comrades, a good salary, an automobile and an above average position in his chosen field of study ... but beneath the suface ... he was seathing with anger ... plotting revenge on the very people who provided him the opportunities for success. He blew up the largest oil producing field in the Soviet Union ... crippling the Soviet economy. The Politburo met to deal with the consequences - the possible collapse of the Soviet Union. US satellite intelligence picked up the seismic event and discovered the oil field was destroyed. Another noteworthy discovery was: a shortage of car and truck batteries. At the same time, the Soviets were engaging in Peace Talks in Vienna, Austria. The Foreign Minister gave a press conference where he spoke of "deeds not words" as he described the Soviet's committment to reduce and destroy nuclear weapons. This included a deadline of three years and site verification. Plus the Soviets
proposed all signatories, USA, France, China, and the UK join in the negotiations. The "maskirovka 1" by the KGB had begun (masquerade 1). Another suspicious intelligence discovery made by the USA was four colonels in the Soviet Army were executed for falsifying "readiness" reports. Not long afterwards, an unusual bombing incident occcured in the Kremlin, exactly before the Politburo was to meet. Innocent children died ... the incident was attributed to terrorists, in an odd twist of fate a CNN cameraman caught the explosion on film, right when it happened. Also, US intelligence gathered information showing the Soviet submarines were maneuvering ... allegedly practicing tactics. The combined findings of these intelligence reports could lead to no other conclusion but the invevitable: the Soviet Union was planning World War III. The reasons were self-evident ... they faced economic disaster by losing their fundamental source of energy, their largest oil field.

In this novel, Clancy keeps the reader spell-bound, hanging on every word, wanting to know what happens next. There are three major battlefields: on land in Germany, in submarines under the ocean near Norway, and in the air in Iceland, which becomes the homebase of the Soviet Airforce. It is an exciting experience reading about the events and outcomes of the different battlefields in a fictional World War III. The scenarios are highly probable. The characters are realistic and very human. Most intriguing is the weatherman, a survivor of the battle for the US airfield in Keflavik, who becomes a guerrila soldier in the mountains of the region, providing very significant information via a radio on untraceable frequencies to intelligence operatives based in Scotlan. This is the quintessential "best" of Tom Clancy's novels. It is a most highly recommended contemporary novel. Erika Borsos (erikab93)

Rating:
Summary: A bit dated, still a great read
Review: "Red Storm Rising" and "The Hunt for Red October" are Tom Clancy's first two novels. They established Tom Clancy as a great writer. "Red Storm Rising" was published back in 1983, over twenty years ago, and so it is a bit dated, for example there is no longer a USSR. But the story is very well written, and very entertaining.

The book is long, over 700 pages, but it is packed with details. There is no fluff. Every page has a ton of information and action. Tom Clancy has done his research.

The basic story is what might happen during World War III. The story is told from several points of view, so we get to see what is happening on the ground through the eyes a tank commander. We get to see parts of the naval battles through the captain of a ship. In the depths of the sea we see sub fights. In the outback in Iceland we watch one of our heroes hide out from the Russians, and provide headquarters with intelligence about what is going on in Iceland. We also get to listen in as the leaders of the war efforts, on both sides, make decisions and analyze what is going on.

This is one of Tom Clancy's best. It is well written. It is hard to put down. If you have enjoyed any of Tom Clancy's novels, then you'll enjoy this one. If you like military fiction, but haven't read any Tom Clancy novels, this is a good one start with.

Rating:
Summary: World War III as a Giant Game of RISK
Review: This novel is really a war game that focuses only on the military side of a possible WWIII scenario. What's missing are the facts of a third world war: the collapsing world economies, the broken alliances, the failed currencies, the disrupted food delivery systems, the millions of refugees in Europe, the panic in the streets, the police crackdowns, the political chaos at home and abroad. Presidents aren't mentioned; diplomatic efforts aren't mentioned. It's all rather clinical. Ships are blown up, planes are hidden behind interesting displays of chaff, subs sneak around each other, and all the characters speak the same, act the same and are one-hundred percent military (except for the occasional Soviet rapist). In this novel, China doesn't take advantage of the situation to invade Taiwan or Japan and absolutely no one thinks of the nuclear option. The Azerbijani terrorists who started the war (out of a private spat with the Soviets in their region) are never mentioned, nor are any of the other Soviet satellite countries, most of which are Islamic republics and, as it turned out, absolutely hated the Soviets. They aren't given any further role in this novel. Clancy gets all the gizmos and hardware right, with some nice surprises. But I felt Clancy wasted a good opportunity to examine the horrors of war, REAL war, and instead focused on the sexy hardware and what it might do if turned loose on the Soviets. This novel read like a giant game of RISK and seemed oddly bloodless by the end.