Rating: 
Summary: His best...
Review: This book, I found while readding it, is by far the best that Clancy has ever written. The story holds you in tight and refuses to let you go.
This book showed the height of the space race between the USSR and the USA during the cold war, and with Clancy's story-telling and attention to detail, the reader sees why we were so worried at that trivial time.
As with most of his fiction, this is a Jack Ryan/John Clark book (being the first for the latter).
The book takes place a year after the Hunt for Red OCtober as Ryan and Ramius watch the Russian submarine set to sea one last time. It continues with the top-secret developements of the Star Wars programs, spies with high level friends, old lies coming to light, and the ultimate task of rescuing the greatest spy the CIA has had placeds in the Soviet Government -- and that's just revealed in the first half, along with a great deal more.
I enjoyed two things with this book. First, it greatly tied in with previous novel in the series. Throuhgout the rest of the series, you get references to the past books, but The Cardnial of the Kremlin truly stays within the set universe of Ryan/Clark. I dealing with that, it was nice to see how Marko Ramius was doing in American since his defection in Red October.
The next thing I enjoyed was the humanity involved with this nvoel. You get to see what Russians thought about the US, as well as what they thought about Afganistan and the war there. It is truly astounding to see a war between Russians and Afgans (with American support to the latter) from three points of view, and still hold a common heart to all.
This was also the pivitol novel in which Clancy introduced us to John Clark and his brief time abourd the USS Dallas (yes people, Jonesy and Mancusco were in this book as well).
It was just nice to see how these epoeple all became connected or stayed connected, and for that reason with the others I have stated, it made this Clancy's best. A must read, especially if you wish to understand the majority of references and characters in the latter books. It is not as long as other Clancy novels (thankfully). It seemed to be the last book that Clancy wrote for fun, rather to make money, as this book is fun in the aspect you get all of Red October and more. A classic book, and the last one during the cold war (unless you count his prequels). Though it;s not as famous as his others, it is a great and I recommend it highly to anyone who enjoyed Red October.
Rating: 
Summary: Spy verses Spy
Review: The Russians have a missile defence system to rival Americas own. The Russians unknowingly trust CIA informant CARDINAL with the design. But the KGB find out and the race is on for Jack Ryan to get CARDINAL out in Tom Clancys brilliant book.
This is Clancy at his best and it is a must read for anyone, die-hard Clancy fan or not.
Rating: 
Summary: I found this book very dissappointing. Bummer.
Review: Ive read all of his other books up to this one, so i had very high expectations for this one. As i read through it, i kept waiting for the book to really get going, but it never did. I was lost in its complex storyline, and it was almost work to have to finish it. I would reccomend this book, but don't expect it to be as amazing as Clancy's others.
Rating:
Summary: Page-turner
Review: Cardinal of the Kremlin certainly keeps you interested the storyline. Even though it's fiction, and set in the Cold War days with the USSR, it helped me realize why Russia would be opposed to a defensive missile shield for the U.S. This is another book with Jack Ryan as a character, but he is only one of many in this book about spies. Clancy does well with a variety of plots and subplots and coordinates them to bring them together. Though it can be annoying to have him spend a paragraph or two on one part of the story then to have him leave it and not come back to it for a while, when I want to find out what's going to happen next. I guess that's why it's so hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, considering current world conditions
Review: This is the first Clancy book I've read but I really enjoyed it. The CARDINAL is a highly placed Soviet war hero who's been spying for America for 30 years. Then the line is broken and the Americans feel the need for loyalty to get him out. It's maybe not as action-packed as some of his other books, but the story was great and really made you empathize for the characters. I was also impressed at how "human" many of the characters become, and whether or not you agreed with their actions, you could usually understand them. It's also very interesting to read it now (2002), and reflect back on what the atmosphere was like when the Cold War was still going strong in the 80's, with the possibility (however real or not) of nuclear war. It also felt strange to think of the Afghans as "good guys" and the Russians as the "bad guys" given the current state of affairs.
Rating: 
Summary: This book was mildly amusing.......
Review: This was not the best Tom Clancy book I've read. But not the worst. It was mildly amusing. Less action then I expected. However when you finaly come to the action parts they are very good. All in all this was a okay book.
Rating:
Summary: The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Review: The Cardinal of the Kremlin written by Tom Clancy is a well written novel about the Cold War between and Soviet Union and the United States spy adventure. A Jack Ryan story that involves intrigue, suspense, and some pretty sophisticatedly intricate Star War defense (SDI) that the Soviets are working on.Jack Ryan is sent to get the Cardinal, the CIA's code name for Mikhail Filitov. Who is a war hero colonel in the Red Army turned CIA informant. Clancy sets this book up well with detail on the SDI and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Clancy weaves the fabric of the story into a fine tapestry making you believe the story to be real. This is a good spy story with a techno-thriller subplot action adventure as Clancy keeps the intrigue going till the end. Total engrossing the read with detail and finally finessing the plot to its predicted end. You will caught by Clancy's tale of "The Cardinal of the Kremlin" till the end. As Clacy adds detail to Jack Ryan a new CIA man, fleshing him out to a full fledged action hero. All in all, this was a fast and enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite Clancy so far
Review: This is the third Clancy book I have read, after Patriot Games and October. It also is my favorite. I loved the page-by-page action and, what Clancy does best, Suspense. I finished the 500+ page book in 4 days. This is a good starting point if you have noty read Clancy yet, an it is also a valuable link in the series. So far, Cardinal is one of the best all-around books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A bit off on some of the details, but still a great book
Review: I had my Russian friend & his wife read the book after I did and they found some minor errors in the book. The story is a bit dated with the "America is great, Communism sucks" items here & there in the story, but it still isn't a bad read. I'm reading the Jack Ryan series in order & so far this book is my least favorite - but it's up against some stiff competition.
Rating:
Summary: "Cardinal" on the run...
Review: This is the first novel in the Jack Ryan series that REALLY takes off and gives the reader a fantastic SPY vs. SPY thriller all the way through. It is the novel that introduces us to the legendary Mr. Clark, gives us lots of insight into the life of "Cardinal", and furthers the career of Jack Ryan, all while careening through cases of espionage, counterintelligence ops, and high-strung arms negotiations. Clancy slaps you in the face with lots and lots of technical details right at the beginning of the novel, but you really do have to get a sense of this to understand how important the Star Wars system is. Once his tech jargon is out of the way though, it's full-speed ahead with intense action and covert ops. Lots of recurring characters, like Admiral Greer, Bob Ritter, Capt. Ramius of the Red October, and The USS Dallas' crewmates Capt. Mancuso and Jonesy. This novel really gives you a sense of what life as an operations officer in the intelligence agencies must be like. Lots of twists and turns, lots of secret missions and evil interrogation methods, and like I said earlier, SPY vs. SPY. This is by far the ultimate spy thriller, and my hat is off to Mr. Clancy for this one.
|
