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 unpublished if not written by Clancey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?"
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not quite there yet
Review: I found out this last book from Tom Clancy Ok, but it just feels that the story was made for a smaller book, since most of it just details a lot of stuff when A is waiting for B, and most of that could be skipped. Anyway, it's a good novel if you want to read large volumes (I do), but it's not up to the level of Hunt of Red October or The Sum of all Fears.
Rating:
Summary: Sleeping with Red Rabbit
Review: Clancy's latest novel should be rated five stars. The novels
ability to send one to sleep is only exceeded by a prescription
sleep aid. Fans who own or read his previous books are acuatly
aware of Ryans problems and fears and should have to be reminded
of them only once.
My congratulations to the photographer on a great picture of
Clancy on the cover. I will place the cover in my book shelf
and use the book to prop up a wobbly leg on my kitchen table.
Rating:
Summary: Bare-bones Clancy
Review: Since Executive Orders, I have been increasingly disappointed with Clancy's books. Rainbox 6 was too much like a James Bond movie story. The Bear and the Dragon was too derivative of Clancy's own earlier books. This book at least is a more solid read than the previous two. The intricate, multi-threaded plotting of Clancy's best books is absent. There is only one main story thread--the defection of the Rabbit--with minor diversions. This thread is told with the usual Clancy pace, but without other story lines to occupy our minds, the story evolves very slowly. Ultimately, Tom takes 600+ pages to tell a pretty simple story. My biggest complaint about the book is the occasional sloppy writing. The best example? What is the Rabbit's KGB rank? In some chapters, he's a captain and in others, he's a major. He even got promoted mid-conversation to Colonel for one sentence, before being demoted again to Major in the next sentence. Where are the editors? They were really asleep on that one. There are other examples, like when after the defection, the Rabbit is called Vanya once, though his name is Oleg. (His father is Ivan, and Jack, in talking with Oleg, says his "informal" Russian name would be Vanya, but I don't think you get Vanya from Oleg.) Other's have already pointed out the historical problems with the story (it takes place in 1983, but the assassination of the Pope was in 1981; see below). From a plot point of view, the only thing I was bothered by was the apparent ease with which the Rabbit made his decision to defect. His motivation is conscience, a moral objection to KGB killing an innocent person. I believe the Rabbit has been with KGB for 9 1/2 years, so I would doubt this would the first time he has come across such an action from KGB. Furthermore, to conspire to defect would be to risk not only his life, but that of his wife and young daughter. This would give most men serious pause. But the Rabbit just leaves the office and makes contact with Foley, and never really looks back. I find this hard to swallow. If we can get past this, the rest of the story of the defection is told well, though it could have been done in about half the space. I know I sound pretty negative in my comments. The book is not a painful read, like the previous two books, which is why I give it 3 stars. But I would give 5 stars to nearly all Clancy novels up to Executive Orders, so this one is still quite a step down. It's enough to keep me a fan of Clancy, but not enough to make me run out and buy the next one the day it comes out. I mentioned above the historical problem with the book taking place in 1983. One possible response: the assassination attempt described in the book is not the 1981 attempt that really took place, but another, fictional, attempt. This book is a work of fiction, after all. If you really want to get into the timeline question, all the books really give problems. I mean, the president in this book is clearly Reagan. But, that means the president in Cardinal of the Kremlin and Clear and Present Danger is also Reagan, though this presidency appears to have lasted 3 terms and he was going for a 4th in 1992 when Fowler was elected. We all know that Reagan was succeeded by Bush, but in the books Reagan threw the election to Fowler. Of course, you could say that the president in Clear and Present Danger is Bush, but then Fowler wins in 1992, when we all know Clinton did. You cannot reconcile these.
Rating:
Summary: Becoming complacent
Review: Tom Clancy must feel that his status is secured in the literary world. Why? Well, simply put, this book is nowhere near the level with with Tom Clancy is capable of. It seems as though he (or quite possibly his publisher) felt that just putting a book out there with his name on it would sell thousands. Alas, that may well be the case. For me, the book seemed to drag on and on with no direction or purpose. While the story is centered around the assassination plot, there was no depth. It made me feel as though I were reading an amateur author's first attempt at writing. The characters were two-dimensional, the plot was weak for most of the book, and it simply was NOT a Tom Clancy novel. All things considered, I would recommend passing on this book. Tom, if you're out there, come on now. I am surprised you put your name on sometihng like this. You of all people are capable of so much better work!
Rating: 
Summary: On the Other Hand...
Review: Unlike most of the other reviewers of Red Rabbit, I enjoyed the book immensely. Having read each Jack Ryan story, I feel that while Tom Clancy approaches the storyline in a different way than usual, this change is not a disappointment. On the contrary, the book's calmer, more suspenseful plot and pace show a maturing Clancy, whose writing isn't only about shooting the bad guys and saving the world.
Having said this, I urge you to give this novel a try. If you don't like it you can always pass it on to someone who will.
Rating:
Summary: Red Rabbit
Review: This book drones on and on and doesn't seem to make any point. After 200+ pages, I quit reading and put it away. Tom Clancy, you can do much better than this drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Seem To Finish This One
Review: I've read them all and this has been a lousy read so far. I'm half way into it and struggling. I'm a big Clancy fan and usually buy his autographed books after waiting in line to see him. Not this time though. He has started his book tour for years in New London, CT at the Paperback Booksmith due to it's proximity to the Submarine Capitol of the World. Well ... the Booksmith shutdown after his previous release and this must have changed his luck.
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