Rating: 
Summary: The Worst Ending
Review: After trying hard to get the many characters names straight, Clancy mixes last names with first names and you don't know who is who. Halfway through the book you begin to understand a little better. The last paragraph of the book....where did that come from...The last page...no words to describe. Very disappointing!
Rating: 
Summary: A Rabbit Race At A Tortoise Pace
Review: A KGB communications specialist learns of a plot to murder the Pope. Guilt takes over and he decides to defect, becoming the "Red Rabbit" in Tom Clancy's latest thriller. How will a joint British Intelligence/CIA team get the Rabbit out of the Soviet Union? Will they stop the Pope's assassination? How will Jack Ryan play into all of this? "Red Rabbit" is a good concept, blending fiction with actual history. Knowing that the actual attempt on Pope John Paul failed does not detract from the suspense. Clancy found the post-Soviet does not provide the same intrigue and danger as the Cold War. The true gem of this thriller is getting inside the Rabbit's head. His perspective about assassination, defection and the conflicting loyalty to the Soviet Republic is complex and engrossing. The plot is slow. The reader hangs with it as the drama crawls forward, but a few more surprises and twist would have amplified the satisfaction. Perhaps Clancy is not comfortable with a novel that lacks the superb technology of others. Without the bells and whistles he has to create a faster pace and greater thrills. In this race between an interesting rabbit and a tortoise-like pace, we only have a tie.
Rating: 
Summary: Clancy out of ideas???
Review: ...Red Rabbit had taken a sharp downfall after the decent The Bear and The Dragon. Whatever happen to all the suspense and thriller we've come to like about Mr. Clancy's book such as Executive Order and Debt of Honor. Those books really reminded me of the days when I would hover over each page not knowing what would happen to the Ryan World. ... I truly hope Mr. Clancy would revive us all with his next book, which I am very eager to read two years from now. ...
Rating:
Summary: Biggest disappointment of the year
Review: And I was so looking forward to this. Bear and the Dragon was slower then previous books but I did not realise it was the start of the Clancy sleepwalking years. Clancy has chosen a scenario where the tension is lost because we already know the outcome. Where pace and tension might have been added to the plot, Clancy slows things down into turgid detail and needless repetition. On a purely intellectual basis, insights into the Russion mind set and international espionage might be interesting, but not there does not seem much else. I'm British and his views on Merry Olde England in the early 80's were quite accurate, but who cares unless they are put into context of the overall story! Astonishingly this is a thriller by perhaps the biggest name in the business and he fails to deliver one single thrill in the entire book. A terrible effort.
Rating:
Summary: Zzzzzzzzzz
Review: I just finished Red Rabbit. I must say I was rather disappointed. A very dull and ordinary re-telling of a historical event. Here is the whole story: Someone reads a letter from the Pope to Moscow, KGB guy feels bad
about plans to kill the Pope. KGB man tells CIA guy. CIA guy tells his boss, boss sends Ryan to help KGB guy and family defect, Ryan arrests one of the assassins, Pope gets injured, everyone lives happily ever after (except assassins). Easily a 100 page story......not 618! Very dull reading, absolutely no drama, suspense or suprises. I have read, and own all of Clancy's books Fiction and non fiction. What happened with this one?
Rating:
Summary: Tommy is taking dull to new heights!
Review: Tommy's last few works (which were written primarily by his ghost writer) were excruciatingly long, with rare action segments. Red Rabbit takes over 600 pages of aimless conversations to follow a simple and obvious course. What small suspense there is comes as a result of Tommy taking 50-100 pages to tell us the most simple information, while we plod through side narratives which are meaningless to the reader and the plot. Reads like a high school novel written by someone being paid by the word.
Rating:
Summary: Pedantic at best
Review: Clancy always has a political point(s) to make, but he really over does here. His criticism of the British socialized medical system may be on point, but seemed exaggerated and supercilious to the book's plot. The defector may have had a bout of conscience, but Clancy spends far too many words agonizing over the moral dilemma. Jack Ryan is one of Clancy central characters, but he is unnecessary to the main plot. He was however, the vehicle for Clancy to moralize. The novel could have been a page turner, if it were 200 pages instead of 600 pages.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: Typically, Clancy spends a good deal of time and effort developing characters and the story, building up to a wonderful, fast paced ending. In this LACKLUSTER effort, I kept waiting for the Clancy of old but it is more than apparent that even Clancy has TIRED of Jack Ryan. A very DISSAPPOINTING effort and it has left me skeptical on any further Clancy books without thouroughly investigating reviewer comments.
Rating:
Summary: Very poor indeed
Review: Not convincing, either in it's reason for the attempt on the Pope, the portrayal of the UK, or the characters. Regarding the assassination attempt he is at odds with the Pope's own memories and actions. ... On the UK, he is way out of line on the NHS. It is supported by all major parties, including conservatives, and the slur on surgeons is, frankly unforgiveable and narrow minded. Clancy does this a lot. In previous novels he has poked contempt at the UK for our gun laws, without mentiuoning the event that triggered it - a conservative member of a gun club slaughtering 16 seven year olds and their teacher. On the characters, Ryan comes across as a bit of an airhead. As a major fan of his work for years this is dreadfully disappointing. Will (Liverpool, UK)
Rating:
Summary: Deserves no stars.
Review: Its mind boggling that an author who wrote books as good as Red Storm Rising and Clear and Present Danger could write a book as bad as this one. I was no big fan of the Bear and the Dragon but this book is just beyond the pale. I've read alot of reviews here which think this is a good 100 page book stretched into 600 pages; I completely disagree. The BASIC plot that the KGB conspired to kill the pope back in the eighties MIGHT have some potential but the storyline Clancy has chosen to relay the event is mind numbingly boring for a book of any length. Here's a quick breakdown: There is NO suspense. None. There are NO cool technology descriptions. Jack Ryan, Mary Pat and everyone else in the Mickey Mouse club are 100% infallible in their decisions (and their gut instincts). The storyline isn't resolved in any way. The KGB wants to kill the pope cause he's threatening to resign and go back to poland. They try, they fail (for the sole reason that their assassin can't shoot straight). He's STILL threatening to go back to poland, they STILL have reason to kill [him]... The only reason this book is averaging two out of five stars when is because there are alot of people here who are saying "I've only gotten to page 80 but so far I'm disappointed" and then giving the book 3 stars. I wish I could give this book no stars because it truly doesn't deserve any.
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