Rating: 
Summary: First Clancy Novel I Can't Finish
Review: Let me start by saying that I am normally a big fan of Tom Clancy's fiction - in fact, since "Hunt for Red October" I am usually one of the first in line to buy his books when they're released, and then proceed to read the book cover to cover immediately.That said, this one seems like he was writing it to fulfill his quota to the publisher (i.e. "we'll pay you $xx millions to come out with four books and this is the fourth). As noted above, nothing happens for the first 600 or so pages, except repeated references to "I think this (Cal) Ripken kid is going to be OK" and other tongue in cheek historical references (Ryan deciding to buy stock in Starbucks for example). There is simply put, no action at all in this book of the kind we've come to expect from Clancy. While it purports to be a techno-political thriller, it's missing the techno, and even the political part is humdrum at best. Tom, if you're reading this and you're out of ideas, how's about a Ding Chavez adventure, or Robbie Jackson for that matter? Like many of your readers, I love the way you weave the same characters into many of your stories - you've got so much to work with! In my humble opinion Jack Ryan has become a dry well as far as plot lines are concerned, and if nothing else this book makes that obvious. By the way, there's a reference midway through where one character remarks that his NY Yankees are headed for another year in the "stovepipe league" and how that "new owner" has done nothing, and "How can rich people be so stupid" - most self respecting baseball fans would know that 1) Far from doing nothing, The Yankees won back to back World Series in 77 & 78, and would lose the 1981 (the year this story takes place) World Series to the Dodgers & 2) Anyway, Steinbrenner bought had owned the Yankees for eight years already by 1981...
Rating: 
Summary: What's with the all the venom this book has been getting?
Review: Although this is not as good as the Hunt for Red October or the Cardinal of the Kremlin, and is a bit slow, it is far from Tom Clancy's worst. Sure the Cold War may be history, but this doesn't make the book any less enjoyable. Actually, it reminded me of The Day of the Jackal (though The Day of the Jackal is a better book)
Rating: 
Summary: An awful lot of pages for very little story
Review: When you buy a Tom Clancy book, you can usually expect 2 things: #1 - An awful lot of pages, and #2 - Jack Ryan saves the USA from some bad guys (communists, terrorists, politicians, etc.). This book delivers #1, but not #2. This book is something of a prequel to earlier Jack Ryan books, and focuses quite a bit on the Foleys in Russia. Most of the Jack Ryan prose has to do with his adjusting to living in England. And another Clancy staple, the unrealistic dialog, is also annoyingly present. In one *brief* phone conversation towards the end of the book, Jack Ryan calls his wife "babe" 5 times, "honey" once, and "Cath" another time. And in just about every private conversation in Clancy books, each person has to mention the other person's name in at least every other sentence. I find it very annoying, especially with the Russian 3-word names. As other reviewers have noted, the "action" in this book really doesn't start until near the end. I found this book to be relatively lifeless & disappointing, especially at 600+ pages.
Rating:
Summary: Waving the White Flag
Review: Like most of the other reviewers here, I used to be a big Clancy fan. As usual, I bought this book the day it came out and hoped that the last novel (The Bear and the Dragon) was an aberration. Wrong! This book proves (at least to me) that Tom Clancy's interest isn't in writing good books anymore, but rather collecting his royalty checks. He's given up. Put a fork in him. Believe the reviewers here who say that nothing happens in this book-- it's true. This is a 100 page novel stretched into 600+. Even as a 100 page novel, it wouldn't be very good. The plot is simple-- The Soviets want to kill the Pope; a Russian defects and tells the Americans/British; Jack Ryan tries to prevent the assassination, but fails. While the defection had possibilities of being exiting (remember The Cardinal of the Kremlin?), Clancy makes it boring (get in the back of a truck, drive accross the border and board an airplane for London). As for the assassination attempt, let's just say that for drama, it's no Day of the Jackel. But no one pays $$$ for 100 page novels (especially those with Clancy's name on the cover). So Clancy needed to provide the fill. A typical chapter is as follows: Person wakes up. Person eats breakfast. Person goes to work on a train/subway. Person has deep philosophical thoughts. Person goes home. Person talks with wife. Person goes to bed. Next chapter, same thing, but with a different person (although for some reason, the deep philosophical thoughts remain the same). This goes on and on and on WITHOUT ANYTHING HAPPENING! In addition, for a guy who supposively is into detail, Clancy drops the ball here as well. The novel takes place in 1981 (easily verified because that's when the Pope was actually shot), but Clancy has Ryan bragging about the Starbucks IPO (which didn't take place until 1992). The Foley's (who I found kind of dull) apparently got out of Iran just before the embassy was taken over in November 1979 because they were about to have a baby. In Red Rabbit, the baby should be about 18 months old, but instead is 4 and is constantly watching the Transformers, a cartoon show that didn't debute until September 1984. Clancy has Baltimore and Philadelphia playing in the World Series (it was actually the Dodgers and the Yankees in 1981; Baltimore and Philadelphia played each other in 1983). Adm. Greer keeps talking about the Orioles' rookie shortstop being something special. (Well, I guess you could call Cal Ripken's .128 batting average (over 39 at-bats) in 1981 special.) All of this stuff was easy to figure out, which begs the question-- if Tom's not trying, why should we? Please save your money and your time-- they are better used elsewhere, I promise.
Rating:
Summary: Worst Jack Ryan Book So Far
Review: I have to say I was pretty disappointed with this book. I think the same story could have been told in a book about a third of the size. Clancy repeats himself continuously and parts of the book even seem out of order, confirming my believe that Clancy writes his books in parts and sews them together at the end. I plodded my way through this book, reading an endless amount of rhetorical questions, waiting for some sort of Clancy pay off and was bitterly disappointed. A long time ago, Jack Ryan history left real world history. They shouldn't be merged back together, should they?
Rating:
Summary: Time to reread the earlier books
Review: What was he thinking when he wrote this? I need another few million bucks? As his novels have evolved, you tend to wait longer for the action to occur. But it finally occurs in the other novels. Not in this one. Absolutely nothing exciting happens. If you want an inside look at the spy business, this will be of some interest. If you want entertainment, start with Red October and read forward.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy has written some great books, this ain't one of them!
Review: Let me start by saying that Clancy is by far my favorite author and has written some of the best modern American fiction in our time. Unfortunately, this book was the most disappointing of the lot. The build up tension was great, up until a certain point in the book, then it just got boring. The ending was entirely too predictable. I think it's time for Clancy to just end the Jack Ryan saga, revisit what made his first books so great, and start again with fresh new characters. Sorry Tom, you've just written far better books than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Oh dear.
Review: Well I don't really know where to begin. I hadn't read a Clancy book in a while because he was feeling a bit stale. But I came back to him for this one and found it to be hit and miss. Some great bits. Some flashes of old form. But largely this just feels thrown together. One for a completist I think.
Rating:
Summary: Dead Habbit - reading Clancy's books that is.....
Review: I used to love reading Clancy books every other August when they came out. I literally have planned camping trips around the release day so I could relax in Yosemite and read the newest thriller in the Jack Ryan series.
Never again. This book was never finished by Clancy who evidently finally realized that he could write a blank book with his name on it and it would be a best-seller. After reading red rabbit I wish he would have.
The same conversations repeated by the same characters over and over again.
Anachronisms that were never edited out.
Scenes set up for something exciting to happen but the action was never inserted.
Adds absolutly nothing to what we know about Jack Ryan.
Adds absolutly nothing about what we know of the attempted assissination of the Pope.
Adds absolutly nothing but frustration to the lives of those who struggle through this book.
Rating:
Summary: the more things change...
Review: Looks like a manuscript that was rejected in his early days, and pulled out of the bottom drawer to cash in on his current popularity.It would have been interesting to see how a Bulgarian Aparatnik recruits a Turkish hit-man, but we never do. A little therapy might clear up that fear of flying.
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