Rating: 
Summary: The Bear & The Dragon Was Better....
Review: I may be the only person who thinks so.... But ... I thought that The Bear & The Dragon was a much better book. I found my attention wandering quite a bit, althought I did finish it in a couple of days. The telling thing? I haven't re-read it, yet, and I've had it since the day it was released.
Rating: 
Summary: Will the real Tom Clancy please come back?
Review: As an avid Clancy fan, I can't believe he published this book. Its bad and was a chore to read. I found my self struggling to finish it.It is too bad really. The concept of the book is neat - take historical events and spin some fiction around them - yes we all know the pope got shot. But that was a subplot. But for hard core Clancy fans, this fills in some blanks for Jack Ryan. I enjoyed reading about the Foley's start in Russia, etc. But I didn't need 700 pages of repetition and conservative grandstanding to get it. Clancy excels when he writes thrillers with in depth behind the scenes info that enlightens you one how things are done (militarily or otherwise) His books have always been long, but he draws you in as you follow the adventures of various characters. A prime example is Red Storm Rising - one of my favorites because you get action (the battles, etc) with a personal touch with closeup narratives about characters courage, etc. Red Rabbit had NONE of this. It was just awful. I don't mind authors throwing in subtle political rants and Clancy tried hard in other books to restrain himself - but Red Rabbit was out of control. The diatribes on European medicine and using the term 'niggardly' everywhere he coudl just to prove he could was stupid - and VERY distracting. Jack Ryan is one of my favorite characters, even if he has done it all and then some (back water CIA analyst to field hero to president in X years!) But this book just didn't seem like a Ryan story. The sad part is this book had HUGE potential - enough to keep me page turning for 1200 pages. I'd have loved to read more about exactly what the DCO was going to do with the Russian economy angle, instead it kept being mentioned and then was dropped. Why couldn't the Russian assasin run - at least we'd have had a chase of some kind. Maybe a little info on the 'interrogation' of the assassin before Britian offed him. Couldn't the Rabbit family have encountered just a little excitement as they bolted? Yes, I know real spycraft is supposed to be 1% excitement anf 99% boredom, but I can get that from documentaries. Maybe focus on more of the back stabbing and intrigue at the Politburo. Why go into all teh detail of the party zealot dying and being replaced by a protege? It had no bearing. By far this was my least favorite Clancy book. By far. So I add it to my complete collection and move on - hoping CLancy finds a way to get back into the game, with or without Ryan.
Rating:
Summary: MAybe as good as any of Clancy's efforts
Review: I've read all of Tom Clancy's novels and a few of his non fiction books, this one is pretty good. The setting is a few months after Patriot Games and I guess a few months before The Hunt for Red October and I think is one of two (Patriot Games is the other)to have any significant blending of real historical characters with fictional characters.
You do have some swearing but not really any more or any worse than previous efforts, Catholicism does have a big place (but no more than other Clancy books),and some will be offended by Clancy's obvious great admiration for Ronald Reagan and his policies. Ignore just those not really intrusive parts and enjoy the book, it's shorter than The Bear and The Dragon and doesn't have the unlikely future history or possibly too good to be true weapons.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best, but still a compelling read
Review: To those of us who are hooked on Clancy's universe this is the test - amalgamating known facts which have happened in our real, ?, world with his characters' placement in the past of his novels' plots.
By and large he does very well and his gift as a wordsmith has not deserted him, he can paint a picture in your mind of locale or character. The plot is believable and satisfying, in that a man of honor can rise above a corrupt, deadly and smothering system.
There are some inconsistancies with previous or subsequent novels on this time line which do not require too retentive a memory to be aware of, but the story moves along well.
Mr Clancy must be a devotee of private medicine, for the most demonic organisation portrayed is not the KGB but the British National Health Service, a Brit reading this book in an hospital bed may well have a second look at his surgical scar and take a good look at the apparent work ethics of his attending physicians.
I hope that the next book will not portray Ryan as the genius economist who brings down the Soviet system with one pithy flash of insight, as I think the last few lines of Red Rabbit might indicate, but, whatever, I am an addict of this series, I shall buy the next one too.
Rating:
Summary: Worse and worse ...
Review: Another die-hard Clancy fan from the beginning, who has devoured his books immediately upon release. The decline that started with Executive Orders, when Ryan suddenly became really whiny, to the steadily worse stuff since then culminates in this latest failure. Did Clancy even reread Red October before writing this? Its as though the thoughtful Jack Ryan of that suspense masterpiece is completely gone and replaced with the crass and vulgar, know-it-all (hindsight is 20-20 for Mr. Clancy) we now get. I'm politically conservative, but the unending references and diatribes in the recent books (against environmentalists, journalists, lawyers, abortion ... and now British socialized medicine) are just too much, and uniformly juvenile. And completely irrelevant and unnecessary, other than, apparently, to stroke Clancy's ego. The same with his strange depictions of male-female relationships - I find myself wondering if Clancy has some issues to work out. For someone who could write wonderfully nuanced and intricate plots in his early books (Red Storm Rising, Cardinal, etc.), the absolute black and white world, and personal views, now expressed are what I would expect from a naive high school term paper from some pimply adolescent who hasn't seen much of the world yet. Or had many dates. From Clancy, its bizarre at best. Part of what made Cardinal of the Kremlin so good, for example, was the fair treatment he gave Soviet characters, making them real, instead of cartoonish. And ironically, in being fair in Cardinal, he brought home the real evil of the Soviet system, in a way that he misses completely with his amateurish rantings in this book. Likewise, he previously could spin a plot that had me ripping through the book, but now I find myself rolling my eyes at the lazy and weak plot turns(CIA agent Foley just happens to be randomly picked for a brush pass in his first couple of days on the job, by the KGB agent who just happens to have a crisis of conscience at that moment ... Tom - you just aren't trying!) Perhaps if he could return to his roots and start a new series with new characters, acknowledging the post 9/11 world we live in, and stop with the preaching ad nauseam. And oh yes, did any editor at all look at this before the typesetters did!? I've got no problem with a 600 page book or 900, or whatever - but please give me content. Is it just me, or did Clancy cut and paste whole paragraphs of the book into later chapters ... repeatedly? Does every person have to refer to doctors as "doc"? "Pshrink"? And so on. Do not buy this new! - as someone who has enjoyed rereading most of Clancy's earlier books, I can safely predict copies of this mess will be abundant at your local used bookstore in the very, very near future.
Rating: 
Summary: Clancy's Red Rabbit and homage to Ron
Review: This book was largely a disappointment. It lacked pace and focus, and was basically an uninteresting story. I kept waiting for it to get going but it never really did. This is especailly disappointing after Executive Orders - which was a wonderful book. Also, Tom Clancy contiues in his ridiculous assertion that Ronald Reagan was directly responsible for the end of communism in the Soviet Union and actually writes it into part of the plot. This is just wrong for so many reasons that I'd get carpal tunnel trying to type it all out. Suffice to say that the idea that Ronald Reagan ended the cold war is idiotic and not true. Tom needs to get back to writing books with interesting plots, moral complexities, and even handed political views.
Rating:
Summary: Painfully boring....
Review: I won't be redundant and restate what my fellow reviewers have so eloquently stated about the snooze factor inherent in this book. However, I will give kudos to Mr. Clancy for taking care of my occasional insomnia. Ten pages of Red Rabbit puts me to sleep faster than any pill ever could. Thanks Tom!!! Don't waste your money. There are many authors that have become much more capable than Clancy. I just read Wings Of Fire by Dale Brown and could not put the book down...fantastic!!
Rating:
Summary: Not Great...but not bad at all
Review: I like so many others waited for this one to come out. Pre-ordered just to make sure.On the one hand I was happy to be reading another Ryan novel. The story moved along quite well and kept my interest.On the other hand it was short. Yes I know 600pgs pages is enough to choke an Elephant, yet I am used to 1000 plus pages. Usually Clancy needs at least 500 pages to ramp the story up and set the stage for some action. Here there is little if no action at all. The stoy has no surprises at all you know from the start all will go well. I had hoped for a bit more action in Moscow with Ed and MP. I realize that this review is not painting a nice picture. If you are a Clancy fan you need to read this,you might find as I have that it does not measure up to some of the previous masterpieces but worth the couple of days it would take to read
Rating:
Summary: Poor Poor Tom
Review: Just finished reading this poor novel.
Come on Tom you can do better than this.
I guess when you make your first million or more you can pump out the books the way McDonald's pumps out hamburgers.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book! (Short on Gun-Play but a good read!)
Review: Having read some of the other reviews I thought I would weigh in and say that Red Rabbit isn't what I expected. By that I mean that Jack Rayn is the co-star of this book, not the central star as in some other books by Clancy. To me, this does not detract from the book at all. Being set in the 80's, the era which I grew up in, I am somewhat nostalgic and biased to like the book. I think Clancy does an excellent job of movng the story along, introducing the plot and the characters and doe all of it with hardly a shot fired. (How many 'real' operations end with gun fire?) To someone expecting Rainbow 6 this book might not deliver the goods, but I enjoyed the story, the pacing and the setting, and indeed the whole book. Yeah, we all know the Pope gets shot and they later invent the "Pope Mobile" bulletproof tractor for him, but don't let the ending spoil the ride! If you like Clancy then I think you will like this book, ...
| 
