Rating: 
Summary: Clancy's getting worse and worse . . . .
Review: I've been a big Clancy fan ever since I was a submariner and Hunt for Red October came out. But his plots have become too predictable and his characters are too perfect. (Name a Jack Ryan flaw other than he sneaks cigarettes when his wife's not around.)Red Rabbit is the worst. The book contains some interesting insight into spy operations behind the iron curtain, but do I want to read a page and a half of the Ryan's morning routine or a several pages about how much Jack Ryan loves his wife? (No!) Tom Clancy is a father of this genre, but he needs to take some lessons from his proteges -- Neal Stephenson, for example.
Rating:
Summary: poor effort
Review: Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy
ISBN 0-141-004-916
I bought this book and began to read it with great anticipation and feverish excitement. The promotional blurb on the back cover was attractive and the author's pedigree quite impressive- the author of 'Red Storm Rising' and 'The Hunt for Red October' could, after all, only be expected to turn out another thriller. Alas I was due to be disappointed. This book is oversized, at least 695 pages too long and one gets the impression that the author manfully struggled to expand the shallow and puerile plot into a predetermined tome size. This was obviously impossible so the vacant pages were filled with a liberal sprinkling of the philosophical musings of Mr and Mrs Ryan, repetitively and wantonly. The first 690 pages are near about forgettable and painfully tedious and it was a combination of pecuniary considerations and stubbornness that saw me through. The rest of the tale was entirely predictable, unexciting, uninspiring and this silly fat book is not much more than an unfortunate piece of chest-thumping, red-necked patriotic hagiography. Mr Clancy fails to entertain or inform and this book is a signal lesson in the dangers of an astute literary mind being infected by misplaced patriotic fervour. I wondered about asking for a refund of the purchase price and recompense for the pain and suffering I suffered in reading it. This is the second worst Tom Clancy novel I have ever read (the worst is 'The Bear and the Dragon') and I will not be buying another. Unless Mr Clancy rediscovers the form of 'Red Storm Rising' and leaves political propaganda to the relevant authorities those who buy his novels do so at their own and considerable peril. Dr OA Adebajo
October 15, 2003.
Rating:
Summary: repetitive blah
Review: here's a synopsis:
a foreign government wants to do something to the pope; jack ryan doesn't like planes; america is the best; jack ryan doesn't like his father in law; the russians are pretty good, but the americans are better; the british are pretty good, but the americans are better; ryan doesn't like planes; cathy ryan doesn't like not sleeping beside jack; jack doesn't like not sleeping beside cathy; ryan doesn't like planes; america is the best place to live.... blah blah blah, THe first 3/4's of the book is boring and highly repetitive. The last 1/4 is OK. I'm a big fan of Tom Clancy's books containing more technical and suspensful content (i.e. most of the books before this one). This book had no suspense or cool technical stuff. THis book is barely worth reading and certainly not worth buying new.
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly disappointed in this effort...
Review: I've read all the Clancy books like the majority of his fans. I'm sad to reveal that this was my least favorite. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent novel; but based on the great work he did in Executive Orders, Debt of Honor, Rainbox Six and the like, this was a let down.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and tedious
Review: Perhaps it's time for Clancy to hang up his boots. Red Rabbit is uninspired and frankly boring. Fans (like me) who have always found the Ryan tales an excellent airplane/beach read must be wondering why a good, potentially exciting, plot was wasted with endless repetition (count the number of "get out of Dodges"), bad research (Clancy's England is unlike the one I grew up in) and unlikely opinion. The few occasions things looked to be getting interesting fizzled away to nothing. Ryan's younger character was not really believable and unlikely to develop into the Ryan of later books. I managed to finish the book, but read 3 others in between. Hard work.
Rating:
Summary: Jack Ryan is no Smiley
Review: The major problem with this book was that there was no way that I could identify with, or root for, the hero. In Clancy's earlier books, Jack Ryan was human, with human failings. In this book he is one step away from being an angel. Everything in his life is as perfect as can be - wife, kids, career, wife's career, friends, colleagues, even investment decisions. After about 25 pages of Mr.Perfect and Mr.Do-Gooder all the reader wants to do is land a two-by-four across the back of Ryan's head - just to get rid of that awful smugness.
I guess I was expecting Clancy to be as good as le Carre - and Ryan to be Smiley - tortured (with cheating wife and all), human, and a guy you'd stand up and cheer for.
Rating:
Summary: I'm still waiting for something to happen!
Review: The first 50 pages and the last 50 pages were pretty good Tom Clancy writing. The stuff in between was just that -- stuff. This was just a one-dimensional book - it had one plot - none of the subplots that Clancy's books always have. If you're a Clancy fan read it b/c it's still Clancy, if you're not, pick another one to read first!
Rating:
Summary: Wimpy
Review: I am a longtime Clancy fan and have read all his books. The thing I found most objectionable about this book was that Jack Ryan, who just previously saved the Prince from assasination and fought off various attempts to kill him spends most of the book agonizing over whether he is doing the right thing by taking a relatively non-hazardous field assignment. Gee should I be doing this? Gee what about my wife and kid? Etc. Etc. I found it to be utterly non-credible.
Rating:
Summary: Make it stop...
Review: Did Clancy actually write this book? I know that nowadays some writers lend their names to books that they conceptualized, but didn't write, and this seems like one of them. Nothing like the Clancy of old. Achingly boring, dull, pedantic, any word you can throw out there that means "bad" or "not worth your time" is applicable to this monstrosity.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books of spy tradecraft ever written!
Review: When the Pope was shot back in the '80's, did you know that Jack Ryan - the hero of Tom Clancy's novels - was there trying to prevent it? Did you also know that this near-rescue was made possible by the CIA and the British SIS ferrying out of a key Soviet defector and his family to the West? And did you realize that this assassination attempt became a crumbling cornerstone -- which led to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union! Well, if Tom Clancy says it happened, then it must be true, right? This seemingly implausible scenario - for a story which happened decades ago -- had unfortunately caused me not to read Tom Clancy's 'Red Rabbit' for years. What a mistake! Although the geopolitics of the era seems like ancient history, Clancy uses this real event to weave an intricate tale of intrigue - and, in the process, create one of the finest books of spy tradecraft ever written! In the lobby of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, there is a memorial to all of the members who have died. But rather than a name, there appears but a star next to the year in which the agent sacrificed his (or her) life in service to his country. On one level, this work is Tom Clancy's testament to the anonymous dedication put forth by America's spies everyday in order to keep our borders safe. On another level, if you'd like to really experience the adrenaline rush of being an agent in the field - then this is the book you'll definitely want to read. I highly recommend it! (Better late than never, huh?)
| 
