Rating: 
Summary: If you'll permit a dissenting vote...
Review: Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books of recent years have been real epics: they have rivalled Stephen King's blockbusters for size, and King himself called his own tendency in that direction "diarrhea of the word processor". This one's a little ole thing by comparison: only 600 or so pages. But think back to the oldies like "Red October", if you will. Those earlier efforts weren't exactly gargantuan either. And if you're expecting a lot of shoot-'em-up and aerial dogfights like Robby Jackson gets into off the USS Jerry Ford or whatever (or Mr. Clark's latest SEAL mission), maybe it will help to remember that Clancy's "Op-Center", "Power Plays" and "NetForce" action yarns are not only a separate body of work--Clancy doesn't even write those himself anyway. In the same way "Patriot Games" was a prequel to "Red October", this book is a prequel to "Cardinal Of the Kremlin", mostly covering the Foleys' "rookie season" in Moscow. People familiar with "Cardinal" will remember that the bulk of that book's narrative was a lot of Moscow intrigue based in the Politburo and Dzerzhinskiy Square. And I'm not really convinced that this book is necessarily a tie-in for the next Afleck movie. Not that I really think Clancy exactly scored in taking the Ryan saga back two decades--he didn't, not entirely. You will notice that Ryan often talks like more like his modern-day self than the talented rookie still in search of his identity as a character during the Reagan administration. Plus, I find Ed Foley's earliest contact with his first Soviet "source" a bit far-fetched. Read those scenes on the Metro with Zaitsev not entirely sure who Foley is other than an American who works at the Embassy, but the guy still passes Ed data that could land him in a basement interrogation room in the Lubyanka! He didn't get to the rank he holds with that kind of recklessness. But Clancy does bag 4 stars from me (instead of his usual 5) on the speculative premise of the KGB maybe pulling the strings of the attempted hit on the Pope back then. And he's just careful enough to keep Ryan on the fairly distant periphery of that "case". I'm just hoping that the next book which begins the career of "Little Jack" is believable. After all, when they did that same number in the form of "James Bond jr.", it was a Saturday morning cartoon adventure. I'll try to approach that one with a suitable mixture of open mind and healthy skepticism when I read it. I agree that Clancy has taken President Jack as far as he can as a lead player, but the logical move would be to continue the "Rainbow Six" series with Clark and son-in-law Chavez.
Rating:
Summary: The fun part is figuring out fact from fiction
Review: This book is a very good fictionalized account of the events leading up to the fall of the Soviet Union. You know that some parts actually happened (albeit not with Jack Ryan of course) and some parts are fiction to fill in the gaps, but which is which? The ending (which I won't give away) would explain an awful lot if it's true. Treat the book as a fun history lesson and you won't be dissapointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so bad. . .
Review: I will beat a dead "rabbit" a little more here. I just finished "Red Rabbit" and I have to say I was shocked by the overwhelmingly negative response to this book. I found it refreshing that Clancy had taken a step back in time and substance from the recent books which take place in some alternate science-fiction reality where Denver was blown up, the legislature was wiped out, the U.S. went to war with Japan and India, and Jack Ryan is president. "Rabbit", though it deals with events the outcome of which we know, went back to the things that I enjoyed in "Patriot Games" and "Cardinal of the Kremlin", good old-fashioned sneaking-around spy stuff in a realistic setting. There are some mistakes here and there (for instance, Hungarian is not an "Indo-Uralic" language, it's just a plain Uralic language, or according to some linguists, a Uralic-Altaic language, but that's another story), and the first few chapters were not so exciting. However, the further I read, the more engrossed I became in the Foleys' tradecraft, the risks the Rabbit was taking in trying to prevent the assassination of the Pope, and whether he would make it out or not. As it concerns a plot to shoot the Pope, and we all know the Pope WAS shot, there is a great deal of tension as to what will happen to the Rabbit and his family. As for the profanity, some say they find it hard to believe that a PhD historian working for the CIA would use such naughty language. To that I can only say that you must not have worked for the government or met many professors outside the classroom at the local pub. I would gripe that a few of the internal monologues get a bit out of hand, especially Andropov's ruminations. I am also getting pretty tired of ophthamology in general in the Clancy books. Another big negative with this book is the relatively frequent typographical errors which are very annoying and should have been ironed out in a mass market publication like this. "Red Rabbit" is worth a read if you like espionage novels, are interested in the Cold War, or are a hard core Ryan fan. As a side note, I happened to read Robert Littel's "The Company" before I read "Rabbit" and the latter makes a nice sequel to the former as they both involve papal intrigues and "Rabbit" actually picks up around the time that "The Company" ends. Finally, I believe that Clancy needs to give up the Jack Ryan universe and start a new series that takes place in our reality where Clinton and W have been our presidents, where 9/11 happened, and where there is no such person as Jack Ryan. Clancy is coming to the local bookstore to hawk his latest book next week, so we'll see if he takes any guff over "Rabbit" there.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, though pretty bland...
Review: The last couple of Clancy books that I've read, I've gone into with some hesitation. Having loved his earlier work, books like Rainbow Six have been disappointing, to say the least. Red Rabbit, while a slight improvement, didn't leave me thirsting for more Clancy any time soon. Where some of Clancy's books have been full of plot-twisting excitement, Red Rabbit was simply a straight-line trip from beginning to end. While I do expect spy novels to be realistic, I would hope that the author would take a little license and make them interesting. I'm sure that many successful intelligence operations are as boring as this one, but I don't really want to read about them. The insertion of a plot into actual events was somewhat interesting, but even that was pretty slow and simple. There were a few glimmers of hope, that Clancy still has "it," and that he may yet write another book that's full of the great stuff he uses so sparingly anymore, but those moments in Red Rabbit are few. This book was very philosophical for a Clancy novel, and the plot suffered as a result. The heavy doses of Catholic morality and philosophising about the existence of God and morality in an Atheist state may have been somewhat important to the plot, but they were given top billing and delivered with all the subtlety of a punch between the eyes. For Clancy, it might be time to retire Jack Ryan. As much as I've enjoyed the signature character of Clancy's work, Ryan is becoming more and more an idealistic cutout, instead of the complex (for Clancy, anyways) character he used to be. I can't call this book bad, but it won't be coming off my shelf again any time soon, if at all. I certainly won't be first in line for Clancy's next book, though I'll probably read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Fans will sigh over this lame attempt to flesh out Ryan!
Review: Fans of Jack Ryan might be tempted as I was, to see how Ryan shares a history with the Foleys, reveal the backghround to his stint in UK, etc. But I was badly disappointed. The tiny morsels to Ryan's background in the other books were a far superior treatment to his history then this lame book Clancy squeezed out here. There are many tired, repeated quips about plane travel, eye surgery being his wife's thing, his Jesuit/Catholic influence, his peerage and the many denigrations of Russian society which have lost their relevance and urgency with the passingg of the Cold War. Clancy's attempt to paint a grey picture of Rusian society under communism bores you to tears instead of frightening you. I used to struggle to put down a Clancy novel but this time, I struggled to pick it up! I guess the other reviewers are right, Clancy is no longer a writer. Well all the best to Clancy, he entertained with his earlier books. But to the reader to whom this is due, save your hard-earned money for something interesting! There is new blood out there!
Rating:
Summary: Doorstop Anyone?
Review: When Clancy first started he was well worth reading. He had the ability to create enjoyable techno thriller novels that blended technology with complex characters and interesting story lines. His books seemed to come alive for the reader. Unfortunately, a couple of novels back, that ability seemed to disappear as he insisted editors were meaningless in interview after interview and moved away from technology. His books also seemed to lose their thriller component at the same time and moved into long discourses on political theory and his views of the same. That same trend continues in the recent novel. This novel follows Jack Ryan and a host of other folks around in the early 80's during the uprising in Poland while President Reagan began calling the USSR the Evil Empire. As Shakespeare once asked about another priest, the Russians are not happy with Pope John Paul. Their unhappiness is worsened by his thinly disguised threat that if the Russians do not leave Poland alone, he will resign the papacy and return to Poland to be with his people. The Russians have a solution-kill the Pope. But to do so, they have to use outside personnel and hence the Bulgarians are contacted. The plot is hatched, the good guys in the form of Jack Ryan and all move to stop it as well as launching a plan of their own. They have an idea to bring the USSR down. As they say, the rest is history. And that is precisely one of the two major problems with the book. For many of us who are old enough to remember, we lived through those days and the attack on the Pope. Regardless of church affiliation or religion, the attack was a shock at the time and we know how it ended-or at least, the public version of events. By going back to that time, the burden was on Clancy to provide a new perspective on events as well as making the known history interesting. Unfortunately, he failed. He also once again commits the sin of being fundamentally boring. When he wrote his techno thrillers, he could go on for several pages about how various components of various systems connected and there was some interest for the reader. A few novels ago, he decided to forgo the techno aspect of his novels and apply the same long-winded discourse to inner mental processes of his characters. It simply does not work. At one point, he has one of the many Russians characters mentally ruminate about the history of Marxist-Leninist theology in Russia for over ten mind-numbing pages. The only action by the character is to gaze into the fire and sip his alcoholic beverage of choice while he goes on and on about the subject in his head. As in his other books, because of Clancy's access to sources, one has to wonder how much of the book beyond the public facts is real. That might be precisely why Clancy is writing this kind of book instead of what worked before. In these days where a law enforcement officer can get a person's library records for no other reason than curiosity, Clancy may be concerned that his sources would receive extraordinary attention. After all, he has had some experience in this regard. Setting a book on events twenty years ago may solve that problem. Or it could be, Clancy may simply think that he can write anything and it will sell. Clearly as he has often stated in his arrogance, there is no need for his books to be edited and at 618 pages it comes in smaller than most of his have lately. He may simply believe that the book buying public is a moth to the flame and as long as his name is on it, he will make millions. At the time of this writing, it appears to be true so far. At some point, one would expect the public to understand that the Clancy of old is not the Clancy of now and to stop buying his line or his books. In the meantime, it is my humble opinion as a reader that this book is simply not worth the paper it is printed on. Unless you need a doorstop, I would urge you to adopt the Nancy Reagan philosophy-just say no!
Rating:
Summary: Red Rabbit is much better than expected.
Review: I have to admit that I when I started reading 'Rabbit' I wasn't sure that I would like it. It seemed somewhat anti-climactic to go back in time with the Ryan character when we all ready know so much about the character's future. But after struggling through the first few chapters the story began to grab hold. It was fun to watch Ryan at this early stage with all of his doubts, and quite frankly, determination not to get involved in the "Action" as it were. It was also interesting to watch the development of the Foleys as well as their Russian Counterparts. As far as the plot, the background makes for good conspiracy theory talk much like the '2nd shooter' theories of JFK. It was entirely plausible. The other interesting item was the subtext of the iminent fall of the Soviet Union and how Ryan was partially responsible in developing the strategy to hurt their economy.
I especailly liked the deveoplement of the Rabbit and his family. I do wish that Mr. Clancy has spent at least a little time describing Mrs. Rabbit's reaction to her husbands defection. There was a lot of talk leading up to the defection about how the wife would react and then nothing....oh well. Some have critisized how effectively the whole ploy was pulled off...but that is the point. The principle characters are rising superstars. If they couldn't pull this stuff off then the Foley's would never become head of the CIA, Ryan NSA, etc etc. All in all, it was very entertaining and while not entirely as suspenseful of some of his other books it was still 'Brilliant' as the Brits would say.
Rating: 
Summary: Only fair - don't waste your $$ on the hardback version
Review: This is by far the poorest of Clancy's novels to date (unless you count the Op-Center horrors). I kept waiting for SOMETHING to happen in this book, but it never did. It moves along deliberately and goes absolutely nowhere, even considering the fact that the outcome was already historical fact. Clancy also suprised me rather unpleasantly by his much-increased use of profanity in Ryan's everyday speech. I'm not prudish and don't have a problem with profanity per se, but when it's over-used it becomes boring. I've wondered if perhaps this was an attempt to emphasize Ryan's youth relative to previous works, but it unfortunately only succeeded in making his character appear vocabulary-challenged. I sincerely hope that Clancy, who has written so well in the past, is not so enamored of the Cold War period that he tries to continue writing about it. It's time for him to move into the present day instead of beating a dead horse for story possibilities, and I hope he is up to the challenge.
Rating:
Summary: A non-thrilling thriller
Review: I generally like Tom Clancy books, a guilty pleasure to be sure, but this one was a struggle to get through. There are two main problems with this book. First, the covert op goes without a hitch - not one! I kept telling myself that the reward for getting through the 600 pages was that there would be a twist at the end: a double-triple-double agent, a mole in the agency, Ryan was really a Northern Ireland sympathizer and offs the Pope himself.... But the twist never came. The second problem is that Clancy's version of history is distorted. His characters continuously clamor about the evil of the godless communists and compares them to the evil of the Nazis. "If only the communists and KGB had the Christian morality of Ryan, Greer, the Pope, Maggie, and Dutch," they seem to say after every page. But, the Nazis were not only Christians, but Hitler rose to power by uniting the Protestants and Catholics (no easy task that). Hitler himself was Catholic and the Catholic church turned a blind eye to the Holocaust, which the Pope finally apologized for (good for him). For the die-hard Clancy fan, the book does offer some good tradecraft along the way, but for a thriller, it wasn't very thrilling.
Rating:
Summary: Corporate Clancy
Review: First off, the only reason he wrote this book is to create another movie for Ben Affleck. Clancy is not an author anymore, he's a mega-corporation who probably earns more profit from his video game ventures. That's too bad, because like so many authors before him he apparently just doesn't really have any good stories left inside him.
The book is 200 pages too long with inane dialouge, poor research and a we-know-how-it-ends story. But in all honesty, if this book wasn't a Tom Clancy novel, it would probably get an extra star in the rating from just about everybody. We have just been so spoiled by his previous excellence that we thought he could survive the cold war unlike many of his contemporary military thriller authors.
It's time to move away from Jack Ryan and move more towards the Rainbow Six/Mr. Clark side. Ryan is president for goodness sakes... his end is near. With events the way they are in the world it would seem a good time to make the transition. But it seems his next book focuses on Jack Ryan, jr! Uuugh. Don't read "Red Rabbit" and if you do remember to throw it in the trash with "Bear and the Dragon."
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