The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan)
by Tom Clancy
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Book Reviews of The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan)
Book Review: Revenge
Summary: 5 Stars
Revenge is the retaliation for an injury or wrong. Revenge affects men both physically and emotionally. It can cause momentary insanity and an adrenaline rage that could easily kill another human being. Add revenge to any book or story and this strong emotion can make for a prima narration. Throw-in, along with revenge, communism, the CIA, submarines, and a possible nuclear war and the book can become quite interesting. I enjoyed The Hunt For Red October. It was exciting and had my attention after every page. The realism was such that it very possibly could have been a true story.Ramius is a Russian submarine commander and a big part of the Rodina or motherland. He was the son of an important Communist Party leader, who did not spend much time with him. He was raised by his grandmother and a fisherman, who was a retired Soviet Naval Commander. Ramius learned how to be a great seamen and spent days on the water. His grandmother also taught him to be an honorable and honest man. Ramius's wife, Natalia, was killed after a sloppy, drunken, uncredited Party doctor tried to remove an inflamed appendix. Ramius blamed the whole Communist Party for her death, and bought his time til his revenge would be taken. As Ramius came up through the Russian Navy, he earned himself much acclaim, and the trust of many men. When the time came for his swift revenge this trust made it even easier. He was chosen to test the newest in Russian sub technology, the Red October. He chose a crew that he had prior worked with and trusted. The Party also sent along an intelligence officer, who did not really have a purpose but to tell the heads of the Party if anything goes wrong. Captain Putin, the intelligence officer, is murdered by Ramius. The killing is made to look like an accident, not that anyone really missed Captain Putin. Ramius then cues the crew in on his plan to take the Red October to Cuba without being detected by neither the Americans nor the Russians.
CIA agent, Jack Ryan who is living in Morrow England with his family, gets called back to the USA to work closely with the Navy investigating the sudden deployment of all Russian Naval vessels. After two days at sea the Communist Party realized that Ramius and the Red October had left the training area and were frantically searching for them.
The sudden surge in Russian ship movement alarmed the Navy and crew of the USS Dallas who was patrolling near by. The US Navy scrambles to protect the eastern coast and bespeak the aid of Her Majesty's Navy. Jack Ryan is a friend to the English captain. Ryan is used to get good relations with the English ships in the area. Ryan has seen all the information on the Red October and knows its differentiated but can not figure out why. He sends the top secret Intel to a friend, who finds the Red October has an advanced propulsion system that makes the sub almost silent. The new propulsion system is nearly impossible to hear. The USS Dallas heard a very faint sound and shrugged it off as sea life. When they heard about the Red October, the Dallas went back and began to track the sound and then the Red October.
Captain Ramius was on the run with the most high tech submarine ever. the USA know where he is, but can not risk the political melt down that may occur between Russia. Russia is frantically trying to get their sub back without making too much of a splash. You can read the book to find out the rest.
As I said before I really enjoyed this whole book. All the separate plots twisted and turned to the point where some of them made no sense. But by the end the twists and turns threaded into a beautiful 15th century tapestry. The story used so many technical terms and processes dealing with submarines the reader can not help but think the story is true. The characters are in-depth and realistic. Clancy goes the extra mile when describing a character. This book was exciting and suspenseful. Throughout the whole book I never knew if things were going to turn for the better or head straight downhill. I strongly recommend this book to any reader.
Book Review: Fantastic!
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book and Clancy's other books Rainbow Six and Red Storm Rising all at the same time. I read Red Storm Rising and I came to the conclusion that Clancy writes long books with long chapters, which is a fatal combination with an attention span as short as mine. So I put off reading the other two for some months. Finally, I got back interested in submarines and decided it was a peak time for me to begin reading The Hunt for Red October. And this book did NOT disappoint. Yes, Clancy stays true to his style in explaining things in detail (I think I might be able to do sonar operations on a Los Angeles class submarine now) but I don't think that's a good thing. Since a lot of techno nerds (like myself) are interested in how Russian designed sonar works, it's explained thoroughly. Yes the chapters are long, the book is over 400 pages long and there's less than twenty chapters! But I don't begrudge that either. I thought Red Storm Rising was a great read, but there wasn't really anyone to root for so it was a bit uninteresting after a while. In this book, we have Clancy's franchise player, Jack Ryan here. And he IS someone to root for. This would be my first Jack Ryan book and about halfway through reading it I went out and ordered the rest of the Jack Ryan series, hopefully, they'll be arriving any time now so I can get started on Patriot Games *wink wink*.
As for the story itself, well, if you haven't read any of the other reviews, the story would have you guessing and pondering weather this giant Soviet missile boat is coming to bomb the US or defect, for the first bit of the story. But, as it's been made clear, the story follows Captain Marko Ramius and his merry band of 'Starpoms'(Soviet officers) as they engage in collusion to drive the Russian sub it's self into an American harbor and request asylum. The soviet life, it would appear, wore thin on these men. I can understand, ever read 1984? The former Soviet Union was like 1984-Lite. So, Ramius is so confident in his abilities as a sub captain that he decides to send a little letter to the commander of the Soviet navy. This sends them into a frenzy. Since the Red October has a new ultra-silent drive system that the Commies don't want to have fall into our dirty imperialist hands. So the Soviet navy is mobilized and claim to be searching for a lost sub just off our coast. The US is quite worried about this so the US and allied navies all mobilize and there's a large naval standoff 400 miles off the American east coast. Yikes! As if that wasn't enough, the US is antagonizing the Soviet fleet and they eventually retaliate. But, of course, we retaliate and they run home with their tale tucked (And they say us Americans have a superiority complex).
I would have given this book five stars, but a lot of people (myself included) don't like books that are incessantly long. I wouldn't say this one is incessant but it is a bit long of a read. A person less interested in technology and more interested in story might want to go look elsewhere for a good submarine yarn.
All in all I would have to say this is a great book, and maybe the USSR might still be around if they had payed attention to Tom Clancy, yes, that's the level of detail he's written this with. :)
Book Review: I did this for an English class so shoot me.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Hunt for Red October is Tom Clancy's first novel to gain major national attention. Its popularity has grown to such that it has even been used as the basis of a major motion picture starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. In addition there has also been sequels to the novel, involving the main character of Jack Ryan. What is it about this setup that seems so odd? Not many readers are excited by the technical gibberish that is so common in novels such as The Hunt for Red October. The confusion that usually associates itself with major modern science fiction novels deters many readers, but Clancy is able to make the reader not only understand, but feel comfortable with complexities that are present in the everyday lives of the characters in his novels.
Clancy demonstrates his tactic of reader comprehension by giving the reader a detailed and yet sketchy version of events. For instance, when the caterpillar drive on the Red October is first engaged, Clancy starts at the stem of the vessel and describes the system by following the path of the water. This simple yet effective method allows for the reader to imagine him or self being sucked through the pipes and moved through the labyrinth that makes up the Red October. Then in the next chapter the Americans learn about the caterpillar from Captain Skip Tyler, although the reader already is aware of that fact in a sort of dramatic irony.
In addition to the use of descriptive writing, Clancy also has many different situations in the novel, when a main character has to explain the facts of a problem in order to come to a workable solution. Ryan's meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff is crucial in the novel in order to convince the American Government to go after the Red October, but it also serves as an opportunity to inform the reader on the history of Ramius Markus, the Russian commander. Further briefings of this sort allow Ryan access to the British carrier task force and the Los Angeles class submarine U.S.S. Dallas.
Finally there is the fact that Clancy did not use fanciful designs of his own making in the telling of his story. Clancy used what was available and technologically feasible to the navies and the world of the day. He did not write a James Bond type novel with little gadgets that look like postage stamps, but really act as liquid explosive or anything like that. Even the revolutionary design of the Red October was entirely feasible during that time period. The Red October is a member of the Typhoon class of Soviet submarine, which during the 1980s threatened to wipe out the American way of life. Reader of The Hunt for Red October should realize that Tom Clancy is not only a fiction writer; he has written many books on the real life nature of warfare, Submarine and Aircraft Carrier coming immediately to mind.
So while maybe not the most exciting of a subject, Tom Clancy does a very superb job of making the reader feel as if he is right in the conning tower of a nuclear submarine, or the cockpit of a Harrier VTOL aircraft. Clancy's attempt to make all of his readers feel at home with warfare is a quality that will keep not only military historians and enthusiasts but, those of the civilian world coming back for more.
Book Review: The First is Always the Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Review: Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red OctoberIt is December 1986 and Captain First Rank Marko Ramius, son of a dominant Communist Party Secretary and the Soviet Union's most confident and acclaimed submarine commander, is setting out to sea with his country's newest and greatest military venture. She contains an advanced new quiet propulsion system that allows her to almost perfectly escape both radar and sonar detection, a terrifying first strike vehicle. She is also carrying one-hundred and eighty two nuclear warheads and twenty-six missile delivery systems. Her name is Krazny Oktyabr (Red October) .Once at sea, Ramius contravenes his orders and disappears into the North Atlantic after setting a course for the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Both Soviet and American leaders are petrified, but they insist on snowballing each other with false information. Fears of either a surprise attack on the US or a possible defection abound. Both navies go on full alert, eventually resulting in a massive confrontation in the North Atlantic. And, just for kicks, Clancy tosses the British into the mix to really confuse things!
As Clancy's first, and quite possibly best, work, I feel that this is a very firmly woven story all together. The characters, even those like the C.I.A. Deputy Director (Operations), Robert Ritter who do not appear for very long are exceedingly well developed and presented. The details in the book are amazing, from the encrypted messages to the details and intricacies of the interior of the submarines and the extensive knowledge of military protocol and procedure presented. It definitely gives an "eye opening" experience to the reader.
I have heard many times that this book, like so many of Clancy's other novels, is too technical, and people who do not have previous knowledge of these topics have a hard time "following." Granted, Clancy has the peculiar flair for confusing readers with the technical military lingo that has become his benchmark. Though, the plot is easy enough to follow that even if one is stuck on a word or phrase or even an entire conversation (case in point: encrypted messages) the surrounding events of the story are actually easy to read through. There are even times when it is possible to infer a words meaning based upon who is speaking , where they are and at what point in the story you are.
All told I was very impressed with this novel. I did, however have a problem with the "denouement." With all of the unanswered questions that Clancy had developed through out the story, I was taken aback by the second climax that the author tossed in to the mix, and to be quite honest began to lose interest. I was almost to the point where I wanted to flip through to the end of the book just to see what happens to Ramius. I realize that he had to get the defected and crippled ship back to port somehow, but the reader is only interested in Ramius, they want to see what happens to defectors. I don't have any real suggestions for fixing it, so I guess I'm just complaining. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and was very impressed with it.
5 out of 5 Stars
Book Review: There is one woman in this book and she opens a door on p 254
Summary: 2 Stars
Look, I'm just not the audience this book is intended for. I'm female, Australian, in my early 30's and I have little to no interest in the military, the CIA and submarines. I had to read this book for a class, otherwise I would have abandoned it to a park bench somewhere around page 20. I can appreciate that Clancy has a frightening thorough and incredibly detailed knowledge of submarines and military tactics. Bully for him. He's also good at plot - the book is plotted with 100 pound bags of cement (and moves just about as quickly as Red October can turn in the water ie. v. slowly). Some characters are well rounded (Jack Ryan, Jonesy, Ramius, the Admiral) and others are quite intriguing.
Now for the bad news - this book moves about as fast as you would carrying those 100 pound cement bags up Mt Vesuvius. It is S-L-O-W. It has tedious sub plots and a bunch of forgettable characters who are dropped in only to perform some minor plot function. The book jumps around from submarines, to the military, to the CIA (who are apparently hard drinkers as they are constantly pouring drinks or lighting up a smoke - God save me from the late 70's and early 80's government worker), to the Russians, to the Americans, to Jack Ryan. It all gets a bit complex and too hard to keep up with. I don't give two figs about submarines, how they're made or reactors and torpedoes. So all of that was Boring with a capital B.
I have also discovered that not that many people have actually read this book. Half the reviews on Amazon seem to be for the movie (which is fine, but as I was forced to read through this almost 500 page behemoth boring book I refuse to let someone who spent a couple of hours watching Sean Connery on the telly act like they went through what I went through, nuh uh, no way) and pretty much everyone who saw me with the book said "I've seen the movie". So yeah, beware of people giving this book 5 stars who only watched the movie.
As I said, this book wasn't targeted towards women. The only women in the book are the wives of some of the main-ish characters who never actually appear in the book and instead are talked about as perfect wives (Jack Ryan's wife is a specialist eye doctor as well...whatever!) and mothers. The one woman in the book appears on page 254 and opens a door. Oh, and a secretary appears every now and then with some coffee. *insert eye roll here*
Read at your own risk and probably only if you really love the navy, you're interested in the Cold War and you love submarines. For those of us on Amazon who have actually read the book, I would like to humbly suggest we all get together and get tattooed or something because really, this was an experience that will long be remembered, but possibly not for the right reasons!