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: The standard for this genre
Summary: 5 Stars
Of the Jack Ryan series of books by Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy's first successful effort, is my favorite. The characters are well-developed and Clancy brings the reader up to speed with military jargon and the thought process of the US and Russian military and political leadership. Clancy does a good job of explaining actual submarine warfare tactics and equipment limitations and vulnerabilities without being over-technical. The plot twists are nicely used to keep the story interesting. Even without such twists, the concept of a renegade "enemy" submarine with extraordinary capability was enough to attract and hold my interest.
It took me a while to get used to Clancy's style of jumping around to pick up on developments from all the different angles, but it was not very difficult to keep track of things if you do your reading over the course of just a few weeks and don't put down the book for too long.
Finally, I would tell fans of the movie that there is much more of the story to enjoy if you read the book and you will still find it interesting even if you remember the ending.
Book Review: Clancy's best developed character-the submarine
Summary: 5 Stars
Beginner's luck. This is Clancy's first book and probably his best. This book features Clancy's best developed and most realistic character, the submarine.
The story is well constructed and moves right along. As I started reading this book, I was afraid that the story would drag on with it taking forever for the Americans to figure out the Soviets secret. But that issue is resolved at the right time and the story moves right on to the next stage.
In this book, Clancy concentrates on the action and the technology without getting bogged down too much with character development. The characters are developed just enough for the requirements of the story. It is when Clancy tries to expand these characters in later books that he falls on his face. Even Jack Ryan seems like an interesting, well rounded and realistic character. He is smart, but not too smart and he has real flaws. In later books, he is a one dimensional superhero.
The only other Clancy book that is nearly this good is Clear and Present Danger. That one also sticks to the action with the characters just rounded off enough to support the story.
Book Review: A Work of Fiction for a Non-Fiction Reader
Summary: 5 Stars
As a reader of non-fiction, this was an excellent book to transition into fiction works. Clancy did an excellent job incorporating a lot of technical info into a great storyline. He develops the plot well and keeps the reader's attention by cleverly omitting the detail of what's happening until later in the novel. In contrary to what others have said, I feel that he does an excellent job capturing the thoughts and feelings of the characters and provides insight into the political struggles going on behind-the-scenes. Not only does he give the perspective of the American characters, but he also provides insight into the minds of the Russians. What would you be feeling if you were a Russian general giving up a good life in Russia for your own beliefs? Or how would a Russian ambassador handle a situation where he is forced to cover up what is really going on? Although I will concede that this book is not for everyone, if you enjoy reading about technology or politics/military (I include them together because they are very much intertwined), then I suggest giving this book a try. Hope this helps with your decision . . . .Book Review: The Hunt Has Ended (For a good book at least!)
Summary: 5 Stars
Greetings fellow Clancy fan. If you haven't read this book yet, your missing out on a real treat. This book is fantastic. It's intriguing charecters and incredible plot make it a must for and Clancy (or any military writer) fan. I was wildly entertained by this book and I learned alot from it. In my opinion, it is probably one of Clancy's best. By combining his knowledge of the military with a supurb writing style, Clancy has clearly demonstrated how a good book should be written.Of course, our hero is Jack Ryan, no surprise to any Clancy veteran. A brash CIA agent who is the only one capable to out fox Marco Ramius, the brillian Russian Captain who manages to defy practically the entire world.
Of course, I cant give away any details- those are for you to read- but the climax of the book as the two countries engage in the deadly game of cat and mouse is fantastic and crazy, with a huge monkey wrench thrown right in the middle that even I didn't see coming.
Hope that keeps you all in enough suspense. Go! Go buy the book and read it! It is great! Probably Clancy's Best! Indeed the hunt for a good book is over!
Book Review: A Much better novel than the movie!
Summary: 4 Stars
I picked up The Hunt for Red October after seeing the movie (many times) and I was very surprised at how different the two were. I should tell you right at the top that the movie is one of my all time favorite films, so I started off with the idea that I would like this book.The first thing that struck me was the differences in the character of Jack Ryan. In the movie he knew so much about Ramius that it seemed like they were brothers, but in the book it seemed much more realistic that Ryan knew little to nothing about Ramius. Also the amount of detail about the lives of the Russian crew was very interesting. I enjoyed reading about what the Russian childhood was like for Ramius.
The thing that surprised me the most about this book was that it was fairly easy to read. I had always heard that it was very technical and a very slow read, but I found it just the opposite. While there were technical parts, most of the book was build up for the main turn over of The Red October. I also liked how Skip Taylor played a much bigger role in the story.
All in all a good read, that I would recommend highly.