Gripping military thriller about the chase after a top-secret Russian missile submarine.
The Hunt for Red October (JACK RYAN)
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision: the Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. And the most incredible chase in history is on....
The Hunt for Red October is the runaway bestseller that launched Tom Clancy's phenomenal career. A military thriller so accurate and convincing that the author was rumored to have been debriefed by the White House. Its theme: the greatest espionage coup in history. Its story: the chase for a runaway top secret Russian missile sub. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Flawless…frighteningly genuine.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Remarkable…intricate and nerve tingling.”—Clive Cussler
“Gripping narrative…Navy buffs and thriller adepts have been mesmerized.”—Time
--This text refers to an alternate
Mass Market Paperback
edition.
“Remarkable…intricate and nerve tingling.”—Clive Cussler
“Gripping narrative…Navy buffs and thriller adepts have been mesmerized.”—Time
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More About the Author
Tom Clancy is America's, and the world's, favorite international thriller author. Starting with THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, all thirteen of his previous books have hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. His books, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, PATRIOT GAMES, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and THE SUM OF ALL FEARS have been made into major motion pictures. He lives in Maryland where he is a co-owner of the Baltimore Orioles.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Hunt for Red October
Although it was the first of the series to be published, Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October is actually the third novel in the Jack Ryan series. It propelled Clancy, who had been an insurance salesman with only a few letters to the editor under his writing belt, to best-selling superstar. His success with military and espionage-related fiction earned him a title he does not readily accept: father of the techno-thriller.
This novel, if I remember correctly, was the first work of fiction published by the Naval Institute Press, the publishing arm of the United States Naval Institute, a civilian entity which promotes all things naval, including the study of naval history, strategy, technology, and tactics. Some of the Naval Institute Press' other books include A.D. Baker's Fleets of the World, Clay Blair, Jr.'s Silent Victory, and Norman Friedman's Desert Victory: The War for Kuwait. But considering that although Clancy's novel deals with the workings of other federal agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI, the National Security Agency, and both the Executive and Legislative branches, the heart of the story is a sea chase.
Based loosely on a 1975 incident in which a Soviet frigate attempted to defect to the West, The Hunt for Red October tells the by-now familiar tale of how Captain First Rank Marko Ramius and a group of selected officers aboard the Soviet Navy's newest Typhoon-class SSBN (the Navy designator for a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, or "boomer") band together to defect to the United States and hand over the Red Navy's most advanced "stealth" submarine.
Ramius, you see, is motivated by one of the strongest emotions of all: the desire for revenge against the callous Soviet state. Not only for the death of his wife as a result of negligence by a well-connected surgeon, but for all the injustices he has witnessed from even his early childhood. His father, a Lithuanian communist and devoted Party apparatchik, was responsible for many deaths and unjust acts, and Marko, raised by a decent grandmother, sees both his father and the State as monsters who care for nothing but power and expansion.
In this novel, set sometime in the mid-1980s, Clancy introduces us to Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst being groomed by his mentor, Admiral James Greer, for better and more crucial postings within the Agency. Now currently assigned as CIA liaison in London (which puts this novel's setting to be after the current Clancy novel Red Rabbit), it is Ryan who first hands the U.S. its first intelligence data on Red October, courtesy of the British Secret Service.
The novel's focus is on Ramius' defection attempt aboard the Red October, which has been modified to use a "caterpillar" drive (described in the movie version as a "jet engine for the water") which enables a sub to glide through the ocean almost undetectably. It also deals with the Red Navy's desperate attempts to seek and destroy the defectors' submarine, and the almost equally desperate moves of an Anglo-American fleet to acquire Red October.
The novel, as if often the case, is far better than its film adaptation. Not that John McTiernan did a bad job with Paramount's 1990 feature film, but in slimming down the characters and situations to fit within a 2-hour movie, far too many exciting scenes were ignored and the scope of the sea chase is narrowed down from "seeing" almost the whole spectrum of the Soviet Navy in the novel to actually seeing one Bear-Foxtrot anti-submarine bomber and one Alfa-class attack sub. I am not saying the movie is not worth watching, but the book, with its various characters and storylines (some of them which would be woven back and forth in all the other Ryan novels), is far better.
Although it was the first of the series to be published, Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October is actually the third novel in the Jack Ryan series. It propelled Clancy, who had been an insurance salesman with only a few letters to the editor under his writing belt, to best-selling superstar. His success with military and espionage-related fiction earned him a title he does not readily accept: father of the techno-thriller.
This novel, if I remember correctly, was the first work of fiction published by the Naval Institute Press, the publishing arm of the United States Naval Institute, a civilian entity which promotes all things naval, including the study of naval history, strategy, technology, and tactics. Some of the Naval Institute Press' other books include A.D. Baker's Fleets of the World, Clay Blair, Jr.'s Silent Victory, and Norman Friedman's Desert Victory: The War for Kuwait. But considering that although Clancy's novel deals with the workings of other federal agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI, the National Security Agency, and both the Executive and Legislative branches, the heart of the story is a sea chase.
Based loosely on a 1975 incident in which a Soviet frigate attempted to defect to the West, The Hunt for Red October tells the by-now familiar tale of how Captain First Rank Marko Ramius and a group of selected officers aboard the Soviet Navy's newest Typhoon-class SSBN (the Navy designator for a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, or "boomer") band together to defect to the United States and hand over the Red Navy's most advanced "stealth" submarine.
Ramius, you see, is motivated by one of the strongest emotions of all: the desire for revenge against the callous Soviet state. Not only for the death of his wife as a result of negligence by a well-connected surgeon, but for all the injustices he has witnessed from even his early childhood. His father, a Lithuanian communist and devoted Party apparatchik, was responsible for many deaths and unjust acts, and Marko, raised by a decent grandmother, sees both his father and the State as monsters who care for nothing but power and expansion.
In this novel, set sometime in the mid-1980s, Clancy introduces us to Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst being groomed by his mentor, Admiral James Greer, for better and more crucial postings within the Agency. Now currently assigned as CIA liaison in London (which puts this novel's setting to be after the current Clancy novel Red Rabbit), it is Ryan who first hands the U.S. its first intelligence data on Red October, courtesy of the British Secret Service.
The novel's focus is on Ramius' defection attempt aboard the Red October, which has been modified to use a "caterpillar" drive (described in the movie version as a "jet engine for the water") which enables a sub to glide through the ocean almost undetectably. It also deals with the Red Navy's desperate attempts to seek and destroy the defectors' submarine, and the almost equally desperate moves of an Anglo-American fleet to acquire Red October.
The novel, as if often the case, is far better than its film adaptation. Not that John McTiernan did a bad job with Paramount's 1990 feature film, but in slimming down the characters and situations to fit within a 2-hour movie, far too many exciting scenes were ignored and the scope of the sea chase is narrowed down from "seeing" almost the whole spectrum of the Soviet Navy in the novel to actually seeing one Bear-Foxtrot anti-submarine bomber and one Alfa-class attack sub. I am not saying the movie is not worth watching, but the book, with its various characters and storylines (some of them which would be woven back and forth in all the other Ryan novels), is far better.
37 of 43 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Russia's newest Typhoon-class nuclear missile submarine the Red October, equipped with a silent Propulsion system, sets sail from Murmansk. Meanwhile a mysterious letter is sent from the captain of the Red October, Marko Ramius, to the Chief Political officer of the Soviet Navy. Ramius has made a fateful decision, the Red October is heading west. The Americans want her and the Russians want her back. Soon after the whole Soviet fleet from the Mediterranean and North Atlantic are sent to hunt down the mighty ship. CIA-analyst Jack Ryan believes that Ramius is trying to defeat the west, however the Pentagon thinks that Ryan is lying and believe the Soviets, who told them that Ramius is a "mad man" and will launch a nuclear weapon at the United States. The Race between NATO and the Soviet Union begins, as does the most incredible chase in history.
Tom Clancy developes a strong feeling of intensity throughout the book. The suspense captivates the reader and makes it remarkably hard to put the book down. By using a lot of explicit, factual detail, Clancy is able to captivate the mind of the reader. The dialect used in "The Hunt for Red October" is also a major key, which helps this book keep the interest of even the least attentive readers. Clancy kept each page, each paragraph exciting, interesting and full of detail.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The Hunt for Red October written by Tom Clancey is by far one of the best submarine action-adventure techno-thrillers to come along in quite awhile. The action is so convincingly gripping you feel like you're there watching the story play out in front of you.
The plot is some espionage coup and this is a Jack Ryan novel, Claney's main hero in the book. Red October is a new class of Soviet submarine and it's captain, Captain First Rank Marko Ramius and his command crew have a plan to hijack the submarine and defect to the United States. This book is at the height of the cold war in time frame and Clancy does an excellent job setting the ground work and stage of the book. Red October is the latest in technology th Soviets can muster an the United States wants to find out more about it.
There are action-packed submarine chases chock-full of high suspense as Clancy works the plot and sub-plots to a masterfull stroke making this book a real page turned. I finished this book in one evening as I was riveted to the story as the character development was solid to the storyline.
As we read on in the book, you feel the emotions and adrenalin rush, making this one of Clancy's best written books. Buy this book and you'll have a story that you can read and reread as the adventure will remain fresh and electrifying.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable Escape From Reality
At times it seems like there are too many characters in the story or too much technical detail. But overall, as the story progresses, I begin to feel like I know the characters as... Read more
Published 6 days ago by Dianne Pawlak
1.0 out of 5 stars
Cold war propaganda at its worst
I have no problem with a cold-war novel for old times' sake, us versus them kind of thing. But this book is an unabashed propaganda screed, worse than anything I've ever seen. Read more
Published 7 days ago by TallGirl
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good book if it interests you
As usual Tom Clancy writes a great story but because of the details it's pretty long. But if you are interested in this stuff that is great. Otherwise just see the movie
Published 7 days ago by Jodi L. Borger
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a read
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Tom Clancy. I had a hard time putting the book down.
Published 15 days ago by Unknown
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, good read.
I liked the story, the plot, the amount of characters, the story line seemed to flow, without losing interest in the entire story line.
Published 18 days ago by Jane Kramer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding Book
I really enjoyed this book. It had been so long since I had seen the movie it was all new. This was my first Tom Clancy book and for sure not my last. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Charles Henry
4.0 out of 5 stars
one of clancy's best
great story, will keep you glue to the page for the entire ride, with more twists than most rollercoasters, great Naval yarn !
Published 22 days ago by kevin nash
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book that started it all.
I read this book many years ago from the Naval Institute Press and have been looking for an edition ever since. I was very glad to find it. Read more
Published 22 days ago by TPrist
4.0 out of 5 stars
a good read
The book is different from the movie and much better. Just an easy read that keeps you guessing what's going to
happen next.
happen next.
Published 23 days ago by ralph fluke
2.0 out of 5 stars
Howlers
OK, so I am only 30 years or so late in reading this book for the first time, so maybe this has been said before, but it just strikes me how hard it is to write a novel involving... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Ossian
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 37
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- The Bear and the Dragon (Jack Ryan) by Tom Clancy on 4 pages
- Divide and Conquer (Tom Clancy's Op-Centre, Book 7) by Jeff Rovin in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Acts of War (Tom Clancy's Op-Centre) by Jeff Rovin in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Executive Orders (Jack Ryan) by Tom Clancy in Front Matter, and Back Matter
See all 37 books this book cites
- eBay Online Auction by Neil J. Salkind on 5 pages
- Op-Center (Tom Clancy's Op-Center, Book 1) by Tom Clancy on 4 pages
- Call to Treason (Tom Clancy's Op-Center, Book 11) by Jeff Rovin on 4 pages
- Ruthless.Com (Tom Clancy's Power Plays, Book 2) by Tom Clancy on 4 pages
- Games of State (Tom Clancy's Op-Center, Book 3) by Tom Clancy on 4 pages
See all 100 books citing this book
