This is not normally the kind of book I read as I hate political thrillers and conspiracy stories in general, but I really enjoyed this one from beginning to end. It's the only Clancy novel I own.

I found the situation believable as written, the characters believable and engaging and I found myself very caught up in what happened to them and caring about the outcome.

I found the technical language and naval slang used in the book very easy to follow as written and felt it added to the story without excluding someone like me who normally has no idea about things like this. ( )

I've read this book over 20 times since I was 11. The simplistic US = good, USSR = Bad is pretty bizarre but it's an intricate plot and every character who gets a name is interesting, even if they're not realistic. And heck, the movie has Alec Baldwin doing a Sean Connery impersonation. ( )

Excellent techno-thriller by Clancy. His worship of the US military does get tiring at times, but the book still manages to be fun and readable. ( )

Any novel that in its wake produces an entire new genre and turns the author into one of the best-selling authors of all time must be viewed as one of the great stories written. The Cold War is long since over and it is still a gripping read. The art-book crowd might poo poo on this book, but fiction is about storytelling and Clancy tells a story in a way that had not been successful prior to this. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, than the long list of techno-thriller writers are a testament to how powerful this book really was. ( )

My First clancy book...read it more than a dozen times! ( )