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Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:It is very early in Jack Ryan’s career—so early that he has not yet even become an analyst for the CIA. But a series of nasty encounters with an IRA splinter group has brought Ryan to the attention of the CIA’s Deputy Director and his British counterpart. They offer him his first job as a freelance analyst, and he readily accepts. Debriefing a high-level Russian defector, however, he comes across an unbelievable plot: top Soviet officials, including show more Yuri Andropov, are planning to assassinate Pope John Paul II. Ryan must battle first to verify the plot, and then to stop it. But what chance does a novice CIA analyst have against a cat-and-mouse game between the world’s two great superpowers?“Among the handful of superstars, Clancy still reigns, and he is not likely to be dethroned anytime soon.”—Washington Post. show less
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Hedgepeth For those who enjoy the behind the scenes espionage/intelligence gathering
Member Reviews
Aardig verhaal, maar wel een waarbij duidelijk de Amerikaanse arrogantie en superioriteit blijkt.
De plot belooft veel, maar helaas, het heeft nooit de spanning van Clancy's betere werken gehaald. Erger nog, het boek lijkt gemaakt te zijn van de geweigerde onderdelen uit 'kardinaal van het Kremlin;. Want het is een prequel, het einde is al een uitgemaakte zaak. De karakters vormen het middelpunt van het verhaal, en daardoor ontwikkelt plot nooit verrassende wendingen waarmee dit boek een topper zou kunnen worden. Clancy's stijl is nog steeds fris en door zijn beschrijving van de handelswijze kan het zo naslag materiaal in Langley worden. Toch heeft het plot gebrek aan echte spanning en actie.
De plot belooft veel, maar helaas, het heeft nooit de spanning van Clancy's betere werken gehaald. Erger nog, het boek lijkt gemaakt te zijn van de geweigerde onderdelen uit 'kardinaal van het Kremlin;. Want het is een prequel, het einde is al een uitgemaakte zaak. De karakters vormen het middelpunt van het verhaal, en daardoor ontwikkelt plot nooit verrassende wendingen waarmee dit boek een topper zou kunnen worden. Clancy's stijl is nog steeds fris en door zijn beschrijving van de handelswijze kan het zo naslag materiaal in Langley worden. Toch heeft het plot gebrek aan echte spanning en actie.
What a difference a lot of hindsight makes.It was my first and probaly last Tom Clancy.Every single american in this book is super competent,super sagacious,can plot out the future events of soviet history in the most precise detail,and all in all are almost superhuman.I was continually annoyed at the patronising tone about the rest of the world,none of whom were shown as more than semi-competent.While the americans were supermen,the brits were bumbling around,and the book gave a bashing to almost everything british except the bacon!.The National Health service was derided,the only doctors were two drunkards who left their patient halfway through the operation to go for a drink.The Hungarians,oh well,the american spies didnt wash that show more morning,so that they could pass as Hungarian workmen.A whole nation tossed aside as dirty and unwashed.
The Italians? Ryan's smug wife Cathy seriously states that its possible that Italy may have a few competent doctors,but wishes the Pope had the services of brilliant american surgeons!
But Clancy's opinions of the Russians! Whereas every single american is saintly,every Russian is venal,cold,selfserving,and totally focused on getting western goods.Mary Pat,american spy is totally scathing of evrything russian-even the furs are not as good as US furs,even before they are sloppily sewn.Really.I never knew even US animals were superior to russian ones.
Even american spies are angelic,they gave up killing spy opponente years ago,and even at the end of the book,they hand over the spy,of COURSE captured by Ryan,to the british,who then murder him after 2 hours questioning.
No wonder the american armed services adore Clancy,he shows americans as the saviours of the world,so he is their poster boy.As I said at the beginning,everything is wonderful with 20 years hindsight.But it made me smile as Ryan seriously pontificates about the russians failure in Afghanistan,This book was written probably in 2001,and 10 years of american failure to cope with Afghanistan was still in the future.Not so wise and clearsighted with no hindsight,was he.
No,this book seiously infuriated me with it patronising attitude,smug belief that America is the greatest in every sphere of life.Couldnt some of the american characters have had at least a few human flaws,or made a couple of mistakes?I am more used to Len Deighton and John Le Carre where everyone is flawed,there is rarely a victorious outcome,and the whole murky world is one of rather sad depression.This whole book seemed a sort of updating of Ian Flemings ludicrous hyping of the british secret service,which other brit writers spent decades knocking down.Clancy just seems to have modernised the whole thing,but from an american perspective show less
The Italians? Ryan's smug wife Cathy seriously states that its possible that Italy may have a few competent doctors,but wishes the Pope had the services of brilliant american surgeons!
But Clancy's opinions of the Russians! Whereas every single american is saintly,every Russian is venal,cold,selfserving,and totally focused on getting western goods.Mary Pat,american spy is totally scathing of evrything russian-even the furs are not as good as US furs,even before they are sloppily sewn.Really.I never knew even US animals were superior to russian ones.
Even american spies are angelic,they gave up killing spy opponente years ago,and even at the end of the book,they hand over the spy,of COURSE captured by Ryan,to the british,who then murder him after 2 hours questioning.
No wonder the american armed services adore Clancy,he shows americans as the saviours of the world,so he is their poster boy.As I said at the beginning,everything is wonderful with 20 years hindsight.But it made me smile as Ryan seriously pontificates about the russians failure in Afghanistan,This book was written probably in 2001,and 10 years of american failure to cope with Afghanistan was still in the future.Not so wise and clearsighted with no hindsight,was he.
No,this book seiously infuriated me with it patronising attitude,smug belief that America is the greatest in every sphere of life.Couldnt some of the american characters have had at least a few human flaws,or made a couple of mistakes?I am more used to Len Deighton and John Le Carre where everyone is flawed,there is rarely a victorious outcome,and the whole murky world is one of rather sad depression.This whole book seemed a sort of updating of Ian Flemings ludicrous hyping of the british secret service,which other brit writers spent decades knocking down.Clancy just seems to have modernised the whole thing,but from an american perspective show less
Didn't make it past pg 50 on this one. Haven't read a Clancy in over a decade and decided to re-visit a fave author from my teens. Either my memory made his works better or this one is a far cry from the old ones but sheez!!! So much explaining! And not so much in the "this is how a nuclear bomb works" way but in a "let's review this beloved cast of characters in painful, awkward detail right away rather than just letting the reader get to know them as the story progresses" kind of way. No fun.
Red Rabbit was by far the weakest of all of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan books. Part of it was that even though it was a prequel, it really didn’t sound like Jack Ryan at all. Mostly it was the plot. Clancy thrillers always have a certain over-the-top quality to them. That’s what makes them fun. But they are always grounded in a certain level of realism. Unfortunately, Red Rabbit’s plot felt so contrived and disjointed that I had a difficult time believe that Clancy actually wrote it. Maybe it was an old draft that someone convinced him to publish anyway. Maybe every writer is destined to write at least one regrettable book in their career. If that’s the case, Red Rabbit is the one. If you have never read Tom Clancy before, whatever show more you do, don’t start with this one. show less
Clancy's big novels are always captivating, but this one felt tired compared to others. It's his most recent in the Jack Ryan saga, taking us back to Jack's early days as an analyst in the CIA. I've watched Clancy's writing carefully since the criticism was made about his use of a ghost writer. One thing I've noticed is even more prevalent in Red Rabbit: Clancy tends to use certain nuance phrasings repeatedly. It can be some simple phrase or point, but it will surface two or more times in different parts of the book. The structure always makes me wonder if he has some outline system for putting all of his thoughts into place and then occasionally repeats some idea he really likes. I suspect it's hard to keep track when writing that many show more pages. It's still a suspenseful story, worth reading. show less
Like a lot of Clancy's books, they are rather long winded. I get the idea that he was definitely paid by the word. This book could have easily been a couple hundred pages shorter and would have been a real page turner at that. This one has Jack Ryan getting dumped onto the Brits to help them get information from a defector out of Mother Russia. The defector says that the Pope is in danger of getting at least one bullet hole put into his body. Ryan finds himself on the team to try and stop this from happening. As is known in real life, a Turkish thug was employed to take out the Pope and almost succeeded. This is a novelization of that and using a real person in the old Soviet Union who, according to what Clancy wrote, had ordered the show more hit on the Pope. All in all, a good addition in the Ryan universe. Now onto something, perhaps, less wordy. show less
A long winded attempt at a spy-thriller that manages to combine predictability with improbability! Its only contribution to the genre is to confirm Le Carre status at The Master.
Read April 2004
Read April 2004
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Tom Clancy was born in Baltimore, Maryland on April 12, 1947. He graduated with a degree in English from Loyola College in 1969, became an insurance agent, and in 1973 became the owner of an insurance agency. It was not until 1980 that he started writing novels. His works include Red Storm Rising, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, The Sum of All Fears, show more Rainbow Six, Dead or Alive, and Threat Vector. His books The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger were adapted into major motion pictures. He also wrote nonfiction books including Into the Storm: A Study in Command, Submarine, Armored Cav, Fighter Wing, Airborne, and Reality Check: What's Going on Out There? He died on October 2, 2013 at the age of 66. His last book, Command Authority, co-authored with Mark Greaney, was published posthumously in December 2013 and made the New York Times bestseller list. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Red Rabbit
- Original title
- Red Rabbit
- Original publication date
- 2002
- People/Characters
- Jack Ryan; Cathy Ryan; Special Agent Daniel E. Murray; Vice Admiral James Greer, USN; Sir Basil Charleston; Pope John Paul II (show all 69); Yuriy Andropov; Ed Foley; Mary Pat Foley (Mary Patricia "Mary Pat" Foley); Mike Barnes; Robert "Bob" Ritter; Nigel Haydock; Penny Haydock; Joe Muller; Judge Arthur Moore; Oleg Zaitzev; Tom Sharp; Mick King; Colonel Aleksey Nikolayevick Rozhdestvenskiy, KGB; Randy Silvestri; Edward Beaverton; Chip Bennett; Professor Zoltan Biro; Leonid Breshnev; Ilya Fedorovich Bubovoy; Professor Albert Byrd; Bert Canderton; Dominic Corso; Brig. General George Dalton; Colonel d'Amici, USMC; Major Nikolay Konstantinovich Dobrik; Gunnery Sergeant Tom Drake, USMC; U.S. Ambassador Peter "Spike" Ericsson; Ron Fielding; Colonel Mikhail Semyonovich Filitov; U.S. Ambassador Ernest Fuller; Colonel Ruslan Borissovich Goderenko; Simon Harding; Peter Henderson; Sir George Hendley; Andy Hudson; Stephan Yevgeniyevich Ivanov; Emil Jacobs; Bernard Katz, MD; British Ambassador Sir John Kenny; Alan Kingston; Istvan Kovacs; Captain Budai Laszlo, Hungarian Border Guard; Vic Lucas; Sergeant Kerekes Mihaly, Hungarian Border Guard; Andreas Morrisay; Chris Morton; Patrick "Tiny" Nolan; Nick Nolfi; Phil Parker; Tony Prince; Tom Ridley; Sam Rosen, FACS; Mike Russell; John Sparrow; Ray Stores; Colonel Boris Andreyevich Strokov, KGB; Mikhail Suslov; James Szell; Nick Thompson [Red Rabbit]; Emma Thompson; Tom Trent; John Tyler; Dmitri Fedorovich Ustinov
- Important places
- London, England, UK; Century House, London, England, UK; Moscow, USSR; The Centre, Moscow, USSR; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Sombor, Serbia (as Zombor) (show all 13); Rome, Italy; U.S. Embassy, Rome, Italy; U.S. Embassy, Moscow, USSR; Budapest, Hungary; Belgrade, Serbia; St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City; Manchester, England, UK
- Important events
- The attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II (1981-05-13)
- Epigraph
- The momentous thing in human
life is the art of winning the soul
good or evil.
PYTHAGORAS
Without recognizing the ordinances
of Heaven, it is impossible to be a
superior man.
CONFUCIUS - Dedication
- To Danny O and the men of Engine 52 and Ladder 52
- First words
- The scary part, Jack decided, was going to be driving.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)How clear his conscience had been was not apparent from physical examination.
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