Red Rabbit: A Jack Ryan Novel, Book 3
Written by Tom Clancy
Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Tom Clancy returns to Jack Ryan's early days, in an extraordinary novel of global political drama.
"Smart and likable, Jack Ryan has become one of the best-known characters in contemporary American fiction." - The Washington Post
Long before he was President or head of the CIA, before he fought terrorist attacks on the Super Bowl or the White House, even before a submarine named Red October made its perilous way across the Atlantic, Jack Ryan was an historian, teacher, and recent ex-Marine temporarily living in England while researching a book. A series of deadly encounters with an IRA splinter group had brought him to the attention of the CIA's Deputy Director, Vice Admiral James Greer-as well as his counterpart with the British SIS, Sir Basil Charleston-and when Greer asked him if he wanted to come aboard as a freelance analyst, Jack was quick to accept. The opportunity was irresistible, and he was sure he could fit it in with the rest of his work.
And then Jack forgot all about the rest of his work, because one of his first assignments was to help debrief a high-level Soviet defector, and the defector told an amazing tale: Top Soviet officials, including Yuri Andropov, were planning to assassinate the Pope, John Paul II.
Could it be true? As the days and weeks go by, Ryan must battle, first to try to confirm the plot, and then to prevent it, but this is a brave new world, and nothing he has done up to now has prepared him for the lethal game of cat-and-mouse that is the Soviet Union versus the United States. In the end, it will be not just the Pope's life but the stability of the Western world that is at stake. . . and it may already be too late for a novice CIA analyst to do anything about it.
"Clancy creates not only compelling characters but frighteningly topical situations and heart-stopping action," wrote The Washington Post about The Bear and the Dragon. "Among the handful of superstars, Clancy still reigns, and he is not likely to be dethroned any time soon." These words were never truer than about the remarkable pages of his breathtaking new novel. This is Clancy at his best-and there is none better.
Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy's many thrillers include The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. He died in 2013.
More audiobooks from Tom Clancy
Locked On Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Against All Enemies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Threat Vector Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Red Rabbit
Related audiobooks
The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Russians Among Us: Sleeper Cells, Ghost Stories, and the Hunt for Putin’s Spies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Operation Whisper: The Capture of Soviet Spies Morris and Lona Cohen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Statesman and the Storyteller: John Hay, Mark Twain, and the Rise of American Imperialism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack London: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First Conspiracy (Young Reader's Edition): The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Mask 10: Death Stops Payment: And Other Crime Fiction from the Legendary Magazine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dancing with the Devil: Sex, Espionage, and the U.S. Marines: The Clayton Lonetree Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Long History Of Presidents As Authors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Strike: TWA Flight 800 and the Attack on America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Decade of Disruption: America in the New Millennium Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Question of Standing: The History of the CIA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enemies of the People Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Separation Of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Warlock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If The South Had Won The Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Am Spartacus!: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Soul of Viktor Tronko Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lincoln in the World: The Making of A Statesman and the Dawn of American Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Heritage History of the Presidents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Sons: The Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman (40th Anniversary Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Heroes: Profiles of Men and Women Who Shaped Early America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Suspense For You
The Perfect Marriage: a completely gripping psychological suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wrong Place Wrong Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silent Patient Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Teacher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guest List: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Misery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fool Me Once Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Missing Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/511/22/63: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Mercedes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bright Young Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Know You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The It Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stillwater Girls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Lies Between Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terminal List: A Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Turn of the Key Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Red Rabbit
674 ratings17 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What can I say? Anything Tom Clancy does is brilliant.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billed as an early Jack Ryan, Jack has only a little to do in this novel. It was short, abridged, I believe. Many of he characters used in previous novels are introduced. Fun book, on to my next Clancy novel.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A 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
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Red 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 you do, don’t start with this one.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This was an extremely disappointing book. I have liked Tom Clancy in the past but I could hardly force myself to finish this book. The plot of this book could have been completed in 200 or less pages. There was a lot of unnecessary "filler" and I had a really hard time with the Rabbit's wife being so complacent and willing to unthinkingly "obey" her husband. I had a very hard time believing a lot of the characters and their actions in this book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book flowed along pretty well up until the ending. I felt that Clancy grasped the reader well, but then rushed the last two chapters. I am trying to read the Jack Ryan novels in chronological order so this novel was the third novel that I have read. I can say that this was not his best work so far.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brilliant. Couldn't put it down.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Really poor example of Clancy's work. The basic plot (USSR decides to assassinate the Pope) has promise but there's far too much verbiage involving Ryan and his tiresome wife, or Ryan's superiors in the CIA etc. Clancy has no real idea how English people talk and should avoid trying to write them into his books. The best bits are those set in Russia, and the denouement. Could have been halved in length. There are much better Clancy books, eg Sum of All fears or Hunt for Red October, or Cardinal of the Kremlin
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long before he was President or head of the CIA, before he fought terrorist attacks on the Super Bowl or the White House, even before a submarine named Red October made its perilous way across the Atlantic, Jack Ryan was a historian, teacher, and recent ex-Marine temporarily living in England while researching a book. A series of deadly encounters with an IRA splinter group had brought him to the attention of the CIA's Deputy Director, Vice Admiral James Greer-as well as his counterpart with the British SIS, Sir Basil Charleston-and when Greer asked him if he wanted to come aboard as a freelance analyst, Jack was quick to accept. The opportunity was irresistible, and he was sure he could fit it in with the rest of his work. And then Jack forgot all about the rest of his work, because one of his first assignments was to help debrief a high-level Soviet defector, and the defector told an amazing tale: Top Soviet officials, including Yuri Andropov, were planning to assassinate the Pope, John Paul II. Could it be true? As the days and weeks go by, Ryan must battle, first to try to confirm the plot, and then to prevent it, but this is a brave new world, and nothing he has done up to now has prepared him for the lethal game of cat-and-mouse that is the Soviet Union versus the United States. In the end, it will be not just the Pope's life but the stability of the Western world that is at stake. . . and it may already be too late for a novice CIA analyst to do anything about it.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5And two stars are generous. Tom Clancy’s “Red Rabbit” is a relatively good story undone by 100 plus unnecessary pages of tiresome, clichéd dialogue. Oh, by the way, Jack Ryan doesn’t prevent the Pope from getting shot and I really haven't revealed anything you didn't already know. In the dictionary next to the word "potboiler" you will find the title, "Red Rabbit." Not worth the time unless it's the only thing to read and you’re stuck in Sri Lanka.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clancy is running out of things to say about, but they keep paying him to keep talking.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Clancy'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 pages. It's still a suspenseful story, worth reading.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5You've probably heard it before, but I'll say it again: this book needed significantly more editing. It reads like the editor never bothered to crack it open. Entire passages seemed to be copied and pasted in multiple places throughout the book.And, seriously, if you've already read "The Cardinal of the Kremlin", you won't be in for too many surprises. The stories are very, very similar. This one seemed to have stronger language.It's not a horrible book, but it is on the slow side, and the bad editing makes it even harder to trudge through.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Clancy did a good job of weaving a story around Mehmet Ali Agca's (real-life) failed attempt on the life of Pope John II in 1981. Here Sir Ryan has started work as an anaylst for the CIA. His first post is in London under British tutelage on the Russian desk. Though an desk jocky would never be placed in the positions that our hero is in. But this is fiction and is interesting reading. As we follow the reasoning used by the KGB to remove the Pope from office. Clancy gets us involved in the KGB planning. While at the same time showing us what the CIA is doing in Moscow and what Jack Ryan is doing in London. And how they will all fit into place in the overall story. What we do not see is the execution of the KGBs side to the story. I would have like to see more of that developed since Clancy went to the effort of showing us everyone elses thoughts during the rest of the book. If he had done that I would have given this book 4.5 star rating. I like the detail Clancy puts into his story. It helps you understanding how the agency work and some of the obstacles involved. Not his best book. But I am very pleased to have read it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clancy, as always, is a good read. Suspenseful and engaging, though not his best work. Worth the read if you are into his main series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Only about 600 pages, almost a short story for Clancy. Normally he is just warming up at that page count. Set after “Patriot Games” and before “Hunt for Red October”. Jack and family live in London, where he is writing that book about Admiral Halsey that Ramius commented on…. Things develop on the other side of the Iron Curtain and Jack gets into analysis and some things that weren’t really his to get into… Nice one, though a bit short. Also, compared to the other novels, a fairly straight forward and simple story. Will be interesting to see if the next book is like that as well.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jack Ryan is a new analyst working for the CIA, and has been sent over to Britain to work with the SIS for a time. Ed and Mary Pat Foley have just taken up their new posting in Moscow as the CIA’s Chief of Station in the Soviet Capital. Meanwhile the chairman of the KGB wants to kill the pope. Oleg Zaitsev, an officer in the KGB’s central communications department isn’t happy about this, and wants to defect to America as an act of conscience.This book is Tom Clancy’s latest novel to date, and is set very early in the Jack Ryan timeline, shortly after the events in Patriot Games. Before reading the book I read a number of reviews on Amazon.co.uk, each giving very different opinions, some of which I share. The book was an enjoyable thriller, with a distinct lack of the huge swathes of technical material that always annoyed me about some of Clancy’s books. However there were a number of bad points to this book. Although Jack Ryan was ostensibly the main character he wasn’t in it a lot of the time. There was no one major character to follow, which isn’t neccesarily a bad thing, but in this case it jumped from character to character a little too much. Clancy really did take every opportunity to tell the reader how great America was, and how backward and inferior Britain was, which got a little annoying at times – there were even some factual inaccuracies about Britain! Overall an enjoyable enough thriller, but not all that memorable. If you’re a Clancy fan then definitely read it, otherwise, try one of his earlier books- they’re so much better.