However that was back in the day when the Russians could be counted on to play the nasty super power. With a slight suspicion that Clancy’s books may have lost their relevance I took up “Red Rabbit“. Written in 2002, it’s a prequel to the character “Jack Ryan“and his adventures years before he had heard of the Red October.
Red Rabbit takes place in the 1980s when Reagan and Thatcher defended the borders of democracy and it was still better to be dead rather than red. Jack Ryan is once again the hero through whom we live this adventure. He is a cross between a reluctant James Bond and an accountant, a strange mix to be sure.
Working for the CIA he has to help a Russian with a conscience defect to the west, along with his head full of top secret secrets and news of a KGB plot to kill the pope.
The story moves along at the steady and imaginative pace you would expect from this author, the description of life behind the iron curtain is interesting and at times this book is quite entertaining.
But, that’s about it. Maybe my suspicions were right and this is the type of story you can’t really appreciate it so long after Reagan’s “Evil Empire“speech. Which is a shame as I really wanted to enjoy those halcyon days of submarines, spies and lots and lots of bad guys getting their comeuppance?
VERDICT6,5 out of 10Yeah its worth a read, but Patriot Games and Red October told similar type of adventures so much better, or maybe that just my memory playing tricks on me.