Red Storm Rising was a book I first read almost twenty years ago and I loved it back then. It was full of adventure and excitement of a fictional third world war fought across Europe with massed tank regiments, fictional fighter aircraft and aircraft carriers being hunted by submarines and helicopters. It was the type of story that twenty years ago couldn't be turned into a movie because its scope was so vast, but I wished it could.
Ironically twenty years later, with the technology that gave us The Lord of the Rings, an adaption of "Red Storm Rising" could easily be produced, but this technology has come too late.
Although this book was still a page turner and one of Tom Clancy's better stories, time has snatched away most of the stories impact. Although Russia still has the potential to be a war machine of terrifying strength and her deceit knows no bounds, the believability that drew me to this story all those years ago have faded away.
As with the majority of Clancy's earlier stuff the characters were no super hero's but common men thrown into desperate situations, the description of of battles and the scenery were first class, but alas I no longer believed in what I was being told could one day be true.
VERDICT 7 out of 10