Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #386293 in Books
• Published on: 1984-01-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 387 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet submarine commander has just made a fateful decision: the Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. And the most incredible chase in history is on.

The Hunt for Red October is the runaway bestseller that launched Tom Clancy's phenomenal career. A military thriller so accurate and convincing that the author was rumoured to have been debriefed by the White House. Its theme: the greatest espionage coup in history. Its story: the chase for a runaway, top secret Russian missile submarine. END

Synopsis
Both the Americans and the Soviets commence an intense naval search when a trusted and skilled Soviet naval officer defects--using the USSR's most valuable nuclear submarine as his escape vehicle.

Customer Reviews

The first and the best of Tom Clancy novels - also the best techno thriller until now
This is the book which started it all - the great techno thrillers featuring Jack Ryan, a brave non nonsense CIA analyst with a great future ahead. When it was written, this story was incredibly daring, in two points.
First, it was technologically very advanced - there is lot of military hardware involved and its description is more detailed that usually in spy books. A great lot of military jargon fills this book, but somehow it is not a problem, to the contrary, it gives it a unique flavour which me for one I immediately liked.
The second courageous thing was to portray Americans and British clearly as good guys and the Soviets clearly as bad guys. Let's face it - during the Cold War this was the case, but usually in books and movies authors and directors tried to muddle things, showing bad US politicians, stupid western generals and greedy western businessmen facing usually renegade warmongering soviet officials, with the peace being finally found between the moderates of both camps. Nothing of the kind in this book - here, Soviet regime is bad, and West is OK. In the very beginning we see a group of Soviet officers, who, having all suffered from the communist regime, decide to defect and go West - but not empty handed. They want to give to western powers the most perfect strategic nuclear submarine ever build, the best in the Soviet Navy, "Krasnyi Oktiabr" (Red October), a modified giant submarine of TYPHOON class (those ships really exist). Soviet Navy of course will do everything possible to prevent it, find the Red October and destroy it. And so begins The Hunt for Red October! This book is so thrilling, that I finished it reading at 3AM, because I wouldn't sleep before knowing the end, and standing, because I couldn't take the tension. There are many surprising twists in the book, many very likeable characters, and a great deal of true information about modern naval warfare. I recommend this book with all my heart - if you have to read only one techno thriller in your life, it should be this one. If you want to read two, your second choice should be "The Cardinal of Kremlin", which is a totally stunning continuation of this book.
If by any chance you saw the movie "The Hunt for Red October" with Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, Tim Curry, Fred Dalton Thompson and James Earl Jones, please be advised, that although it is a honest effort, the book is much, much better and smarter.

A thriller
The book is full of action , suspense, drama and amazingly moving characters . Also recommended: Putin's Russia, Union Moujik,Kremlin Rising

'The Hunt For The Red October' - Tom Clancy
This book was fantastic. I decided to read it after seeing the film (which I loved)and it up'ed my love of the story miles. This was the first Clancy novel that Ive read and I've just started on the third, the second being equally as good.

The story is of a defecting russian submarine captain who is being chased by three sets of hunters; the russians who want to get him before he defects, the americans who want him before he begins a war and Jack Ryan whose beliefs of his defection sets the tension for this novel.

There is quite a lot of technical terms used, which if heard may push away some readers, but Clancy has done well to keep the less knowledgable naval reader (like myself) informed.

This is a great read which has excitment and tension and the use of technical terms that Clancy teaches you helps to make you feel more involved and knowledgable within the stories origins.

If you enjoy this I strongly recommend the second book 'Red Storm Rising'