'The Hunt for Red October' by Tom Clancy
'The Hunt for Red October' by Tom Clancy

The good

  • An intriguing look at the world of nuclear submarines. It is insane that, every single day, there are gigantic metal vehicles, about 2 football fields in length, made out of titanium, weighing nearly 50,000 pounds, with no windows or visibility at all, using sonar and radar and lasers as “sight,” powered by nuclear reactors, carrying up to 1,000 nuclear warheads, floating completely silently under the ocean for months at a time, so that no one can find them… And that’s our deterrent against nuclear war.

  • Some fun Cold War politics, spying, intrigue, stand offs, and the like.

  • Some fun naval tactics and battles.

The not so good

  • A rare case where the movie was better than the book.

  • It’s a Jack Ryan book, but he doesn’t have a particularly important role in this one.

Rating: 4 stars