 First edition | |
| Author | Tom Clancy |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Derrick Hagon |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jack Ryan |
Release number | 9 |
| Genre | |
| Publisher | G.P. Putnam's Sons |
Publication date | August 5, 2002 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover,Paperback), Audio |
| Pages | 640 |
| ISBN | 0399148701 |
| Preceded by | The Bear and the Dragon |
| Followed by | Dead or Alive |
Red Rabbit is aspy thriller novel, written byTom Clancy and released on August 5, 2002. The plot occurs a few months after the events ofPatriot Games (1987), and incorporates the1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. Main characterJack Ryan, now an analyst for theCentral Intelligence Agency, takes part in the extraction of a Soviet defector who knows of aKGB plot to kill the pontiff. The book debuted at number one onThe New York Times Best Seller list.[1]
In 1982,Pope John Paul II privately issues a letter to thecommunist Polish government, stating that he will resign from the papacy and return to his hometown unless they cease their repression of counterrevolutionary movements in Poland, particularly theSolidarity trade union. Called the Warsaw Letter, it is later forwarded toMoscow, enraging Committee for State Security (KGB) directorYuri Andropov. He decides to plan the Pope's assassination, which he believes will reinvigoratecommunism in Eastern Europe, perceived by many to be in a state of decline. Known only by the number 15-8-82-666 for security reasons, the assassin is then selected as aTurk Muslim (understood to beMehmet Ali Ağca), who would then be eliminated by BulgarianKDS officer Boris Strokov afterwards fordeniability. The operation is later unanimously approved by thePolitburo.
Meanwhile, Oleg Zaitzev, a communications officer in the KGB tasked with sending and receiving encrypted dispatches to and from KGB stations across Europe, pieces together the plot to kill the Pope, and becomes deeply troubled with the prospect of murdering an innocent person for political purposes. He later decides to make contact with the localCIA station chief, Edward Foley, as well as his wife and agent Mary Pat, intending to defect and then be extracted out of the Soviet Union with his family, in exchange for providing information on the assassination plot as well as the names of KGB deep-penetration agents in the American and British governments.
The Foleys instruct Zaitzev to bring his family toBudapest,Hungary, under the guise of taking a vacation. They are then to be assisted by BritishSecret Intelligence Service (SIS) officers stationed in the city, because the CIA station there is compromised; as a result,Jack Ryan, former Marine and the CIA liaison to SIS in London, is sent there to represent the agency. One early morning, the Zaitzevs are spirited out of the hotel they were staying. Accompanied by Ryan, they are then smuggled toYugoslavia, where they immediately fly to the United Kingdom. SIS agents plant dead bodies that are physically identical to the family in their hotel room, which is then set on fire, thus deceiving the KGB.
After settling down in a safehouse outsideManchester, Zaitzev reveals what he knows about the assassination plot, which alarms the SIS and the CIA. Ryan is later sent toSt. Peter's Square inVatican City to accompany the British SIS officers on the ground to ascertain how the attack on the Pope will play out, as well as to try capturing the shooter. At the Pope's weekly audience, Ryan manages to capture Strokov; however, the Pope is shot by the real shooter, Ağca. Nevertheless, the pontiff recovers from his wounds. It is then revealed that Strokov was executed by the British as retaliation for murdering Soviet defectorGeorgi Markov on British soil four years ago.
Red Rabbit takes elements fromFrederick Forsyth's thriller novelThe Day of the Jackal (1973), although the assassin "is never so fully realized nor as sympathetic as the Jackal". Additionally in the novel, Clancy discusses the tradecraft ofespionage, as well as life in Moscow before the fall of communism.[2]
The book debuted at number one onthe New York Times bestseller list. It also debuted at number one on theUSA Today's Best-selling Books list for the week of August 16, 2002.[3]
The novel received mixed reviews. As Marc Cerasini stated in his essay on the novel: "After the history-making events of September 11, 2001, a nostalgic trip back to theCold War might not have been the novel Tom Clancy's fans were anticipating." In a mixed review,Publishers Weekly derided the lack of suspense, which is "a disappointment when other writers (Forsyth inDay of the Jackal, for one) have shown that there can be enough tension in a fated-to-fail assassination plot to give a stroke to a yoga master". The book was also notable for its disregard for real history, asCNN reminded that the events inPatriot Games occur after thewedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, which in turn occurs after the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.[4]
Conversely, the book was praised for its "believable and encyclopedic" plot;Publishers Weekly remarked: "It's utterly fascinating to read Clancy's playing out of that likely scenario—is there a writer in the world who brings so much verisimilitude to scenes both high (Politburo meetings) and low (details of spy craft and everyday Soviet life)?"[5]The Washington Post praised the book, stating: "Clancy moves skillfully among a large cast of characters in Washington, London and Moscow, and develops many of them effectively. [His] writing has improved since the clunky prose and robotic dialogue of his early novels."[6]
Born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005
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