The Hunt for Red October

Executive Summary: A pretty fun spy thriller that occasionally gets bogged down by too much military jargon.

Audio book: This is my first time listening to a book read by J. Charles. He's a pretty good reader. I initially felt like he read too fast, but I either got used to it, or he slowed down. He does many accents, although with multiple Russian characters, I'm not sure if he made them all sound the same, or I simply couldn't tell them apart.

The book also uses sound effects to simulate phone calls and radio talk on the ships/submarines that I thought was well done. All and all I think the audiobook edition adds something extra to the story.

Full Review
This is my first time reading this book. I had previously seen and enjoyed the movie. It's been awhile so I have a hard time comparing the two. I might have slightly enjoyed the movie more however.

There are a few parts of this book that seemed to get bogged down with too much military jargon and side antidotes that I don't think always added much to the main story.

The main story however is a lot of fun though. There is a reason why several of Mr. Clancy's Jack Ryan books have been turned into movies. He does a great job writing a fast pace spy novel that translates well to a big screen. It doesn't seem like they had to do too much to the story to make a good movie out of it.

This isn't a book for great character depth or intricate subplots, but was the perfect choice as a palette cleanser from the last book I listened to. Most people are probably familiar with Tom Clancy and most likely Jack Ryan. He's not really a gun-toting action hero, but an intelligent analyst able to out think his enemies.

I plan to continue on in the series (in publication order rather than chronological order) at some point, especially if I can get a hold of them in audiobook for cheap or from the library.

3.5 Stars

Chi di voi non ha visto il film tratto da questo stupendo libro? Credo che se siete sui trent'anni, in pochi non l'avranno fatto. E tutti abbiamo nell'immaginario la figura di Marko Ramius, interpretata dal mitico Sean Connery.

Personalmente trovo che questo libro sia, secondo la mia personalissima classifica, il secondo in assoluto migliore dopo l'inarrivabile “Uragano Rosso”; spettacolare e ricco di suspense come tutti i libri di Clancy si fa leggere tutto d'un fiato.

La trama è intrigante, la strategia militare sorprendente, sicuramente un po' ostico in alcuni punti, con tutte le descrizioni tecniche degli armamentari statunitensi e sovietici, ma il punto vero di forza sono i personaggi, dotati di carisma e personalità sorprendente. Mentre leggerete queste pagine potrete respirare il clima e l'aria di un sottomarino durante la guerra fredda. Quando bastava poco per distruggere l'intera Terra.

Il libro è diviso in giornate, ogni capitolo rappresenta un giorno, secondo me una scelta azzeccata che rende ancor più bello lo scorrere della trama, la corsa verso la libertà di Ramius e la prova di intelligenza con Ryan.

Direi che come in altri pochi casi il libro si fonde bene con il film e la lettura della storia diventa obbligatoria come la visione della pellicola. Non posso che consigliarle entrambe.