Okay, he’s not really 41 (the internet tells me he was born in 1950, so as of now he’d be seventy five years old). But The Hunt for Red October was published in 1984.
Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ve got two feet of Tom Clancy books taking up shelf space. And every time you notice that you wonder “are these as good today as I thought they were in the late 1990s?” And the answer of course requires a rereading. And that is intimidating, because: two feet of shelf space.
Still, I want to know. And I might want the space. So I’ve gone back and re-read The Hunt for Red October. I was worried it was going to be lot of outdated technical babble and computers that are impressive for having a gigabyte of memories or whatever.
It turns out, it is a well-crafted, well-plotted, thoughtful analysis of character and politics and theme that stands the test of time well. As just one example, in the first sixty pages we get a thoughtful character arc that compares a disaffected Soviet with a wealthy American CIA analyst. In a few short pages, an entire mindset is imagined and contrasted with a similarly complex mindset.
Yes, there’s a lot of descriptions of technology. But surprisingly compared to my memory of the book from twenty years ago, the plot and story don’t really depend on the tech. It’s there, but the difference in time does actually change anything.
Overall, this is an excellent book and has stood the test of time well. Now for the other 1 foot, 10 inches of Clancy books to read…
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO
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