The Cardinal of the Kremlin: 3 (Jack Ryan Novels) - Softcover

Clancy, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425269396 ISBN 13: 9780425269398

Publisher: Berkley Books, 2013

Synopsis

In this electrifying #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from Tom Clancy, a silent war between the USA and Russia will decide the fate of the world--and Jack Ryan is behind enemy lines.

Two men possess vital data on Russia's Star Wars missile defense system. One of them is CARDINAL--America's highest agent in the Kremlin--and he's about to be terminated by the KGB. The other is the one American who can save CARDINAL and lead the world to the brink of peace...or war.

About this title

Review:

In The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Tom Clancy's cutting-edge research takes readers inside Soviet and American attempts to develop a Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI). The Soviets have begun successful tests of their system, located near the border of Afghanistan. Americans race to implement their own system, Tea Clipper, so as to maintain strategic parity.

Cardinal of the Kremlin, however, is more about the shifting allegiances of the intelligence community and the unstable world of late 1980s U.S.-Soviet relations than it is about military technology. Colonel Mikhail Filitov is the Cardinal, the CIA's ear in the Kremlin and a steady source of the latest Soviet secrets. Passing microfilm through a chain of agents that begins in a Turkish bath, the Cardinal exposes a double agent in the American SDI program. Unfortunately, the KGB also knows that they have a mole in their midst. In tightly crafted narrative that rapidly cuts from the Kremlin to Afghanistan to Washington, D.C., the Americans rush to pull Filitov and his associates out before his cover is blown. Jack Ryan returns as the moral centre in a world often dominated by egos and politicking, and John Clark, ex-Navy SEAL and current CIA agent makes his first appearance in a Clancy novel (though his early life is chronicled in Without Remorse).

Clancy hits his stride in this outing, meshing a plot that earns the name "thriller" with bang-on depictions of SDI systems and a varied and interesting cast of characters. Moving beyond black-and-white depictions of the "evil empire", he delves into the altogether greyer world where political ideals meet reality. --Patrick O'Kelley

Review:

Praise for The Cardinal of the Kremlin

"Clancy's done it again!"--New York Daily News

"Cardinal excites, illuminates...a real page-turner."--Los Angeles Daily News

"Fast and fascinating."--Chicago Tribune

More Praise for Tom Clancy

"He constantly taps the current world situation for its imminent dangers and spins them into an engrossing tale."--The New York Times Book Review

"A brilliant describer of events."--The Washington Post

"No one can equal his talent for making military electronics and engineering intelligible and exciting...He remains the best!"--Houston Chronicle

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0425269396
• ISBN 13: 9780425269398
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 816