I finished listening to my latest Audible book - Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. It is one of my father's favorite books but I hadn't been able to finish it previously. Clancy is known for being very technical both in politics and military technology and tactics. I learned with The Hunt for Red October that while it was a real slog to read Clancy, I enjoyed listening to him. So with my new Audible.com account, I decided to give it a try. Here is the link to Audible's page for the book. The book is well narrated by Michael Prichard, complete with good accents for the different characters of different cultures.
Plot: A small independent group of radical Muslim decide to blow up the USSR's newest, biggest, fanciest refinery and oil production field - they succeed. The result of this terrorist attack is that the country will not have enough oil to be able to properly function upwards of three years. The leading members of the Politburo, the governing body with absolute authority, comes to the conclusion that the only way to survive this crisis without the West and NATO ruining them through economic means requires war. They start the political machinations to cover the disaster and justify their attack. The west is not clueless, but is caught by surprise by the extent of the Soviet's actions. The story covers naval engagements, air strikes, land battles, submarine battles, men behind enemy lines, and the politics of Soviets that cause so many problems for everyone. The resolution of the story was a surprising, yet inevitable outcome which rights the wrongs and provide a future for the world. What does it mean when the only person you can trust is the head of the KGB?
My personal favorites: While the overall conflict is grave - the fate of NATO and Soviet oppression - I really got wrapped up in the character conflicts and challenges for characters on both sides of the issue. I cheered when the characters succeeded and grieved with them when they lost. The battles were compelling and annotated in Clancy's usual style, and the premise and setup were well done and believable. I was held in suspense until the very end about how the conflict would be resolved and Clancy didn't leave me wanting. There were times during the course of my listening to this that I would confuse events in the book with current happenings in our world. That is how involved I was. I would mention all of the cool things the individual characters do, but that would make for a long review.
Considerations: Clancy does not pull any punches with language. There are many people, most of them military (including many sailors), who express their discomfort, excitement, and anger using four letter words, some of them very strong. The language is properly used - not the same word every time for every character. The battles are violent and demonstrate how horrific it can be, but is not particularly graphic when it comes to specific injuries. There is also a scene where a young woman is raped. Again, it is not graphic, but is descriptive enough to be agonizing and uncomfortable.
I was very satisfied with the audio book. It was full of ups and downs and the pacing was well done. The total length was 31 hours.
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