Red Rabbit

Late entry into the Jack Ryanverse of Tom Clancy. Several parts of the story are ripped from the headlines, as the McGuffin is the plan to assassinate Pope John Paul II.

The protagonist is a KGB head clerk in the communications department at headquarters in Dzherzinsky Square. He gets qualms about some of the messages he has to encode, he has issues with the way the country is being run and he wants out. The story is how he gets to the other side.


 * Plot Hole: Fairly major one actually. The unnamed President is obviously Reagan, but since this book is set between Patriot Games and The Hunt For Red October where a President who is obviously not Reagan is in office, it basically calls into question if the book can be considered canon. Also, on a more minor note, Ryan remarks in The Sum Of All Fears it was his first time visiting Rome, but he visited Rome in Red Rabbit, which is set several years before.