The Hunt for Red October

Book

By B.C. Milligan

A novel by Tom Clancy. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD 21402. Price $14.95.

THE COURIER reviewing a novel? Before you cancel your subscription, let me tell you why a novel, and in particular, why this novel. It has nothing to do with the fact that the author is an avid naval wargamer, or even that The Naval Institute just happens to have become an advertiser with us.

The Hunt for Red October is being reviewed in this magazine because, novel or not, it offers one of the most penetrating looks at modern naval warfare in print. The story, which is a gripping one, concerns the captain and crew ofthe Soviet Union's newest ballistic missile submarine, the Red October. For reasons that are less improbable than I have room to explain, the captain and his officers wish to defect, taking their ship with them, with the crew along as unwitting hostages.

Both the Soviet and U.S. Atlantic fleets set out to find the Red October, the former to sink her, the latter to seize and examine her.

If you have any interest at all in modern naval warfare, or are merely looking for a riveting and suspenseful book to read while waiting for your opponents to deploy their figures on the table, then I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I liked it so much I even bought (good heavens -- a reviewer buying a book!) a copy for my own father, who used to, ahem, work for the government.

You'll like it too. Buy The Hunt for Red October. And keep your eyes open for future offerings from Tom Clancy.

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