The Hunt for Red October

The Hunt for Red October is a thriller by the American writer Tom Clancy, published in 1984 and his debut. It is the first book to feature Jack Ryan, an analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency.

The Red October is the newest missile submarine in the Soviet fleet, and its captain, Marko Ramius, has decided to take it west rather than back to port. The Americans want the boat and the technology aboard it, and the Soviets want the captain dead and the submarine at the bottom of the Atlantic.

Between them is Ryan, who comes to believe that Ramius is not attacking but defecting, and that the whole hunt rests on a misunderstanding that could end very badly. Much of the book is taken up with the machinery of submarines and of naval operations on both sides, and with the commanders who have to decide whom to trust.

Clancy, who had not served in the military, wrote the book with a level of technical detail that made it read as an insider's account. It launched his career, led to a long run of novels about Ryan, and was adapted into a film in 1990.