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.

Tropes used in Red Rabbit include:

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• Broad Strokes: The entire book has serious issues lining up with future ones in the universe timeline, so any facts from one or the other that conflict have to be discarded or ignored for it to fit into the canon. A later published book flashback explicitly follows up on events from this book, but does so in such a way no canon inconsistency is introduced.
• Interquel: Takes place between Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October.
• 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.
  • He also remarks he never met a defector prior to encountering Ramius in The Hunt for Red October, but this does not mesh with this book, where he meets one beforehand.