The books in this gift pack have been selected for fiction lovers, especially those serving in the military. This includes soldiers, infantrymen and women, marines, navy personnel, military intelligence, etc. If your loved one is serving in the Army, Air Force or Navy and is away on tour or stationed in some remote part of the world, books like these make a great gift, something to pass the time this holiday season.
The story opens on Friday 3rd December. Captain First Rank Marko Ramius of the Soviet Navy is dressed for the Arctic conditions normal to the Northern Fleet submarine base at Polyarnyy. He gives the order:
“Engines ahead slow, Kamarov.” His nuclear submarine is called the Red October.
Russia is in the news lately, for all the wrong reasons, and threatens to drive Europe and probably the whole world into what could be the third world war. It’s all reminiscent of the Cold War of the 50s, 60s, and 70s except that with Russia’s so-called special military operation in Ukraine ongoing, and what’s predicted to be the coldest winter in Europe, today a real shooting war is a clear and present danger.
In the book, Putin (no relation to the Russian president) is the ship’s political officer. He says:
"The Americans are good technicians, Comrade Captain," Putin said, "but they are not giants. Their technology is not so awesome. Nasha lutcha," he concluded. Ours is better.
The KGB report though, according to Putin, is full of praise for America’s submarines:
“Those American 688-class submarines, Ivan, the Los Angeleses. Remember what one of their officers told our spy? That they could sneak up on a whale and bugger it before it knew they were there? I wonder how the KGB got that bit of information. A beautiful Soviet agent, trained in the ways of the decadent West, too skinny, the way the imperialists like their women, blond hair…"
The Red October suffers a set of nightmare scenarios, the worst that could happen to a submarine crew, short of getting sunk.
This is one of Tom Clancy’s best books, guaranteed to keep you up at night and reading to the end.
The Red October gets in serious trouble in American waters and captain Ramius eventually has no choice but to surrender to the Americans.
"Admiral, I think Red October is up to something, maybe even trying to defect to the United States."
Greer's head came around. "Whatever makes you think that?"
"The Russkies have a major fleet operation in progress. They have subs all over the Atlantic, and it looks like they're trying to blockade our coast. The story is a rescue job for a lost boat. Okay, but Jack shows up Monday with pictures of a new missile boat – and today I hear that all of their other missile boats have been recalled to port." Tyler smiled.
"That's kind of an odd set of coincidences, sir."
An odd set of coincidences has beset the Russian war effort of late, something that has pleased many observers around the world. One of these was the sinking of the Moskva, flagship of their Black Sea fleet.
Whether you have watched the film that was made from this book or not, The Hunt For Red October is one of those novels any serious fan of fiction must read.
Many readers will have watched and read Robert Ludlum’s famous Jason Bourne books and movies, including the Bourne Ultimatum and the Bourne Identity. The Janson Directive has, probably for that reason, tended to fly under the radar, so to speak, but it’s one of Ludlum’s best books.
The one-time antagonist cum supporting character, cum love interest, Jessica Kincaid, is a very interesting character with some charming colloquialisms, and she grows on you.
"Lookit,” she says at some point, “everything's got a price. If you let me, I'm a tag along with you. If you don't, I'ma do my darndest to tail you."
Jessica is a super-sniper with an M40A1 high-precision bolt-action rifle hand made at Quantico by specially trained armorers of the Marine Corps Marksmanship Unit. She’s part of a crack team of assassins detailed by Consular Operations to kill Janson because he knows too damn much about a top secret program the CIA is running that involves a high level public figure, a Hungarian philanthropist by the name of Peter Novak, who has two look-alikes – and one of them has been killed, shortly after Janson, in a daring commando-style operation, rescued him from a hostage situation somewhere in Sri Lanka, staged by Jihad militants belonging to the Kagama Liberation Front, the KLF.
Janson doesn’t know about the look-alikes, so he believes the philanthropist is dead. The real Peter Novak still lives – and he is now the tail that wags the dog (he’s controlling the CIA, and looks set to take over the United Nations). Even so, a decision had been made; a directive issued, to kill Janson…
"Plans call for the dispatch of a special team of highly trained snipers. They can get the job done, and discreetly. Ratings are off the charts. Nobody would stand a chance against them."
His gray eyes blinked behind his glasses as he remembered the team's unbroken series of successes. Quietly, he added, "No one ever has."
But Janson isn’t easy to kill – and the hunted becomes the hunter.
Janson had previously "Served in SEAL Team Four, picked up a goddamn Navy Cross in his first tour of duty.”
If you enjoyed the Jason Bourne books and the movies, you’ll love reading the Janson Directive.
Many people will have watched The Da Vinci Code, the movie but reading the book is a whole new experience.
A Catholic order called Opus Dei (God’s Work or God’s Masterpiece) and based in New York has infiltrated a secret, centuries-old brotherhood called the Priory of Sion, founded in 1099, whose members included Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo Da Vinci – but this is the 1980s or 90s.
The brotherhood are the custodians of the Holy Grail (they know where it’s buried, sub rosa, under the rose) and the time has come to reveal the grail’s true secret – a secret that will spell doom for the Catholic Church.
The current Grand Master of the brotherhood is the curator of the Louvre in Paris and it’s here that Opus Dei sends its albino assassin, Silas, first. The curator is killed within minutes of a planned meeting with Langdon, an American symbologist and cryptologist who is about to publish a book about the brotherhood.
Langdon quickly becomes French Intelligence’s most wanted man, which shouldn’t have been a problem (he was innocent) but the Frenchman leading the investigation is in the employ of the Teacher.
The Teacher works for Opus Dei (although it turns out to be the other way round), and Opus Dei’s ultra-ambitious Bishop Arringarosa has ceded to him control of the albino assassin.
Langdon gets help from an unlikely source – Sophie, the dead curator’s grand-daughter, who works for French intelligence. Sophie is part and parcel of the whole Da Vinci code that reveals the true location of the Holy Grail (parts of the code are hidden in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting). But Sophie doesn’t know any of this.
Sophie and Langdon become lovers eventually but first there’s mutual suspicion as the plot takes you through Paris and London and Rome, and some of the most famous venues in those cities – and the most harrowing escapes for Langdon and Sophie.
Unlocking the Priory’s secret becomes an obsession for the two as they flee from Paris and London and Rome, with the Teacher and his nefarious network of operatives in hot pursuit.
It’s like reading a spy thriller.
"You told me earlier," Sophie said, "that the timing of the Priory's plans to unveil the truth about 'the Rose' and her fertile womb was linked directly to the position of planets – orbs."
Those orbs turn out to be inside Isaac Newton’s tomb in Westminster Abbey.
Gettum shook her head in the doorway. "No good. Newton was buried in Westminster Abbey, the seat of English Protestantism. There's no way a Catholic Pope was present. Cream and sugar?"
Sophie nodded.
Gettum waited. "Robert?"
Langdon's heart was hammering. He pulled his eyes from the screen and stood up. "Sir Isaac Newton is our knight."
Sophie remained seated. "What are you talking about?"
"Newton is buried in London," Langdon said. "His labors produced new sciences that incurred the wrath of the Church. And he was a Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. What more could we want?"
"What more?" Sophie pointed to the poem. "How about a knight a Pope interred? You heard Ms. Gettum. Newton was not buried by a Catholic Pope."
Langdon reached for the mouse. "Who said anything about a Catholic Pope?" He clicked on the "Pope" hyperlink, and the complete sentence appeared.
There… three good reads to pass the time away in an outpost somewhere on a tour of duty. If you’re gifting to a service man or woman this Christmas 2022, these three books have been vetted by the team at WordCraft Club.
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