It was the first Clancy I ever read. I was glued to it to the end.
I’m listening to some old Star Trek TOS books. THOSE are written at a 9th grade level.
The weakness in Red Storm rising is this: there is no visit to the White House to see what the President is saying...no mention of what the media is saying...no mention of the congressional wheeling and dealing...no mention of what the CIA is doing - and they damned sure would have been very involved.
I think those are weaknesses. He also didn’t predict very well how the next wars would be fought, though I give him a pass on that somewhat since this was written in 86. I think Red October had a much better storyline.
But I’m gonna finish it.