The Cardinal of the Kremlin » (~)

Known for originating the techno-thriller genre, Tom Clancy writes complex novels dense with hardware and international intrigue. Perhaps the strongest indication of his power as a writer is the fact that he is often treated by the media like a character in one of his books, asked for opinions about military readiness and the subject of rumors about being debriefed by the Pentagon. Not bad for a former salesman who was rejected for service because of bad eyesight.

Mikhail Filitov is a war hero and Red Army Colonel, but his CIA code name is "Cardinal." A chance encounter in a Moscow subway leads the KGB to begin a hunt--for the spy in top echelons of power. From the author of Clear and Present Danger, The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising, enter a world of high-wire, high-tech international intrigue that reaches from the bloody dust of Afghanistan to the use of lasers in space. The US and the USSR are negotiating a treaty that could lead to war--or peace--while their secret espionage armies are locked in the ultimate struggle. What the Cardinal knows could change the course of history. What a maverick CIA man named Ryan must do is outduel the KGB--and bring the Cardinal out alive!

Robert Lekachman

Mr. Clancy keeps his readers well abreast of current politics and psychological theories as well as the latest technology. Part of the intrigue of the novel concerns the intricacies of power struggles within the Kremlin, where a character who resembles Mikhail Gorbachev does battle with an intractable ideologue modeled on Yegor Ligachev, the Soviet leader's second in command....I look forward to each one of the volumes yet to come, not least because their appearance will testify to Jack Ryan's continuing success in averting the next world war. -- New York times