The Hunt for Red October The Hunt for Red October The Hunt for Red October is the debut novel by Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984 by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutting-edge ballistic missile submarine "Red October", and marks the first appearance of Clancy's most popular fictional character Jack Ryan, an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency, as he must prove his theory that Ramius had intended to defect to the United States. The book was loosely inspired by the mutiny on the Soviet frigate "Storozhevoy" in
The Hunt for Red October eventually sold more than 365,000 copies in hardback. After securing the paperback rights to Berkley Books for $49,500, the novel sold another 4.3 million copies. The novel was adapted as a feature film, which was released in the United States on March 2, 1990, months after the Cold War ended. Captain Marko Ramius was played by Sean Connery, while Alec Baldwin played Jack Ryan. It serves as the first entry in the Jack Ryan film series, which would later follow a chronological order differing from the novels. The movie is a nearly faithful depiction of the novel even though there