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 System. In addition, a board game, published in 1988 by TSR, Inc. became one of the bestselling wargames of all time. In late 2015, River Horse announced it had acquired the rights and intended to crowdfund another game based on the intellectual property. The 2017 Indiegogo launch failed. The fate of the project is unknown as of late 2017. "The Hunt for Red October" popularized the book genre of techno-thriller into the mainstream. “Tom Clancy defined an era, not just of thrillers but of pop culture in general," said Jon Land, an author and marketing chair for the International Thriller