The Cardinal of the Kremlin

In this electrifying #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from Tom Clancy, a silent war between the USA and Russia will decide the fate of the world—and Jack Ryan is behind enemy lines.

Two men possess vital data on Russia’s Star Wars missile defense system. One of them is CARDINAL—America’s highest agent in the Kremlin—and he’s about to be terminated by the KGB. The other is the one American who can save CARDINAL and lead the world to the brink of peace…or war.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Two men possess vital data on Russia’s Star Wars missile defense system. One of them is CARDINAL–America’s highest agent in the Kremlin–and he’s about to be terminated by the KGB. The other is the one American who can save CARDINAL and lead the world to the brink of peace–or war.

From Library Journal

In his fourth book, Clancy uses nuclear strategies to probe the ambiguities of fighting the good fightthe Americans vs. the Soviets. By the time familiar hero Jack Ryan steps in to investigate mysterious structures on the Soviet-Afghan border, the Soviets have struck again by zapping a satellite with a free electron laser. The title’s cardinal, an elite, well-placed source in the Kremlin, leaks details of this secret activity to the United States. In the backdrop of technological bravura, spiced by artful espionage and all-too-human mistakes, intelligence is transferred back and forth and there are attacks and counterattacks. It is a mark of Clancy’s growing maturity as a writer that he can bring these subtleties into highly entertaining form. Literary Guild Main. Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for The Cardinal of the Kremlin

“Clancy’s done it again!”—New York Daily News

“Cardinal excites, illuminates…a real page-turner.”—Los Angeles Daily News

“Fast and fascinating.”—Chicago Tribune

More Praise for Tom Clancy

“He constantly taps the current world situation for its imminent dangers and spins them into an engrossing tale.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A brilliant describer of events.”—The Washington Post

“No one can equal his talent for making military electronics and engineering intelligible and exciting…He remains the best!”—Houston Chronicle

From the Publisher

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!

About the Author

A little more than thirty years ago Tom Clancy was a Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history. Years before, he had been an English major at Baltimore’s Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, The Hunt for Red October—the first of the phenomenally successful Jack Ryan novels—sold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it “the perfect yarn.” From that day forward, Clancy established himself as an undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense. He passed away in October 2013.