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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Cardinal excites and illuminates ... a real page turner! -- Los Angeles Daily News
Even as he is heavily engaged in arms negotiations and Star War technicalities, John Ryan, hero of The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games, must come up with a plan to get the CIA's most important informer out of the hands of the KGB. CIA strategic wizard John Ryan (Sir John to his British chums) is as smart as anybody in Langley, but even Ryan has a little trouble following the ins and outs of the physics and engineering it takes to get a first-class Strategic Defense Initiative laser and mirror project up and running. Fortunately, the US government has a team of top-notch boffins on the job, and our lasers are starting to score hits. But the Soviets haven't been napping, and they're the first to zap a satellite on the wing, using, apparently, smoke and mirrors. It would be a strategic disaster were not details of the Soviet project arriving regularly, sent by Colonel Misha (Codename: Cardinal) Filitov, three-time Hero of the Soviet Union and aide to the Defense Minister. Misha, while loyal to the motherland, has no use for the current management. He's been getting away with spying for 30 years, but his luck has run out, and the KGB are on to him. There is, at the same time, a leak in the American ranks, and our Star Wars secrets are anything but. And, while all this technozapping and spying are going on, there's a band of Afghan rebels ready to take on the Russian army at a super-secret base near the border. Oh, and there's a coup hatching in the Politburo that might put the Politburo back in the Stone Age. Ryan's not the only one with his hands full. Less reliant on technoblather than previous Clancy works, and awash in subplots, most of them entertaining. Plenty of action; no mushy stuff. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Two men possess vital data on Russia's Star Wars missile defense system. One isted by the KGB. The other is Jack Ryan, hero of The Hunt for Red October,ld to peace. A 4-month #1 New York Times bestseller, with 1.3 million hardcover copies in print. HC: Putnam.
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! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Tom Clancy Tom Clancy is one of the most acclaimed and popular writers in the world today. Known for his extraordinary mastery of up-to-the-minute, top secret military details and high-level secret strategy, he has taken us on a hunt for a renegade submarine in The Hunt for Red October, presented an astonishing scenario for World War III in Red Storm Rising, journeyed to the frontlines of terrorism in Patriot Games and thrilled readers with covert ops that lead from the oval office to Central America in Clear and Present Danger. He lives in Maryland. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
