Book Review: Red Storm Rising

TLDR: “A military masterpiece” I read this book in high school, 40 years ago. For some unknown reason, I picked it up again. It was every bit as good. In 1985, Muslim militants sabotage and destroy an oil refinery in central Russia. This causes a looming crisis as the Soviet Union will face fuel shortages for years before it can recover. Some members of the Politboro come up with a plan to seize Middle Eastern oil fields. However, to do that, there is the small problem of NATO. Since they know NATO will defend in the Middle East, first they have to “split” NATO. They decide to do this by (1) invading West Germany by land, and (2) taking over Iceland which will give them the ability to shut down the Atlantic to resupply convoys. The book is the story of what happens next. It’s told from several perspectives. On the NATO side, we have the commander of an anti-sub frigate, a weatherman who escaped the Iceland base and is hiding out in the hills, a commander of a submarine, etc. On the…