The Hunt for Red October

The Hunt for Red October is Tom Clancy’s first novel and the book that launched the techno thriller genre. A Soviet submarine commander tries to defect with the most advanced ballistic missile submarine in the fleet, and a young CIA analyst named Jack Ryan tries to figure out what is actually happening before the situation escalates.

The novel still reads as the genre defining work it was. Sean Connery played Captain Ramius in the famous film.