Without Remorse: 1 (John Clark Novel, A) - Softcover

Clancy, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425143325 ISBN 13: 9780425143322

Publisher: Penguin, 1997

Synopsis

Over the course of seven novels, Tom Clancy's "genius for big, compelling plots" and his "natural narrative gift" (The New York Times Magazine) have mesmerized tens of millions of readers and established him as one of the preeminent storytellers of our time. Without Remorse, however, goes beyond anything he has ever done. Its hero is John Kelly, a man well familiar to Clancy's readers by his code name, Mr. Clark. In The Sum of All Fears, he hunted down nuclear terrorists. In Clear and Present Danger, he led aerial raids against drug lords. In The Cardinal of the Kremlin, he spirited away a KGB chief's family by submarine. But nothing will ever be as deadly - or as personal - as the danger he must face in Without Remorse. John Kelly, former Navy SEAL and Vietnam veteran, is still getting over the accidental death of his wife six months before, when he befriends a young woman with a decidedly checkered past. When that past reaches out for her in a particularly horrifying fashion, he vows revenge and, assembling all of his old skills, sets out to track down the men responsible, before it can happen again. At the same time, the Pentagon is readying an operation to rescue a key group of prisoners in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. One man, they find, knows the terrain around the camp better than anyone else they have: a certain former Navy SEAL named John Kelly. Kelly has his own mission. The Pentagon wants him for theirs. Attempting to juggle the two, Kelly (now code-named Mr. Clark) finds himself confronted by a vast array of enemies, both at home and abroad - men so skillful that the slightest misstep means death. And the fate of dozens of people, including Kelly himself, restson his making sure that misstep never happens. Men aren't born dangerous. They grow dangerous. And the most dangerous of all, Kelly learns, are the ones you least expect... As Clancy takes us through the twists and turns of Without Remorse, he blends the exceptional realism and au

About this title

Review:

Expanding the universe of Jack Ryan and his colleagues, Without Remorse tracks the early career of John "The Invisible Man" Kelly, the ex-Navy SEAL who eventually becomes the shadowy John Clark of Clancy's other novels. Kelly is a highly decorated hero and a masterful soldier, diver and sailor. But during the first Nixon administration he suffers two tragedies that transform him into a ruthless vigilante: his pregnant wife is killed in a freak accident, and Pam, the woman he turns to in his pain, is murdered. Motivated by revenge, Kelly systematically kills the drug-dealing pimps who had so brutalized Pam and her friends. At the same time, CIA man James Greer recruits Kelly for covert operations in Vietnam.

While most of Clancy's oeuvre celebrates high-tech gadgets and clear-cut battles of good versus evil, Without Remorse focuses more on the character, struggles and motivations of its hero. Kelly's status is always ambiguous, reflecting the uncertainties of the Vietnam era, and Clancy resists the temptation of making him into a puritan. From the start, he holds secrets from even his loved ones (he won't tell Pam the origin of his SEAL tattoo, for example). While he is a killer, he believes he has justification for each death, and the CIA is more interested in his deadly talents than his criminal record.

For Clancy fans, the insights into the early history of Clark, Greer and others build a sense of realism and depth into the Jack Ryan series. As Kelly becomes Clark, Clancy underscores the sombre sense of resignation and despair that underlies much of the book: "He was working for the Agency now, so Clark was his name. It made it easier somehow." Yet, in the darkness of this moment, one can't help but reflect on what Clark and his CIA will become. It's like watching Batman donning his cape for the very first time. --Patrick O'Kelley

Review:

Praise for Without Remorse

"For sheer narrative punch and emotional impact, Without Remorse is Mr. Clancy's best."--The Dallas Morning News

"A nonstop emotional roller coaster."--The San Diego Union-Tribune

"Highly entertaining."--The Wall Street Journal

"Clancy's writing is so strong that readers feel they are there, in the middle of the action...satisfying and engrossing."--Boston Sunday Herald

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0425143325
• ISBN 13: 9780425143322
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 768