Without Remorse

Rating:
Summary: A violent and ultimately pointless romp
Review: As a child, I read and enjoyed Red Storm Rising, Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and Cardinal of the Kremlin. (I thought that Sum of All Fears was pushing it.) But Without Remorse is quite another story. Here Clancy reveals himself to be a real facist. Certainly the victims of Kelly/Clark's rage are not innocents, but they are pointless executed, and the book doesn't even take the time to explore the effect that this has on Clark or really give him any kind of depth. In Lethal Weapon, we only know that Riggs's wife is dead, this alone is enough to make him suicidal and add considerable depth to his character. In Without Remorse, the love interest's death is only exploited to give Clark an excuse to kill everyone. I found Clancy's obvious animus towards liberals and women distasteful and his lack of respect for human life and even a sense of the impact that taking another person's life has on your own--well, it is truely baffling to consider how a man who is marginally an intellectual can be that primative. He falls short even of the mark that his other novels set. One is better off with any of his previous works, especially Clear and Present Danger or Cardinal of the Kremlin.

Rating:
Summary: Non-techie, good series background story
Review: I admit I am one of the Clancy techno fans.(Ex-Navy) If you are like me you could skip this one but I also love the references he makes to previous novels and want to be ready for them. This one will give you some insight to comments by Mr. Clark in Clear and Present Danger. Still a good story with some military/cia angles, but not the gripping thrillers of previous Clancy fame.

Rating:
Summary: Five stars for a superb, thought-provoking story, but . . .
Review: A superb introduction into the shadowy world of John Kelly, aka John Clark. From the moment he picks up the young female hitch hiker, and from when she dies at the hands of the drug dealers, you know what happens, he gets his own revenge. It was pretty awesome but alarming how Clancy went into his own exact details on how Kelly/Clark builds his own firearms. So, maybe liberties were taken and the narrative states a lot that he is a Navy SEAL, trained to do all these things he does. But my one criticism is this for the plot. If Sandra O'Toole, his nurse girlfriend really didn't like him killing all these drug dealers when she found out he was responsible by her own intuition, surely she would have left him? Any woman with enough intelligence would! 'Without Remorse' - healthy attitude or a state of mind from the indoctrinations of military training and the Vietnam War? Judge for yourself. So the revenge element becomes another Goons of Hazzard/Death Wish type scenario. If one can convey the atmosphere of despair at being a victim of a horrific crime like that as well as Clancy and makes an impression on someone, is this a good thing? Think . . . I know I was beaten up in school several times and I did take a violent revenge, admittedly, but I never felt better for it. Kelly's portrayal as a jarhead robot brainwashed by the ongoing war effort works in fiction, though. Just don't emulate it. . . As far as the CIA recruiting him for his skills, this is an interesting angle. The Vietnam scenes of the POW camp with the Russian and American officers held prisoner shows how in war, people are the same. Humans, not combat robots. Just the same, discussing each other's strategies on nuclear defence and asking themselves why they are enemies? Naval scenes with Admiral Greer in an early incarnation - as excellent as ever! And we do see an early incarnation of Jack Ryan, while his father Emmet hunts down Kelly. Altogether, one to read for yourself and one to think carefully about afterwards - does Kelly's end justify the means? Drug dealers may be scum, but death puts them out of the misery of living to regret what they've done wrong at the hands of the crazies inside. Well done Tom Clancy.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Mr. Clancy has a winner with "Without Remorse". I couldn't put it down. Mr Kelly aka. Mr. Clark is a great character. I really liked the human side of the story. Mr Clancy did a fine job on this one.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Clancy Book
Review: This is definately my most favorite Clancy book. If you like graphic revenge, this is for you. Kelly/Clark gets down to business and cleans the scum off the streets while still finding time for adventure in his governtment missions to Vietnam. He is definately a terrific character makeup of Clancy's, revolving on the opposite end of the spectrum from Jack Ryan.

Rating:
Summary: Without Remorse: feeding my addiction
Review: You will not be disappointed with the purchase of Without Remorse. I was enthralled to the point of not eating or sleeping until it was read cover to cover. MR. C's formative years are nothing less than fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: WITHOUT A DOUBT, CLANCY'S BEST
Review: John Kelly/Clark is perhaps the greatest character Clancy has ever come up with (Marko Ramius is a close second). Without Remorse shows that when he doesn't employ too much techno-babble into his books, Clancy is one of the greatest natural writers today. I loved every aspect of this book and the 700+ pages went by in a flash. I hope that in the future Clancy uses Clark again as his main character instead of the disgustingly clean Jack Ryan.

Rating:
Summary: One of Clancy's best
Review: Definitely a must. Mr. Clark has always been my favorite character. Clancy's book reads easy and fast despite the number of pages, and keeps you wanting more. Usually technical, this book keeps to the human side and leaves out the exhausting detail. If you like this book, read The Day of the Jackal, the ultimate in spy books.

Rating:
Summary: Less technical less predictable.
Review: I needed to see Clancey take a different spin. This was less technical. Tom C. was becoming predicitable in his style. This revenge approach created an excitement to see what Tom might come up with next.

Rating:
Summary: Clancy's worst
Review: Clancy should stick with the techno stuff. His attempt to show the more human side of his characters flops. Kelly, and every other character, is one-dimensional. It is simply too trite that a man could fall instantly in love with a hitchhiker, without our having any hint of what he really sees in her, then spend the rest of the book obsessed with avenging her death. Not that the guys didn't deserve it, mind you. He does play with the gray areas of justifiable actions outside the law, kind of a human super-hero vigilante for whom police are probably grateful behind closed doors. But this book has the literary depth of your average Sergeant Fury comic book.