Rating: 
Summary: Without doubt the BEST Clancy novel so far (2003).
Review: Life is full of paradox, the king of tecnothrillers, and in some aspects as profetic as Jules Verne in his works (but things happen faster now...and he could see them becaming reality in his life), will be probably justly remembered for an "historicall fictional work", less techno and more thriller, (well I guess the end of the Vietnam War is far enough when writing on the early nineties about it).
I have read all the truly Clancy's and the saga of Ryan/Clark has it's ups and downs but are mostly page turners, good reads, entertaining, and well researched stuff (or at least it semms so wich is about equal), other minor series as Powerplay and Network pale in comparaison (but are good on their own, mind, if poorly researched, the one dealing with Spain is so far of the point to be sci-fi...).
The "ifs", "could haves" etc in WITHOT REMORSE and the interconecting plots are at his best in this novel, and `probably it's more easy to be "technical" about the past then about the future, and once this is put aside you have a poweful story, crude and simple about men&women fighting evil ways (not so far from a good western but isn't he a late cowboy anyway?).
A MUST READ AND PROBABLY HIS BEST WORK SO FAR. (I've read it three times at least and keeps the test of time quite well...)
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the best Clancy book yet!
Review: For Clancy lovers, the names Clark and Ryan are not new. What is new, though, is this book, which strays from Ryan completely, and gives readers the background of Clancy's most mysterious character. This book, in my opinion, is nothing like any of the other Clancy tales to date. It was published right in between some of Clancy's most popular books, yet has nothing to do with any of them. It takes place in the Washington/Baltimore area and Vietnam and is a great thriller. There is no technical mumbo-jumbo that is typically found in Clancy's works. It's all action of the best kind. If you have never before read one of Tom Clancy's books, I highly recommend this one as your first. It's a great book that will be enjoyed by all and read over again.. I've already read it twice!! Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: My First Tom Clancy Novel
Review: "Without Remorse" gives us a look at the origins of the ruthlessly efficient CIA operative, John Clark, formerly known as John Kelly. This novel is a solid page turner, full of action and intrigue, as well as a healthy dash of allegory.
I had never read any of Clancy's work before, and was pleasantly surprised by his writing. His prose is simple without being dull, and he does a wonderful job establishing a solid sense of place with his narration. From the steaming jungles of 'Nam to the broken ghettos of Baltimore, you always feel as if you're right there with the protagonist. Dialog is realistic and flows smoothly, with no info-dumping. It's no wonder that so many of Mr. Clancy's novels have been made into films. They practicly read like a good screenplay.
Clancy's real talent, however, shows best in his characters. Even the characters that seem to be straight from central casting, (Dr's Rosen, the Drug Dealers, Prostitutes, the Admirals), have a marvelous sense of reality to them. They are fully rounded human beings, with a normal range of emotions, opinions, and problems.
Strangley enough, it is in this seemingly strong area that the books primary flaw shows up. The only character who does not seem well rounded and realistic is the protagonist himself, John Kelly/Clark.
The Kelly/Clark character seems to have "modes", for lack of a better term. When on this boat, Kelly is a regular salty sea dog, popeye without the spinach, bantering with the Coast Gaurd and piloting his vessel through storms. One expects Captain Ahab or Bluto to make an appearance.
In combat situations, he becomes the super soldier killing machine, able to shoot the wings off of a gnat at thirty paces. In the rain. At night. While running. With an enemy officer over his shoulder. After being awake for three days. With a silenced sub-machine gun. One handed. In other words, Mack Bolan.
John Kelly's third incarnation surfaces whenever he has any kind of personal interaction with another character, but ONLY if one the previous situations does not apply. If he's speaking to a freind on his boat, he's Pop-eye. If speaking to a friend in a combat situation, he's Mack Bolan. If he's on dry land, and no one is trying to kill him, he is magicly transformed into a foot shuffling, aw-shucks'ing rube from 1952. He is nervous, unsure of himself, and calls everyone maam or sir, and commits social blunders that seem absurdly out of context with the other two "incarnations."
My only other gripe is Clancy's portrayal of veterans and non-vets. If, at any point, you're wondering if a character is a good-guy, or a bad-guy, find out if he was or is in the military. If the answer is yes, he is a good-guy, hnest, hard working, and reliable. If the answer is not, he's a bad-guy, and will probably be shot soon. I'm a vet myself, and I can attest that there are plenty of jerks in uniform, and a lot of great folks who've never worn one. Don't blame the time period either. There were a lot of American men who were too young for WW2 and too old for Korea, or too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam. My grandfather was among that first group.
These small complaints aside, and have to give this book four stars. It was just a heck of a lot of fun to read, and couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: CLANCY'S #1 BOOK
Review: Finally, John Clark's story is told, and it is truly remarkable. Clancy was in rare form when he put this one together. Kind of a blend of THE TERMINATOR and DEATH WISH. I loved every minute of reading time that went into this book. One of the best back-stories ever. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Clancy at his best
Review: This is by far my favorite Clancy Book. It gives some back history to John Clark and shows a more in depth view of where he is coming from. It also foreshadows some of the alliances that occour in later chronology from earlier books. Without giving too much away if you like the theme of "Clear and Present Danger" you will love "Without Remorse"
Rating:
Summary: one of Clancy's best books, even without Jack Ryan
Review: Jack Ryan is barely mentioned in a foreshadowing kind of way, so this is a departure from Clancy's Jack Ryan series - but not entirely, for it goes back to the Vietnam era to probe the character of Clark, who appears in several of Clancy's books. This trip is well worth taking - the Clark character and what happens to him and how he responds before Jack Ryan ever comes along is great reading that can stand alone outside Clancy's series. You might come away as interested in Clark as in Ryan; that's how good Without Remorse is.
Rating:
Summary: A Work of Art
Review: Without Remorse was a brilliant book. It included my favorite character, John Kelly (codename: John Clark), and really put you into his mind. This book was filled with powerful emotion that had the potential to evoke tears or laughter. In previous Tom Clancy books he focuses too much on Ryan. Here he completely takes Ryan out of the picture and writes about another intriguing character from his ongoing list.
In this book Clancy tells the story of a recent ex-Navy SEAL who picks up a hooker who has ran away from her life. When she is murdered he seeks revenge. He is able to kill off drug dealers and pimps, while saving life by helping other girls like Pam.
Tom Clancy is able to provide excellent detail in this book as always. He pulls a typical Clancy and writes spectacular action scenes that double your reading speed to see what is going to happen. They are so detailed, you feel as if you are there watching, being able to observe both sides. What is different about this book is the emotion that Clancy is able to bring out of Kelly. His triumph and happiness, and his darker side, anger and revenge. Kelly evolves from a lonely boatman to a perfect killer with a new wife.
This is the best book that Tom Clancy has ever written followed by Patriot Games. If you like this book also read other Tom Clancy's, Michael Crichton's, Robert Jordan's, and James Michener's. They all share mutual styles in different genre's. Pick up this book and indulge yourself in a wonderful reading experience.
Rating:
Summary: The first of 11
Review: This is the first book on the timeline that would be considered part of the Jack ryan story. It is about John Kelly (clark) and how he goes after some bad guy "WITHOUT any REMORSE". A great story. Review is for Audio cassette.
Rating:
Summary: The Most Unput-Downable Of All....
Review: The Most Unput-Downable Of All of Tom Clancy's works. First of all, my apologies to Sir Winston and Daniel Webster for the title, but this was the effect of the book in question upon me. Second, I have just reviewed the one-star reviews of this book, and was amazed, though those people certainly have the right to their opinions. To me, this book is just something, once I have picked it up, that I am in deadly danger from, even if I have picked it up just to look at one section. I end up reading the whole thing. Again. There are sections that just demand that I read them, like where Nurse O'Toole alone sees John Kelly's face when he sees the last picture of Pam. The language is not perfect, but how that is described is very, very good. The scene with the pimp in New Orleans is interesting, particularly because Kelly decides to answer his question. The scene were Kelly reaches the Closest Point of Approach with the one drug dealer on the street is a personal favorite of mine.
Tom Clancy wrote a realistic book about what a man would do if he had the training and the motivation and nothing to lose. The consequences Kelly inflicts upon those that hurt him are entirely realistic, and the fact that he considered himself better than his targets was also true to life. Soldiers of anykind who are that motivated would view the drug dealers as scum, and soldiers tend, no matter what a philosopher would tell you, to think in terms of good-guy/bad guy even when they are not so roused. Special Operations soldiers would be even more prone to this mentality, and the way Mr. Clancy has Kelly methodically roll them up is entirely chilling in its ruthlessness.
At first, Kelly has no motivation but revenge. "Una salus victus nullam sperare salutem. The one hope of the damned is that they have no hope of salvation." My apologies to linguists everywhere; I undoubtly butchered that translation, but that is Kelly's mentality after the beginning. However, he does evolve as he goes down this path, he does question his conscience, and his motivation changes. The journey becomes less about revenge and more about defending those that can not defend themselves. I am not a violent person, nor do I condone vigilante mentality, but this book is a well thought out exercise in what a vigilante would do. Perhaps this could even be related to Marvel's Punisher, but Clancy's adaptation of this concept is masterfully done. I would dispute those who say it is not technical; it is the essence of the techniques of tactical stealth.
This book is not for children, and it is not pretty. People who were adults at the time might find flaws in detail, but I personally could not. People who saw the Vietnam War on the nightly news might also not care for it, for the American Tragedies and atrocites that covered much of the news at the time hardly have any mention. As this is solely the story of how John Clark came to be, leaving them little-mentioned was the correct choice.
All in all, this is my favorite Clancy book for the story it told. The Hunt for Red October might be better, but only by a whisker.
Rating: 
Summary: Clancy unsuccessfully dabbles in Personal Drama.
Review: ...Here is our subject, Mr. John Kelly -- an Irish-American hard-working ex-Navy SEAL, a Catholic who suddenly recieves news that his wife fell victim to the old Unstoppable Tractor-Trailer ... and "perished instantly". Naturally Mr. Kelly doesn't take it too well, but that's okay -- there's all kinds of love to be bought on the streets! One fine afternoon, Kelly ... picks up a drifter who he mistakes for a prostitute, but is actually a prostitute anyway who became a drifter after escaping from her pimp and aspires to become an Un-Prostitute. We follow Kelly as he takes the drifter/prostitute aboard his yacht and makes her melt into his arms immediately... ...Clancy next tries to manipulate us into sympathizing with the shady prostitute/drifter as she tells us about her Troubled Childhood and why she Ran Off To The Big City and eventually Resorted To Prostitution To Get By. Of course, deep down inside she's a Wholesome Girl who also wants to shake an annoying drug habit which wasn't her doing to begin with. John Kelly goes the way that Clancy wants him (and us) to and grows to "love" her... This is an obvious setup for some boring and tedious "rehabilitation" scenes in which the prostitute/drifter and Kelly make Plans For The Future, which in turn is a setup for another even more manipulative event. Clancy cuts to the chase ... and Kelly heads off to the city for some pea-brained reason and brings along the prostitute/drifter who is inevitably seen by her pimp and recaptured after Kelly takes a shotgun blast at point-blank range and left for dead. BUT KELLY IS STILL ALIVE, AND BOY IS HE PISSED!!! Thanks to a policeman who was Just Passing By, he winds up in the ER instead of a body bag. As he quickly recovers from an otherwise mortal wound ... he plots his revenge against the industrious pimp ... Soon he's back on the streets and, disguised as a hobo, kills off various scummy types after brutally extracting information from them. Clancy follows this routine -- Hide, Watch, Injure, Interrogate, Kill -- listlessly, sparing us no details. Sometimes he throws in an unnecessary death scene just because Kelly is supposed to be mad, I suppose... Kelly jauntily skips on, and we then cut to the police officers on scene, chatting about how it was a benefit to society that these men were liquidated. This goes on for some time until one of his Old Navy Pals enlists Kelly to lead a team of commandos to rescue POWs in Vietnam. We get the "training" scenes that go on forever, then an "in transit" scene where Kelly learns how to silence an assault rifle, and then the assault on the Viet Cong compound itself, which has neither payoff nor consequence for Kelly as he heads on home, not dejected at all... Eventually Clancy decides to end the book with a lame Final Confrontation and then an escape scene ... The fact remains, after the saccharine ending ruins any "dark" undertones, that John Kelly never changes from an immensely unlikable protagonist...
|
