This review is about Tom Clancy’s book version of “Without Remorse” and not the movie version. Other than the character names, the two mediums share no similarity
Without Remorse chronologically precedes the Jack Ryan series with familiar characters such as James Greer, Bob Ritter & Portagee playing significant roles. The story revolves around John Kelly, an ex-Navy Seal, and his recruitment into the CIA. A parallel (and equally major) plot is John extracting vengeance on a drug ring that horribly murders his new found, yet seemingly perfect love – Pam Madden.
Before I jump into the plot summary, I must say that while enjoyable, the storylines are so vastly different that the main character doesn’t seem like the same person. Sure, he is calculative, analytical in both roles, but just the location, the surrounding cast made me feel like John Kelly, the soldier was very different than John Kelly, the vengeful lover.
Riding to his boat – The Springer, John gives a lift to a stranger Pam from the side of the highway. They instantly connect and he takes her to an island that he has leased from the government. Meeting a doctor duo Sam & Sarah Rosen who have boat troubles, a friendship develops. Pam is later revealed to be a drug addict. Pam’s checkered history with drugs and drug dealers unravels and she tells John of the murder of a fellow call girl. This spurs John into bringing the murderers to justice. His attempt to bring Pam to the police results in Pam’s kidnapping and ultimately her horrific death. John is severely injured in the altercation. Nursed back to health by the Rosens and Sandy – a nurse at the hospital, John recovers fully. He sets out to avenge Pam’s murder by working his way through the drug dealer hierarchy.
At the same time, two admirals meet and see footage from Vietnam showing a PoW camp holding US soldiers and pilots who have been declared dead. A rescue mission is hatched with Marines and John Kelly is chosen to plan and advice this. Due to a leak, the mission is abandoned at the very last minute. However, a Russian colonel who is interrogating the prisoners is captured. The colonel becomes a negotiating pawn to get the American soldiers to a regular PoW camp from where they can be formally released or exchanged.
John comes back stateside and picks up his mission of revenge. He fights his way through the gang that is increasingly aware of John, thanks to a corrupt cop. Also on John Kelly’s heels is the cop who is investigating the murders of the drug pushers that John has disposed off. The rest of the story unfolds to how the executions happen ending with John taking up a job in the CIA as John Clark.
The alias John Clark is used extensively in the plot where John is preparing and executing the Vietnam rescue. I read Clear & Present Danger by the same author before reading this where a Mr. Clark plays a pivotal role. I must confess, it took me until the end of this book to put two and two together. Serves me right for reading books out of sequence.
Back to the review. As mentioned before, the two plots are interesting by themselves, but are worlds apart. Switching between them feels like reading a different book. Other than the main character, there are no other common players making it harder to keep track of names. To make matters worse, the author refers to the same person in one place with his first name and two sentences later, with his last name. It made me wonder if there are more people in the scene than what I had initially thought.
It was a bit disappointing when the Vietnam rescue mission fails. I still think it would have been a nice way to set the foundation for John to become a CIA operative. The mole within the White House leaking information to Russia could have been easily avoided. With so many characters, I could have easily done without remembering the two White House characters. One of them in turn meets a Russian recruiter and the chain of command in Russia who review the information – please stop! It is impossible to keep track of all these characters.
Speaking of names, the mission is referred to as BOXWOOD GREEN. Another instance of a name that by itself would be interesting. However, there are references to other instances of code names – SENDER GREEN for example – a past mission involving John. There is a reference to a mission where John rescues the Admiral’s son, but it isn’t SENDER GREEN. I wish that was delved into more instead of SENDER GREEN which was deeply detailed to give us an insight into John’s fortitude.
The insights Tom Clancy provides into missions and the on-the-ground activities is tremendous. One can clearly imagine the scene, the tension and the adrenaline rush before the mission. Overall, it was an interesting book to read, though it took longer to complete because of the plot switching that didn’t have me hooked like the other novels. This is my third Tom Clancy novel – The Hunt for Red October and Clear & Present Danger the other two. No doubt he is quite popular with movie & TV show adaptations of his work, but I think it will be more interesting for people who want to read about the military. This is not a typical spy thriller in the lines of a Frederick Forsyth/Robert Ludlum novel. Personally, the latter two authors had my attention gripped better than Mr. Clancy. I would rate the book 3/5 stars.
