Without Remorse: A John Clark Novel

Without Remorse is a action/thriller during the Vietnam War. The book is filled with twists and turns at every corner. You'll find yourself flying across oceans, on ships, underwater, or in the big city. It will keep your attention and you will not want to put it down. The takes place in America and Vietnam. The book follows the life of John Clark, a Vietnam War veteran whose wife just died in a deadly automotive accident. He will meet new people from around the world and do things many people will never even consider doing. At the same time, a up-and-coming drug dealer is beginning to emerge from the shadows to stake their claim on the East Coast. Clancy writes the book from multiple perspectives. This allows the different viewpoints on the same situation to allow you to see through both sides' perspectives. You will come to know the characters throughout the book and learn more about their life. I started this book with no prior knowledge to how Tom Clancy writes. The detail of everything astonished me.Tom Clancy somehow finds to includes small military words, speech, and other things that make it such a realistic experience.While reading the story, you will be immersed in the world of covert operations, intelligence agencies, and underground drug dealers. Each one of these lives are brought out to full detail. The story grabs you from the beginning and won't let you go until the end. There are many twists and turns throughout the book that will keep you guessing all the way to the end. The story makes you want to see each plot lead through. Every character is created with care and has their own personality.

Makes me conflicted about John Clark. Understandable, but NOT acceptable

ok escapist fiction

The story of John Kelly/John Clark, the secretive but deadly CIA agent. Probably my second fave Clancy book after Red October. A must-read for Clancy fans and those people who love Kelly/Clark.

First time I read a Clancy book and learned that you can't drop off reading it for a couple of days and think you can easily start back where you left off. There is just too much going on and he keep you on your toes. 750 pages of reading fun.

So dense, but so good. I had to read a few parts more than once to figure out what was going on.

One of Clancy's first. It's an exciting cop thriller with love, revenge and mystery contained in a suspenseful context. The hero falls i love with a drug addict and seeks revenge for her killer. I can't imagine that kind of life, which is why it 's exciting.

Great book

My fave of the Tom Clancy books!

What a fantastic book. Having seen Hunt For Red October/Patriot Games/Sum of all Fears at the movies and finding them to be good movies I thought I'd try out the actual books. Hating to start in the middle of a series I decided if I'm going to read a Tom Clancy book I might as well start at the beginning and enjoy them all (assuming they're any good) and boy am I glad I did!

This book isn't what I expected - I thought it'ld be more action, shooting and explosions with little substance, but no there's a great deal of substance to this book and the writing style is easy to read yet very detailed and atmospheric. (There's action, shooting and explosions, but not mindlessly).

The story at a basic level is one of revenge, a man (John Kelly) who has previously lost his wife meets a young lady (Pam), it turns out Pam has been the victim of abuse, John Kelly falls in love with Pam and helping her recover and in doing so opens his heart for the first time since the death of his wife and is crushed when Pam is then murdered by her past abusers.

Enter John-the-serial-killer who seeks revenge on those who took his Pam from him. Amongst this there are a couple of other sub plots as well as the second main thrust of the story line which is John Kelly returning to Vietnam as well as being recruited by the CIA.

It really was quite the moving story and you couldn't help but sympathise with John Kelly even as he killed again and again.

Without Remorse is a action/thriller during the Vietnam War. The book is filled with twists and turns at every corner. You'll find yourself flying across oceans, on ships, underwater, or in the big city. It will keep your attention and you will not want to put it down. The takes place in America and Vietnam. The book follows the life of John Clark, a Vietnam War veteran whose wife just died in a deadly automotive accident. He will meet new people from around the world and do things many people will never even consider doing. At the same time, a up-and-coming drug dealer is beginning to emerge from the shadows to stake their claim on the East Coast. Clancy writes the book from multiple perspectives. This allows the different viewpoints on the same situation to allow you to see through both sides' perspectives. You will come to know the characters throughout the book and learn more about their life. I started this book with no prior knowledge to how Tom Clancy writes. The detail of everything astonished me.Tom Clancy somehow finds to includes small military words, speech, and other things that make it such a realistic experience.While reading the story, you will be immersed in the world of covert operations, intelligence agencies, and underground drug dealers. Each one of these lives are brought out to full detail. The story grabs you from the beginning and won't let you go until the end. There are many twists and turns throughout the book that will keep you guessing all the way to the end. The story makes you want to see each plot lead through. Every character is created with care and has their own personality.

The most compelling of Clancy's work.

A formative episode in the life of the Clancy's character John Kelly, known as "Mr Clark". In Vietnam, special operations veteran Kelly was known as "the snake" - the man whose footsteps no one ever heard. Now, in 1970, back in the USA, footsteps were all around him.

One long read, but if you get into the story and the suspense of wondering whether John Kelly (A.K.A. Mr. Clark) will be able to survive his own ruthlessness. Set during the vietnam era, this story details how Kelly stumbles across a drug ring that is using woman as couriers--and mistreating them horribly. When one of those woman--a personal friend of Kelly's--is brutally murdered he assigns himself a new mission--to take down the drug ring and deal out his own kind of justice. But at the same time he is recruited by the CIA for a top secret mission to free some prisoners in Vietnam. The suspense comes from wondering whether his ruthlessness will win out over his decency--and whether his double life will ever become known, and what might happen if it does. Good, long suspense ride, though a bit disturbing at times. 

I really wanted to find out more about Clark, the spooky character that runs through the Ryan novels. This tells his story & it's pretty good, but not great. If you are really into the series, it's worth reading. I think I'd like to have read this before reading most of the series.

I liked this book a little less than Rainbow Six, if only because of all the waiting and watching. Clancy did a great job, as ever, of fully fleshing out the technical details of everything from sailing to machining weapons, to the benefit of the story. One point that I appreciated over RS is Clancy's willingness to do awful things to his characters. The important people are saved in the former, but in this book he really does some awful things to Clark.The one thing I enjoyed most about the story, though, is the ever present theme of relative good and evil. I chuckled when Clark describes to the spook about exactly what it is he has been doing over the last few months and instead of admonishing him, he gives him accolades and pats him on the back for being an out of the box thinker. And, to top it off, he gives him a one day pass to wrap up what he was doing and get on with his life.I was saying to myself as I read that Clancy cannot write romance, but I was actually okay with the resolution to Sandy/John.

The line between social justice and vigilantism can be a fine one, as Clancy clearly demonstrates in this no-holds-barred thriller detailing the pre-CIA life of recurring character John Kelly (a.k.a. John Clark).Kelly, still grieving the loss of his wife, meets an exciting young woman with whom he develops an instant chemistry. Within just a few days of inviting Pam onboard his boat and getting to know her, he falls head over heels in love—but not before discovering that she’s a drug addict and a former prostitute. Undeterred, Kelly sets out to cure Pam of her addictions. As part of the healing process, Kelly takes Pam back to the streets of Baltimore. As extremely bad luck would have it, Pam is recognized by her former pimp, who shoots Kelly and kidnaps the girl. Days later, Kelly turns up in a hospital, and Pam turns up dead. Kelly vows to rehabilitate himself and avenge Pam’s murder, eventually drawing on his considerable skills as a former Navy SEAL and embarking on a campaign of terror against the city’s drug world that has cops scratching their heads and dealers quaking in their dark alleys.Meanwhile, in war-torn Vietnam, a U.S. spy drone snaps a photo of a high-ranking military official who is supposed to be dead—a man with knowledge that could be extremely beneficial to America’s enemies. The Pentagon’s top brass decides to stage a rescue, and who better to lead the mission than former SEAL John Kelly? Now, torn between his desire to punish his girlfriend’s murderers and his loyalty to his country, Kelly has to decide which mission is more important. The choice he makes will affect not only the course of Kelly’s life but the very condition of his soul.The literary device of hero vs. human evil is a familiar one, and the ethical questions the book raises are worth considering. As with many of this author’s novels, caution is required; the book contains accounts of torture, physical and emotional abuse, drug use, and war violence. The first chapter contains a relatively mild sex scene, and bad language is used throughout. But Clancy is a master of political and military intrigue, and the objectionable material is included not for its own sake but to support the compelling story and believable characters. Readers who are able to cheer for an antihero with a conscience will love Without Remorse.

Clancy's novel introducing early years of John Clark. Returnee from the Navy, Clark, Vietnam war veteran tries to live normal life when he comes across a lady in distress. After failing to save her life Clark decides to start hunting those responsible (very much like Creasy from A.J. Quinnell series of novels).In the meantime US government will try to recruit him once more to lead a daring mission to save US POWs (Son Tay like raid).Recommended.

My third favorite of Clancy's books. Location, especially all the water scenes including the amazing chase and rescue sequence towards the end. Good hospital scenes, very accurate in small details at least. Don't care for the topics, but it does strongly establish Clark's character for later novels.

The history of John Kelly, aka Mr. Clark -- takes place about 20 years before the more recent works, with Kelly just back from Vietnam. Some people love the Mr. Clark character. I think he's interesting, but portrayed with too much extreme to identify that much.

Tom Clancy's books are always worth the effort--takes concentration to really read his books.

My absolute favourite Tom Clancy.

Find out about the greatest secret agent! Compelling read!

Originally written to fill the "backstory" on the mysterious CIA Agent John Clark, added to Clancy's usual modus operendi of unnecessarily connecting characters, it provides a very penetrating look at how people think, and how someone who has nothing to lose is still willing to give it all and get a job done right.

The best book in the series

Excellent stuff! If you ever wondered, how the infamous Mr. Clark got where he is in the later installments like “Rainbow Six”, here’s the story. Pretty low-tech, personal interest, but Jack-Ryan-less for once (almost). Very good adventure yarn, set in the later days of the Vietnam war era. Could hardly put it down. Very high up in my personal Tom-Clancy-top-ten.

I enjoyed this one first in the Reader's Digest Condensed, which takes out some nasty stuff. I like the good guy fighting for the underdog/undefended. I will admit I like to see the bad guys get there just desserts.

The early years of John (kelly) Clark, his vigillante against drug pushers and eventual recruitment by the CIA. violent but no more than usual with Clancy's attention to detail.

Is this the one where Clancy jumps the shark? I loved "Red Storm Rising" and "The Hunt for Red October," but I pretty much dropped Clancy after this one. A character summed up by 'remoreseless vengeance machine' really isn't a deep person to grow with across several books, you know? (Or did I -- quelle surprise -- confuse one Tom Clancy book with another? My bad.)