Without Remorse
Author | Tom Clancy | |
---|---|---|
Country | United States | |
Language | English | |
Series | John Clark | |
Genre | ||
Publisher | ISBN 0399138250 | |
Preceded by | The Sum of All Fears | |
Followed by | Debt of Honor |
Without Remorse is a
Plot
In 1970, former
In
Meanwhile, Kelly recovers from his wounds with the help of Dr. Rosen and his head nurse, Sandra "Sandy" O'Toole. Vowing to exact revenge on the people responsible for Pam's death, he wages a private war on Tucker's drug ring, eliminating some of its players and saving some female drug mules in the process. He recruits Rosen and O'Toole to help rehabilitate one of the rescued prostitutes, Doris Brown. He later obtains more information on the drug ring from brutally torturing one of Pam's pimps, William Grayson, using a pressure chamber designed to simulate deep-water diving conditions; he is then left to die from severe decompression sickness. However, his specialized tactics, including advanced close-quarters combat, camouflaging himself as a homeless man, meticulous intelligence gathering, and manufacturing of suppressors for his firearms draw the attention of local investigators, particularly Emmet Ryan, who investigated Kelly's initial altercation and Pam's subsequent death.
Later, Kelly is approached by Admiral Maxwell to act as the
Upon returning from Vietnam, Kelly finds out that Doris and her father Raymond had been killed and continues his mission. He finds out that the
Ryan deduces that Kelly is the vigilante targeting drug dealers and their corrupt police partners. He confronts him on his boat, where Kelly confesses. He bargains with the detective for one more hour of liberty before being arrested; Ryan agrees, but Kelly fakes his death by capsizing his boat. He is then rescued by his CIA superiors, who recruit him under his new identity as John Clark. He quietly resumes contact with O'Toole and marries her. Three years later, Zacharias and his fellow POWs are
Characters
Baltimore
- John Terrence Kelly: Former Navy SEAL, later a full-time operative for the Central Intelligence Agencyunder the name John Clark.
- Pamela "Pam" Madden: Kelly's lover. Drug mule and prostitute who escaped from Henry Tucker
- Dr Sam Rosen: Professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University.
- Dr Sarah Rosen: Pharmacologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Sam Rosen's wife.
- Sandra "Sandy" O'Toole: a Vietnam war widow and nurse-practitioner at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
- Henry Tucker: Pimp and leader of the Baltimore drug ring. He is possibly inspired by African American drug lord who is smuggling heroininto the United States using military transport planes.
- William "Billy" Grayson: Drug dealer working for Tucker.
- Tony Piaggi: A drug dealer, member of the Baltimore Mafia, and a major distributor of Tucker's heroin.
- Doris Brown: Pam's fellow drug mule and prostitute.
- Lt Emmet Ryan: Lieutenant at the Marinesto his parents.
- Lt Mark Charon: Lieutenant at the Baltimore City Police Department (Narcotics Division), on Tucker's payroll
- Manuel "Portagee" Oreza: Quartermaster First Class for the United States Coast Guard, Kelly's friend. Pursued Kelly when he faked his death, believes him to be dead.
Vietnam
- Colonel Robin Zacharias: fighter-bomber pilot for the North Vietnamese Army during a Wild Weasel attack on their SAMsites.
- Colonel Nikolay Yevgeniyevich "Kolya" Grishanov: The sole interrogator at the POW camp holding Zacharias.
- Vice Admiral Winslow Holland "Dutch" Maxwell: Assistant chief of naval operations (Air) for the United States Navy. Formed the rescue mission (codename "Boxwood Green") and personally recruited Kelly to take part in the operation.
- Rear Admiral Casimir Podulski: Aide to Vice Admiral Maxwell. Involved in the planning and execution of Boxwood Green
- Admiral James Greer: Rear admiral for the U.S. Navy who started working for the CIA. Supervised Boxwood Green and later recruits Kelly into the agency.
- Robert Ritter: Senior executive in the Operations Division of the CIA. Supervised Boxwood Green and also recruits Kelly into the agency.
- Walter "Wally" Hicks: Aide to the Special Assistant to the National Security Advisor. Misidentified as the KGB mole by Ritter and was killed by Kelly under the pretense of a heroin overdose.
- Peter Henderson: Minor Senate aide, revealed to be a KGB mole (codename "Cassius") that burned Boxwood Green. Appears in Red Rabbit (2002); later caught by the CIA in The Hunt for Red October (1984) and made as double agent. He was later offered his freedom in The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988) due to the importance of secret information on the Soviet Union that he brought.
Themes
Without Remorse is said to be inspired by David Morrell's novel First Blood (1972) as well a string of action films that feature violent and "psycho" Vietnam veterans of the 1980s. Clancy subverted the cliché by framing Kelly's rage and frustration as "pro-social". Moreover, it gave him a platform to express his disgust with the U.S. government for neglecting Vietnam veterans, who "understand the arts of war".[2]
Regarding the message of the novel, Clancy said: "The central question in this book is: What is justice? And how is justice applied? What if you're in the situation where a great wrong has been done and the law does not respond to it? Now, is your duty as a citizen just to forget about it and permit society as a whole to make that mistake? Or is your duty as a citizen to become the instrument of justice, if you can do so in a controlled and structured and just way? Do you have the moral right to become the instrument of justice yourself?"[3]
Development
Clancy started working on Without Remorse in 1971. He later went back to the previously abandoned story in 1992, spending about four months on the novel. He explained the process: "You gotta tell a good story if people are going to read it. I think you have an ethical obligation to deal with those issues as truthfully as possible. So, there's an educational aspect to what I do."
In 1992, Putnam paid $14 million for the North American rights, a record for a single book.[4]
Reception
Commercially, the book debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of August 29, 1993.
Critically, Without Remorse received generally positive reviews.
Film adaptation
Savoy Pictures first bought the film rights to Without Remorse soon after the novel was released for $2.5 million.[8] At one point, Keanu Reeves was offered the role as Clark for $7 million but declined.[9] Variety magazine reported that Laurence Fishburne and Gary Sinise were later attached to star in the adaptation, but production was shut down due to script problems and financial woes with the production company.[10] The film went under development hell for years until Christopher McQuarrie signed on with Paramount Pictures to direct the adaptation in 2012.[11] Tom Hardy was approached by Paramount to play Clark, and Kevin Costner was slated to reprise his role as mentor William Harper from another Clancy-based film, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), but this version was scrapped.[12]
In 2017,
References
- ^ "BEST SELLERS: August 29, 1993". The New York Times. 29 August 1993. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- ^ Greenberg, Martin H. The Tom Clancy Companion (Revised ed.). pp. 28–31.
- ^ Carlson, Peter. "What ticks Tom Clancy off?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
- ^ Max, Daniel (August 3, 1992). "Is Clancy chancy at $14 million?". Variety. p. 1.
- ISBN 0425143325.
- ^ "WITHOUT REMORSE by Tom Clancy". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Without Remorse by Tom Clancy". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (7 August 2012). "Paramount Confirms Christopher McQuarrie Taking On Tom Clancy's 'Without Remorse'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
- ^ Fretts, Bruce. "Harrison Ford takes on Tom Clancy...again". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ Busch, Anita M. "SAVOY WITHOUT 'REMORSE'". Variety. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ "Paramount Confirms Christopher McQuarrie Taking On Tom Clancy's 'Without Remorse". 7 August 2012.
- ^ "Is Tom Hardy Without Remorse?". IGN. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (11 July 2017). "Akiva Goldsman To Paramount; 'Rainbow Six', 'Ologies' & 'Avengelyne'". Deadline. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (20 September 2018). "Michael B. Jordan to Play Tom Clancy Character John Clark". Variety. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ N'Duka, Amanda (6 December 2018). "Stefano Sollima In Talks To Helm Michael B. Jordan In Tom Clancy Pic 'Without Remorse'". Deadline. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (9 January 2019). "Taylor Sheridan to Rewrite Michael B. Jordan's 'Without Remorse' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ "'Without Remorse': Michael B. Jordan's Tom Clancy Amazon Movie Gets a Release Date". Collider. 8 February 2021.