Without Remorse

Without Remorse

File:Tc7wr.jpg
Author	Tom Clancy
Language	English
Series	Ryaniverse
Genre	Novel, Thriller
Publisher	Putnam
Publication date	1993 (1st edition)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	639 p. (hardback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-399-13825-0 (hardback edition)
Followed by	Patriot Games

Without Remorse is a novel by Tom Clancy set in 1971, in the middle of the Vietnam War. It makes passing references to Jack Ryan and his family, but is focused on John Clark. The book serves to give a history of Clark's life, and develop his persona of being intelligent, resourceful, and just.

Plot Summary

Template:Spoiler The story is set in 1971, as the raid on the Son Tay prison camp (Operation Ivory Coast) occurred on November 21, 1970, as well as the following day. Kelly was in Vietnam at the time as a member of the (fictional) 3rd Special Operations Group (SOG). He would most likely have been a member of ST1 or ST2 who was working as part of MACV-SOG in the Phoenix Program. He has been home from Vietnam and out of the Navy long enough to have married and started his own business performing commercial maritime demolition. Due to the mentioning of Frank Robinson as current player for the Baltimore Orioles the upper cap is 1971.

John Kelly, a former Navy SEAL, is devastated when his pregnant wife is killed in a car accident. He limits himself to seclusion. Six months later, Kelly meets a girl named Pamela who is involved in the sex trade and drug trafficking, and becomes romantically involved with her. Soon after, they are attacked while Kelly attempts to reconnoiter the drug operation that Pamela was involved in. Kelly is critically wounded, and his girlfriend is captured, raped, tortured, and killed.

From this point on, Kelly takes charge, both in a private war against the drug business which killed the girl he loved, and in a military operation to free dozens of secretly held POWs, where he is operating as John Clark, as an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. Kelly is eventually assigned to eliminate a leak in the White House who causes the POW mission to be botched. Despite the aborted rescue mission, Kelly does manage to kill the camp commander and capture the Soviet PVO Strany officer in charge of interrogation, while making his escape from the area surrounding the camp.

In his private war he kills several drug dealers and eventually learns the location of Billy, a senior lieutenant in the drug ring who killed Pamela. He captures Billy and tortures him to gather further information about the drug ring. He eventually determines the location of the drug ring's new lab and lays siege to it, killing the leader of the drug ring, his mafia connection and two mafia hoods. A corrupt Baltimore police officer was also killed at the scene by one of the mafia members.

This book also begins Clark's involvement with Sandra O'Toole, who nurses Clark back to health (as Kelly) after the failed scouting attempt on Pamela's drug operation. She also assists in healing another girl, Doris, who Kelly freed directly along with Professor Samuel Rosen, though the girl is later murdered.

The end of the book documents how Kelly, using a boating accident, effectively kills off his John Kelly persona, who was wanted for the murder of over a dozen drugrunners, including those responsible for Pamela and Doris's deaths. Now John Clark, the end of the book also shows that he has in fact married Sandra O'Toole by this time, paving the way for her role in future books such as Rainbow Six.

It is a prequel to the Jack Ryan books, featuring Jack's father in a supporting role. Jack Ryan himself appears briefly and is mentioned several times as a young adult about to join the U.S. Marine Corps. Template:Endspoiler

Film Adaptations

Template:Future film Paramount Pictures pictures bought the film rights to Without Remorse soon after the novel was released. There were several attempts to start work on the film, but it was always dropped soon after, along with attempts to adapt Clancy's hit novel Rainbow Six into a film. The film version had been put on the fast track in mid-2006. With the final script near completion, director John Singleton had signed on to direct the film, and Superman Returns Brandon Routh has been cast as John Kelly.

The film was intended for a late 2007/ early 2008 release however, Paramount has recently put Without Remorse into turnaround, and Singleton, who signed a 5 picture release deal with Paramount when he signed on to Without Remorse, will most likely leave the picture now, along with Routh.

Trivia

Tom Clancy received US$14 million to write Without Remorse, which is the largest amount of money ever paid for a book advance.