Book Review: Without Remorse (John Clark #01) by Tom Clancy

Amongst the many and varied characters that Tom Clancy created to surround and assist his hero, Jack Ryan, the most intriguing one – at least, to me – has always been the CIA officer John Clark. We know he’s a legend, and is always there, involved in audacious operations, but, for a long time, Clancy did little in the way of elaborating on what you knew was a very interesting, murky backstory.

Then came Without Remorse, chronologically the first book in the Tom Clancy universe. Set in the waning years of the Vietnam War. Featuring great cameos from James Greer, Bob Ritter and even a young Jack Ryan, tying Kelly’s backstory into the wider Clancy universe, it tells the story of John Terrence Kelly, former Navy SEAL, a decorated warrior, who is wandering around Baltimore after the death of his pregnant wife when he picks up a hitchhiker named Pam Madden. This event changes Kelly’s life forever, and sets into motion the avalanche of events that will see him join the Central Intelligence Agency and become the lethally effective Mr Clark.

Unbeknownst to Kelly at the time, Pam was a prostitute, had escaped from a group profiteering not just from the hire of girls, but also the growing drug trade. On a drive through Baltimore, they’re ambushed. Pam is killed and Kelly sustains horrific injuries from a shotgun blast.

In the hospital, the former SEAL decides to not leave the matter of Pam’s death in the hands of the Baltimore Police Department. Instead, he takes matters into his own hands, taking out various figures in the Baltimore drug underworld, all connected to the ring that Pam was forced to work for. In the hospital, Kelly meets the beautiful young nurse Sandra O’Toole, herself dealing with the loss of someone close: her husband, Tim, in Vietnam.

At the same time, in Vietnam, a covert prison camp is discovered by satellite imagery. Unlike the infamous Hanoi Hilton facility, the men who are kept in the covert camp have officially been listed as dead by the North Vietnamese Army. Colonel Robin Zacharias, a fighter pilot with extensive knowledge of America’s defense mechanisms, and is grilled for information by a Russian colonel.

When the CIA finds out about the camp, they put together an audacious operation, and one of the admirals in charge, Dutch Maxwell, is familiar with Kelly’s work from earlier in the war, and brings Kelly back into the fold, first to plan the mission, and then to go in early. But, as is often the case in Clancy novels, there’s an American agent working for the Russians, who betrays the mission. Kelly manages to capture the Russian on his way out, and is heavily involved in the hunt for the mole.

As the Baltimore body count continues to grow, there’s a great cameo from a young Jack Ryan, whose father, Emmet, is one of the investigating detectives, who eventually connect the dots, and have Kelly as their main suspect. The CIA offer Kelly a job, his relationship with Nurse O’Toole deepens, and everything comes to a head in the last twenty pages in what can only be described as an explosive ending.

Without Remorse is one of the darker Clancy stories. Kelly is very ruthless, but his character is redeemed by the way he deliberately avoids collateral damage, and completely rules out ever shooting a cop. He’s fuelled by thoughts of revenge against the framework of the drug organisation who killed Pam, and nothing more.

Clancy expertly writes Kelly in his vengeful drug dealer-killing frame of mind, and Kelly as a meticulous operational planner for the Vietnam mission, and then his relationship with O’Toole and the two doctors, Sam and Sarah Rosen. By the end, you’re left in no doubt as to Kelly/Clark being an honourable man – just one you wouldn’t want to make an enemy out of.

One negative: there are many sub-plots around Kelly’s story, most of which weren’t critical to the plot, and Clancy does tend to go overboard with each character’s musing. His elaborate description of various technologies that tend to make me lose a little concentration. If you can put up with that – and I could – you’re in for a real treat.

Without Remorse is a stellar read, and easily in my Top 3 favourite Clancy novels.