First Blood (novel)
First edition
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| Author | David Morrell |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre |
Adventure Thriller novel |
| Publisher | M. Evans |
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Publication date
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1972 |
| Pages | 252 |
| ISBN | |
First Blood is a 1972 novel by David Morrell which was adapted into the 1982 film starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo.
Rambo (no first name in the novel), a Vietnam War veteran, is hitchhiking in Madison, Kentucky and is picked up by Police Chief Teasle and dropped off at the city limits. When Rambo repeatedly returns, Teasle finally arrests him and drives him to the station. He is charged with vagrancy and resisting arrest and is sentenced to 35 days in jail. Being trapped inside the cold, wet, small cells gives Rambo a flashback to his days as a POW in Vietnam, and he fights off the police as they attempt to cut his hair and shave him, beating one officer and slashing another with the straight razor. He flees, steals a motorcycle, and hides in the nearby mountains. He becomes the focus of a manhunt that results in the deaths of many police officers, civilians, and National Guardsmen.
In a climactic ending in the town where his conflict with Teasle began, Rambo is finally hunted down by special forces captain, Sam Trautman, and Teasle. Using his local knowledge, Teasle manages to surprise Rambo and shoots him in the chest, but is himself wounded in the stomach by a return shot. He then tries to pursue Rambo as he makes a final attempt to escape back out of the town. Both men are essentially dying by this point, but are driven by pride and a desire to justify their actions. Rambo, having found a spot he feels comfortable in, prepares to commit suicide by detonating a stick of dynamite against his body; however, he then sees Teasle following his trail and decides that it would be more honorable to continue fighting and be killed by Teasle's return fire.
Rambo fires at Teasle and, to his surprise and disappointment, hits him. For a moment he reflects on how he had missed his chance of a decent death, because he is now too weak to light the fuse to detonate the dynamite, but then suddenly feels the explosion he had expected—but in the head, not the stomach where the dynamite was placed. Rambo dies satisfied that he has come to a fitting end. Trautman returns to the dying Teasle and tells him that he has killed Rambo with his shotgun. Teasle relaxes, experiences a moment of affection for Rambo, and then dies succumbing to his wounds.
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