Without Remorse
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| Author | Tom Clancy |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Rob Wood |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jack Ryan universe |
| Genre | Crime fiction, techno-thriller |
| Publisher | Putnam |
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Publication date
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1993 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 639 pp (hardback edition) |
| ISBN | (hardback edition) |
| OCLC | 28149224 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3553.L245 W57 1993 |
| Preceded by | None |
| Followed by | Patriot Games (in chronology) |
Without Remorse is a thriller novel published in 1993 by Tom Clancy and is a part of the Jack Ryan universe series. While not the first novel of the series to be published, it is first in plot chronology. The main setting of the book is set during the Vietnam War, in the American city of Baltimore. The book focuses on the development of one of Clancy's recurring characters, John Kelly/John Clark, while providing the character some back-story. The book serves to give a history of Kelly's life, and explains how he becomes John Clark.
The book alternates between two major story arcs. In Vietnam, a group of high-ranking American prisoners of war are being kept in a special camp for interrogation by the Soviets; the Vietnamese have listed each prisoner as already dead, and so they have no hope of ever being returned. John Kelly is enlisted by the military and CIA to plan and execute a rescue mission. Meanwhile, in the United States, a heroin ring in Baltimore uses enslaved prostitutes as drug mules. One of the girls escapes and becomes Kelly's girlfriend; she is subsequently recaptured, tortured, and killed. Kelly embarks on a mission of revenge against the gang, but must stay one step ahead of the police investigation, led by homicide detective Emmet Ryan (father of Jack Ryan). In both missions, Kelly struggles with his questions about the moral use of violence and watches the human toll of war abroad and the drug epidemic at home. He also contends with traitors whose personal agendas put countless innocents at risk.
The prologue of the story occurs in late 1970. John Kelly participates in an Underwater Demolition Team's destruction of an oil rig irreparably damaged by Hurricane Camille the previous year. While driving to pick him up after the job, Kelly's pregnant wife Patricia is killed in a car accident. Meanwhile, Robin Zacharias, an Air Force colonel and F-105 pilot, is shot down during a Wild Weasel strike over North Vietnam. The story moves to late spring in the first chapter.
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Wikipedia