As a youngster, I read and enjoyed Red Storm Rising, Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and Cardinal of the Kremlin. (I thought that Sum of All Fears was pushing it.) But Without Remorse is quite another story. Here Clancy reveals himself to be a real facist. Certainly the victims of Kelly/Clark's rage are not innocents, but they are pointless executed, and the book doesn't even take the time to explore the effect that this has on Clark or really give him any kind of depth. In Lethal Weapon, we only know that Riggs's wife is dead, this alone is enough to make him suicidal and add considerable depth to his character. In Without Remorse, the love interest's death is only exploited to give Clark an excuse to kill everyone. I found Clancy's obvious animus towards liberals and women distasteful and his lack of respect for human life and even a sense of the impact that taking another person's life has on your own--well, it is truely baffling to consider how a man who is marginally an intellectual can be that primative. He falls short even of the mark that his other novels set. One is better off with any of his previous works, especially Clear and Present Danger or Cardinal of the Kremlin.
As a youngster, I read and enjoyed Red Storm Rising, Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and Cardinal of the Kremlin. (I thought that Sum of All Fears was pushing it. ) But Without Remorse is quite another story. Here Clancy reveals himself to be a real facist. Certainly the victims of Kelly/Clark's rage are not innocents, but they are pointless executed, and the book doesn't even take the time to explore the effect that this has on Clark or really give him any kind of depth. In Lethal Weapon, we only know that Riggs's wife is dead, this alone is enough to make him suicidal and add considerable depth to his character. In Without Remorse, the love interest's death is only exploited to give Clark an excuse to kill everyone. I found Clancy's obvious animus towards liberals and women distasteful and his lack of respect for human life and even a sense of the impact that taking another person's life has on your own--well, it is truely baffling to consider how a man who is marginally an intellectual can be that primative. He falls short even of the mark that his other novels set. One is better off with any of his previous works, especially Clear and Present Danger or Cardinal of the Kremlin.