Background Info
on novels

Date first published	9 August 1993
ISBN Number	BCA Edition
Page Count	640 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

John Kelly has it all, a good life doing a job he likes, a wife and a first child on the way. In the blink of an eye it is all taken away, his wife killed in a road accident, and suddenly John Kelly is on auto pilot heading for oblivion. Then fate turns the other way, and he rescues another broken soul, and his happiness returns. Fate however intervenes and his new love is snatched away and killed, and only by a miracle does John survive.

John leaves hospital, but with a mission to hunt down and kill those responsible for the death of Pam, and also help others trapped in as Pam was trapped, can he complete his mission before the police capture him. Only fate knows.

Review

This is one of the best books from Clancy of all times. It is part of the Ryan Universe, but does not feature Jack Ryan at all. The book does feature a lot of the other characters, Greer, Ritter, and of course the man destined to become John Clark, perhaps the most enduring character besides Ryan himself.

The book is a truly compelling tale of one mans attempt at revenge, using the skills given to him by the Government. Hell bent on killing those that have wronged him, but at the same time helping a mugging victim, and also capturing a police officer, and letting them go.

Whilst taking his revenge he is also planning a rescue mission of Vietnam prisoners, who are officially dead. The contrasts are very real, good and bad, with John Clark somewhere in the middle. This books also shows the complexity of the man, willing to kill a drug dealer in the blink of an eye, he has qualms about killing Wally Hicks, who he is ordered to kill.

The story does not focus too much on weapons, although some of the background detail adds an air of realism, but concentrates more on the where and the why, and operational tactics, and in doing so builds quite a detailed picture of Clark. It makes you realise just what a dangerous situation Ryan walks into in Clear and Present Danger, when Clark realises that the men he commands have been abandoned.

Whether John's actions are write is a very grey area, the people he kills, are quite happy to rape, and kill innocent women, but he is outside the law.

The other thing to note concerns Ritter. In Clear and Present Danger, he is one of the bad guys, yet in this story, still relatively new to the CIA, he comes across as a good guy. He is not willing to abandon the men trapped in Vietnam, and will support any attempt to get them out, apparently something he had already got a reputation for.

This is Clancy at his very best, a great novel, plenty of action, interspersed with real moments of reflection, and romance, which is definitely blossoming between Clark and the nurse who saved him. There are a lot of other good characters, the Rosens, Oreza, the two cops investigating the drug smuggling ring and even the Tucker and his crew, who all blend to make this a fantastic book.

Which is why this story gets a well deserved 5 rating.

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