Without Remorse »

Known for originating the techno-thriller genre, Tom Clancy writes complex novels dense with hardware and international intrigue. Perhaps the strongest indication of his power as a writer is the fact that he is often treated by the media like a character in one of his books, asked for opinions about military readiness and the subject of rumors about being debriefed by the Pentagon. Not bad for a former salesman who was rejected for service because of bad eyesight.

In a harrowing tour de force, Tom Clancy shows how an ordinary man named John Kelly crossed the lines of justice and morality—to become the CIA legend Mr. Clark.

New York Times - Walter Goodman

The author's narrative technique owes something to the old magazine-writer maxim: Tell them what you're going to tell them; tell it; tell them what you've told them. The dialogue is never elliptical, in, say, the le Carre manner. Everything that anybody might want to know is laid out explicitly and repeatedly. Maybe Mr. Clancy has a short memory span or maybe he assumes that his readers do not pay close attention between the action sequences. Either way, he takes no chances; if you hear a criminal's plan or a police officer's deduction once, you'll hear it again. Our author is without remorse....The nice people in "Without Remorse" and presumably Mr. Clancy's many readers see things Kelly's way. Others may find 639 pages of flapdoodle materially degrading.