Authors: Tom Clancy, David Dukes
ISBN-13: 9780739301616, ISBN-10: 0739301616
Format: MP3 Book
Publisher: Random House Audio Publishing Group
Date Published: November 2007
Edition: Abridged
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.
John Clark is put in the center spotlight, with the big guns trained on the complex and often controversial operations of the FBI.
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.