Horrors Of War

 

I can't!  I just can't!  This should not have ended the way it did and yet, there was no other logical conclusion for it.  Hi, yeah.  As you've probably guessed, I have Big Opinions about the way this book went.  Okay, let's dive into First Blood by David Morrell.

Characters: Rambo and Will Teasle

Premise: A Vietnam Veteran finds himself the subject of a major manhunt after an altercation with a small-town Chief of Police and his deputies.

I don't even know where to start with this. This is my first David Morrell book. Rambo (yes, that Rambo) is drifting from town to town after coming back from Vietnam and just minding his own business and was passing through a Kentucky town when Wilfred Teasle (a Korean War vet) proceeded to "escort" Rambo out of his town, which ya know, didn't sit well with Rambo, so he stuck around, only to get re-escorted out until Rambo was arrested, pushed to his brink, and he fought back.  

Look, I'm not going to pretend I know what it's like to be a veteran of any type of war, and I can sympathize with Teasle to an extent.  You have an unknown in your residence, you want to make sure everyone's safe, but like, he didn't even call to check in with the state police when Rambo was refusing to give him any identifiers---if he had, he would've learned that the guy was a Vietnam Vet---and yes, that was apparently an option, because there's a scene in the book where he's talking a state trooper who informs him of Rambo's status, stating that he had chosen the wrong guy to go up against.  My dude, you caused all of your own problems.

What comes next is a big ol' chase and battles of wills that lasts the entirety of the novel.  I'm not going to say that either Rambo or Teasle were the villain or the hero, because honestly, I feel like depending on how you read this story, both characters are both hero and villain as they both do things that made go "What are you doing?" (such as when Rambo kills the dogs that are tracking him.  Realistically, I get why he made the choice as a character, but still, doggies) and it ends with both of them dying from being shot and honestly, I'm kinda mad that Rambo died even though, logically, it is the only way that this novel could've ended, especially with all the injuries he sustained. They didn't try to make him some larger than life cartoon character that miraculously survived, which I liked.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this book.   Like, I know I want to keep it.  I thoroughly enjoyed the read.  I thought it portrayed the disconnect between the generations---a Korean War Veteran vs. a Vietnam War veteran---well, the action was well-written and kept me on the edge of my seat.  However, other than Rambo, I didn't really feel connected to any of the other characters so their deaths didn't really bother me when they happened (other than the tracking dogs) and the writing style or the storyline didn't really make me want to seek out his other works.  At most, I'd give this about a 6 1/2.