First Blood – David Morrell (Book).

Book: 4/52
First Blood – David Morrell
My Rating: 5/5

Sometimes I really wonder about myself, why at times I don’t read the books based on my favourite characters from childhood, and this one was one of those characters much loved in the movie adaptation made in 1982, and Sylvester Stallone lived that lifetime role in such a way that even today the movie works for me big time. Long back, I came to know that it was, of course, based on a book, but unfortunately, it wasn’t available anywhere in our part of the world, and Uncle Bezos was too mean to keep it very expensive, finally black Friday sale plunged its price to my budget, and I jumped on it. Again, it will be a cliché to call the book way better than the movie, as it always is the case, but that takes nothing away from the action-packed movie. Let me tell you why. First, the little story behind Rambo’s name, as to why and how he was named Rambo, can only be found in the book. And then the movie doesn’t offer any in-depth about the three main characters, as is usually the case, especially of Rambo and his nemesis, played by the local cop Teasle, as to why they were hell-bent on killing each other. First thing was why Teasle, being a Sheriff wants Rambo, a nomad, to cross his town at the earliest, as he believes if Rambo remains in town, he might create chaos. But Teasle has no idea that he had been ousted by 15 other towns as well, right after he came back from Vietnam, a war veteran, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honour, a Green Beret, and he has no idea what he is going through mentally. Teasle, himself, was a war veteran (award-winning but lower than Rambo) from the 50’s Korean War, and even after they both knew about each other, they still kept on going hard and made it no easier for the other one. Rambo decides to burn the town down and kill Teasle, and as expected, Teasle wants to kill Rambo with his own hands. How it all is done is totally terrific, and I must say, I haven’t read a better thriller than this ever. David Morrell offers all the perspectives in this story, and both the main characters talk themselves out or into what they are doing and justify it to themselves, too, that they are totally right in doing what they are doing. The story has almost everything one can imagine in a thriller, a hero on a motorcycle chased by cop cars, a gorilla war in a mountain, sniffer dogs, helicopters, crashing cars, a burning town, explosions and a proper revenge with people being killed left, right and centre that I lost count of the same. 

Then comes Trautman as a respite in both their lives, the man who not only trained the killing machine called Rambo but also knows everything about the man, as to how to stop him from destroying his own life as he goes on a rampage. Right at the start of the book, the author states very clearly that if you have seen the movie and loved it, you should be ready for a shocking ending . Now that, got me thinking of all the alternate endings that I could imagine, of-course I am not going to tell you what it is, but I must say that he totally blew my mind by that ending and now I have to pick the second from the series which is even three times more expensive than the first , just to know if this is how it ends (or he offers a respite for the readers). What I loved big time about this book was that no matter how bad the cop was, he kept referring to Rambo as “Kid”, but then never gave up on his own elephantine ego till the very end. And I must say that the book is not only way better than the movie but equally thrilling, full of action with great details that the movie doesn’t offer due to its short runtime and the characters are so well developed that at times he made it so convincing for me the reader that there was no villain the story, just the circumstances to be blamed. I am sure that I am going to read this one again in the very near future for its racy narrative and almost too short length of mere 308 pages, but after I have read all three from the series. The first part was based on his book and since the movie was a blockbuster, they decided to make two more movies with Rambo in lead which David Morrell who wasn’t very happy with the script novelized the same with his own version, now I am so curious to know how it differed from the movies which was good if not great to watch, I will get the balance two too and read them asap. The knife shown on the book cover is a childhood dream, Dunno what I am going to do with it once I get it, but every time I come across it, the desire to get it becomes stronger . 

Have you read The First Blood? Or any other David Morrell novel, do let me know, as I am for sure going to read so much more from him at the earliest. 

First Blood: Rambo the movie: Just watched the movie too, as I simply couldn’t resist seeing those amazing characters on screen after I finished and loved the book. I must say, Oh My God! What an amazing movie this one turns out to be, even after ageing 45+ years, it remains one of my all-time favourites. Sylvester Stallone at his best, superb action, almost no dialogue, but a total visual delight right from the first scene to the very end, even loved that song with the end credits. Of course, they had taken huge cinematic liberties while adapting the book, and even Stallone was a part of the screenplay writing, which I am sure made it this good.