Rambo is the good guy, and Teasle is in the wrong. While this isn’t an incendiary anti-war novel, Trautman has a fascinating outlook on the topic: He hates war (like any sane person) as such, he trains soldiers so they can live, not so they can kill. In fact, in this book’s narrative, Rambo and Trautman never meet face-to-face their whole lives. His description of Rambo hiding in mud is so evocative that the “Rambo: First Blood Part II” filmmakers borrowed the idea.Īll 6 ‘Mission: Impossible’ films, ranked

There are ridiculous moments such as Teasle’s ability to shoot out headlights and tires even when totally exhausted, but overall it’s clear Morrell has experience with survival tactics and war – or is good at faking it. While a lot of the book takes place in the woods, there’s also a harrowing cave sequence like something out of “The Descent,” as well as car chases and exploding buildings. Even though he’s sympathetic – a guy who wouldn’t hurt a fly as long as it left him alone – he does commit a murder that’s not in self-defense in the first of an epic string of kills.

There’s less of an “out” for Rambo here than in the movie. This might be too much for some readers, but I think it’s the right amount of crazy. He also suggests the mind is capable of a next level of evolution if pushed far enough, as Teasle’s mind links with Rambo’s. It’s not realistic on the whole, but the details are superb as Morrell lets us into the minds of two men who are slowly dying and going crazy. The steadily ratcheting “First Blood” is about the extreme lengths a human body can be pushed to before it breaks. It’s impossible to not picture Stallone when reading Morrell’s words, but before the movie came out, people were perhaps picturing less of a grown man. Teasle thinks of Rambo as “the kid,” since he doesn’t learn his name till well into the book. The author brings us into the heads of both, with Rambo thinking maybe I didn’t have to fight back but goddammit I’m not gonna be pushed around anymore, and Teasle thinking maybe I could’ve eased off but goddammit this town will go to the druggies if I’m not stern with the longhairs. Morrell’s book, written in an anti-literary yet easy flowing style, becomes an intensely personal battle of strategy and wits between Rambo and Teasle.

First Blood by David Morrell