
If you want more, especially if you want to think more, this isn’t the story for you. Send the Vietnam Veteran back into the jungle and have him right the wrongs of a bad war by dispatching a hoard of bad guys. (Worried about the wrongs some American soldiers committed? Go watch Platoon.) As a young red-blooded American boy, I loved this action story. It’s really about righting the wrongs committed against American soldiers during the Vietnam War. But it contains additional material, including a primer on how Rambo became a master archer. This novel is a companion to the film version. Accepting that premise, this book/film succeeds. It was also about calming the fears of their wide-eyed children (me included). This was a time when the words Soviets and Russians were synonyms for “bad guys.” In particular, 1980s Cold War fiction was not just about calming the nuclear fears of Baby Boomers.

Cross reference it with films like Red Dawn or Rocky IV. It’s important to remember that Rambo: First Blood Part II is not just Cold War fiction. Vince Flynn, New York Times bestselling author of Kill Shot Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author of 77 Shadow Street “Morrell, an absolute master of the thriller, plays by his own rules and leaves you dazzled.” Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Columbus Affair “David Morrell is, to me, the finest thriller writer living today, bar none.” An Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity nominee, Morrell is a recipient of three prestigious Bram Stoker awards as well as the lifetime-achievement Thriller Master Award from the International Thriller Writers organization. His numerous other bestsellers include the classic spy trilogy: The Brotherhood of the Rose, the Fraternity of the Stone, and The League of Night and Fog. Read the story that the film could have had, along with David Morrell’s in-depth introduction about Rambo and the book’s background.ĭavid Morrell is the award-winning author of First Blood, the novel in which Rambo was created. This novelization and the film have many differences. The second condition? Don’t rescue the prisoners.


First, Rambo must return to the Vietnamese prison camp from which he escaped and find the missing Americans rumored to be prisoners there. His former commanding officer, Colonel Trautman, arrives with a promise to release him, with two conditions.

In this sequel, Rambo is in prison for his one-man war against a small-town police chief. David Morrell’s First Blood introduced Rambo, who joined the ranks of Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, James Bond, and Harry Potter as an international thriller icon. The most dangerous man in the world is back.
