First Blood: The classic thriller that launched one of the most iconic figures in cinematic history - Rambo.

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The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing (2008) ISBN 978-1-4022-1055-6 Morrell, David" by Adam Meyer, in David Pringle (editor), St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers. Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1998, ISBN 1-55862-206-3. Morrell's 2000 introduction to the novel, entitled "Rambo and Me", gives insight on the inspirations and development of the novel (pp. vii–xiv).

From New York Times bestselling author, David Morrell, comes a classic thriller that introduced the character of Rambo, one of the most iconic action heroes of the twentieth century.The novel is told from both main characters’ points of view, alternating chapters for the most part and offering us plenty of insight into their thoughts, motivations, and personal history. Rambo is clearly suffering from what today we call PTSD. The sheriff is a former decorated soldier from the Korean War and a competent sheriff. When these two clash, it’s unclear who will have the upper hand: the highly trained Green Beret with all of his skills or the sheriff who can bring to bear a vast array of government resources to hunt down his prey. Here again, the movie greatly differs. Here, Rambo is not a near-super-powered being but rather, an entirely human character who gets hurt, bleeds, and suffers tremendously. The violence is far greater than in the movie. Sometimes it's brutal and sometimes it’s almost a simple off-hand comment about another good friend being gunned down but it always drives the narrative as well as the two characters. Rambo, whose first name is not specified in the novel, was given the first name "John" for the film as a reference to the song " When Johnny Comes Marching Home". [9]

When I initially watched First Blood, I don't think I really understood what it was about until the wonderful monologue at the end, but in the book it was apparent throughout the text that Rambo was a broken man. A man who literally brought the war home with him. The book, as well as the movie, is a warning. Not about the evils of war, but about the evils of man. Be careful who you decide to antagonize, as you might start a war. First of all, I’d like to start by saying I’ve never seen First Blood (1982) in my life, the movie which is supposed to be based on this book. Besides, I didn’t have any idea what I would find inside this story. I mean, I know it’s quite common that people read this novel after they have seen the film adaptation, but my case was a little different.In dit boek wordt beschreven hoe de mannen elkaar achtervolgen en achternajagen. Soms kwam er wat psychologische diepgang in voor, dat is de reden dat ik de motivatie kreeg om het uit te lezen, maar dat was iets dat zelden gebeurde. De schrijver gaat niet diep in op de trauma, historische context of achtergrond van de karakters, het blijft vrij oppervlakkig. Ik vond het erg vreemd dat wij dit voor Engels moesten lezen. Ik was blij dat ik het uit had, en heb in ieder geval geleerd wat voor boeken ik minder vind. First Blood' is structured as a conflict between these two worldviews. The conflict itself is dramatic and filled with violence but those things punctuate the story, they are not the point of it. Movie-Rambo is a quiet, mumbling depressed veteran who is hassled by evil, asshole cops who firehose him, beat him, and taunt him. In the book the cops, while stupid and a little critical of Rambo's long hair, are just doing their job. They don't beat him, he gets a shower instead of a firehose, Teasle gives Rambo two chances to get out of town. He allows Rambo to buy a hamburger, unlike in the movie. There's no hatred or sadism toward Rambo on Teasle's part until Rambo starts gutting his partner. Now, without warning, they are enemies in a civilian combat that becomes a chase through the woods and mountains and caves above the town. As we follow them, we understand that once a man has been trained as a killer, perhaps he is changed forever. Dit boek is prima, maar niets voor mij. Ik vond het gebrek aan vrouwen in dit boek zorgwekkend en de schrijfwijze was 'testosteron-schrijven' (de manier waarop werd beschreven hoe het ging donderen toen Teasle zijn geweer pakte), ook is vrijwel het hele boek in Amerikaanse spreektaal geschreven. Dit boek gaat, samengevat, over twee mannen die elkander achtervolgen. Rambo, een getraumatiseerde oorlogsveteraan, komt net terug uit Vietnam. Hij wordt zonder duidelijke reden opgepakt, door Teasle, ook een getraumatiseerde oorlogsveteraan (uit Korea).