| | |  | Terrorism | Home » » Soft Target | | | | | | | Description: | | Black Friday America’s largest shopping mall Suburban Minneapolis 3:00 P.M. Ten thousand people jam the aisles, the corridors, the elevators, and the escalators of America, the Mall—a giant Rubik’s Cube of a structure with its own amusement park located in the spacious center atrium. Of those people, nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight have come to shop. The other twelve have come to kill. Stephen Hunter’s hyper-drive, eighth-gear new thriller, Soft Target, chronicles the day when the unthinkable happens: twelve gunmen open fire in the mall corridors, driving the pack before them. Those on the upper floors take cover or get out any way they can; but within a few minutes the gunmen have herded more than a thousand hostages into the amusement park. Ray Cruz, one of the heroes of Hunter’s last bestseller, Dead Zero, is in the mall with his fiancée and her family. The retired Marine sniper thought he was done with stalking and killing—but among the trapped thousands, he’s the only one with a plan and the guts to confront the self-proclaimed “Brigade Mumbai.” Now all he needs is a gun. FBI Sniper Dave McElroy has a gun. But positioned on the roof of the vast building, looking down through one of its thickly paned Great Lakes–shaped skylights, and without explosives or fuses—or the go-ahead from his superiors—he is effectively cut off from his targets and forced into the role of witness to the horror unfolding below. Set during the four hours of the terrifying event, the story follows both hostages and gunmen, detailing the complex strategic police response, the full-press media saturation coverage, even the politics of SWAT as both the Minnesota State Police and the FBI struggle to control, confront, and ultimately defuse the crisis. Having learned the lessons of Columbine, the feds believe that immediate action is the only solution. But Douglas Obobo, the charismatic and ambitious commandant of the state police, orders cooperation, tolerance, communication, and empathy for the gunmen. He feels that with his superior negotiating skills, he can make contact with the shooters and gently nudge them into surrender. But what if their goal all along has been unparalleled massacre—and they’re only waiting for prime time? With unrelenting suspense and vivid scenes of violence and chaos in the center of a terror-crazed afternoon in Middle America, thriller master Stephen Hunter takes us into the belly of the softest of soft targets. | | | Product Details: | | | Average Customer Rating:
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Average Customer Review:
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40 of 40 found the following review helpful:
 The torch passes to a new generation in this actioner from HunterDec 09, 2011
By Brian Baker
Stephen Hunter now brings his series into the third generation of Swagger men in his new offering "Soft Target".
Bob "The Nailer" Swagger, knight in rusting armor, has been aging gracefully, but it's been getting clearer in the last couple of books that he's getting a bit long in the tooth to continue with the kinds of activities Hunter's stories require. It really becomes an issue of believability, as I've pointed out in my reviews of other books in series that feature Vietnam vets as the central characters: we Viet vets are becoming... old. (Maaaaan... that hurts to write!). To see Dave Robicheaux or Elvis Cole or Harry Bosch or Bob The Nailer doing all these super-athletic things they seem to do... well, it really starts to strain the old credibility.
Hunter's been smart enough to address this by introducing Bob Lee's illegitimate son, Ray Cruz, as his heir-apparent, and this novel clearly illustrates why: there's just no way that Bob Lee could have done what Cruz does in this book and have it be believable at all.
The story: jihadi terrorists have raided the thinly-disguised Mall of America on Black Friday, the busy post-Thanksgiving shopping day, killing many shoppers and taking about 1,000 of them hostage. Cruz is the only "shooter" in the place, and he (and a few other people) has managed to evade capture.
The authorities responding to the scene are commanded by a thinly-disguised Obama-style statie colonel - cleverly named Obobo - in love with his own voice and convinced of his own infallibility and ability to deal with the terrs through non-violent persuasion, setting up a clash of strategies and wills between himself and the SWAT-types who want to go in shooting.
How all this works out is the main thrust of the story.
This is a straight actioner; no subtlety involved. It's not a complex story at all, and takes place over the span of just a few hours. It's loaded with lots of action, little in plot, not much character development, a lot of political digs at liberalism, and high entertainment value if you go in knowing what you're buying. It's like watching "Die Hard", or "Dirty Harry". It doesn't profess to be anything more. It's simply escapist beach or airplane reading. On that basis, four stars.
84 of 102 found the following review helpful:
 Who are you and what have you done with Stephen Hunter?Dec 07, 2011
By PAUL A HOLMES
Wow. Just... wow.
Let me provide some context for this review. I LOVE Stephen Hunter. I have read everything he has published, including his film criticism. The whole Swagger family saga, starting with Dirty White Boys, which set the background, and continuing through the historical novels and the more modern stuff, are maybe my favorite series of recent times. (Lee Child's Reacher novels are the only other books that come close, for me.) I pre-ordered this for Kindle six months ago and I had been waiting eagerly for it. I deliberately didn't start the new Harry Bosch because I knew this was coming online a day or two later. So, in case I didn't make it clear, I LOVE Stephen Hunter.
I found "Soft Target" borderline unreadable.
The plot was derivative (unless you're the only American thriller fan who never saw "Die Hard") and predictable pretty much from the first page to the last. The characters would have had to be fleshed out considerably to be called one-dimensional. The villains, both the perpatrators of the central crime and the bureaucrats who create additional hurdles for our hero to overcome (see "Die Hard," above) are particularly cartoonish. The politics are crude and unsubtle and grow tiresome after about 30 pages.
I kept reading only because (a) I like to finish what I start; (b) I was on a seven hour flight; and (c) I kept hoping against hope that there would be some sort of last-chapter twist that would redeem what had come before. There wasn't.
I can only say that I now regret every second I invested in this book. My time would have been better spent watching the last chapter of the Harry Potter series on the inflight entertainment system over and over until the landing lights went on. And if you only knew how much I hate Harry Potter, and how much I love Stephen Hunter (in case I didn't mention it already) you'd understand how much it pains me to say that.
Thanks, Amazon, for providing me with this opportunity to vent.
46 of 55 found the following review helpful:
Ignore the hatersDec 07, 2011
By Maddiecat
Having read all of Hunter's Earl and Bob Lee Swagger novels, I must admit I had a certain trepidation about this one, which I assumed would be all Ray Cruz. I read the entire novel last night in one sitting, and I must say that the torch has been passed with nary a hitch. Unlike most of the prior Swagger novels, this one transpires over a relatively short time frame of several hours of nonstop tension and/or action. A myriad of characters of varying significance are introduced, and each is well developed to a degree appropriate to their significance in the story. Once again, Hunter displays his impressive knowledge of technical detail as relates to firearms, tactics, etc., providing the realism one expects from his novels. This book provides a surprising amount of humorous tongue-in-cheek satire, and I suspect that many of the detractors of this novel are motivated more by their own political and/or racial prejudices than genuine concern over flawed storytelling. Perhaps the idea of a mixed race progeny of Bob Lee Swagger is simply too much for their intolerant little minds to accept, but in this writer's humble opinion, Ray Cruz is a worthy successor to a legendary character.
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
Not Hunter's Best...But Damn Good Anyway!!Dec 09, 2011
By Jerry Ivy
SOFT TARGET brings back Ray Cruz, ex-Marine wonder kid. He's shopping at the most mega-mall of all in the USA...complete with indoor amusement park...when an apparent terrorist attack traps thousands inside. The best thing about the book it is how swiftly it moves. No American writer has mastered the art of the supersonic plot better than Hunter and once you pick it up, the known world dissolves and you are there, with Ray, on the inside of this situation and deciding how best to help and then, with some luck and a lot of skill, exercising the impromptu plan. At the same time, Hunter brings political reality to the front with conflict between the "suits" and the operatives. All in all...a great read to get your mind out of the clouds and into reality of what, unfortunately, could happen with very sophisticated attackers. Hunter obviously researched the book's components and used his knowledge of weaponry and ballistics to add his "signature" style to the book.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Hunter strikes againDec 10, 2011
By Scott
I think Stephen Hunter got tired of writing straight action thrillers. He refers to this in his closing credits as an "apocalyptic allegory" - but I think he's pulling our legs. I read this in two sittings only because I had to get some sleep the first night. It IS intelligently plotted - so what if the idea of holding a shopping mall hostage has been used before. It is also intense, sarcastic, irreverent and at times, very funny. In a black-humored sort of way. While not my favorite Hunter novel, it was certainly worth the time.
Thanks for a great little ride, Mr. Hunter. Keep them coming.
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