Soft Target

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 fiancee 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.

Review :
One of the Best Books of 2012--St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Stephen Hunter didn't invent the high-action thriller. But, as he once again demonstrates in the lightning-paced "Soft Target", he might as well have. . . . "Soft Target" is "Die Hard" with a brain and a plan. A lean, action-packed tale that begs to be read in a single sitting."--"The Providence Journal" "Stephen Hunter spent years reviewing movies for "The Washington Post". That work gave him a keen sense of pacing and timing. The evidence shows up in "Soft Target", which unrolls a complicated and grabby plot in just 256 tense pages. And Hunter packs in a surprise with the identity and motive of the individual behind the terrorist attack."--"St. Louis Post-Dispatch" "A solid addition to Stephen Hunter's sniper series, made more engaging by its invocation of current events and political posturing. I join his other fans in hoping he has another one already in the works."--"The Washington Times" "Any thriller in which Middle Eastern terrorists whack Santa on the first page is bound to be exciting. As always, Hunter has crafted a fast-paced and all-too-plausible telling of our worst nightmares coming true. Ray Cruz is a worthy successor to Swagger. Hunter's fans, along with new readers, will enjoy the violent battle between Cruz and the bad guys."--"Library Journal" "Hunter's writing is sharp, detailed and laced with enough offhand wit to keep readers from sinking into the general gore and Islam-bashing. . . . Hunter has produced a fast, gratifying read."--"The Houston Chronicle" "Black Friday [is] on the cusp of becoming blood-soaked Friday. . . . Among the shoppers, albeit reluctantly, is Ray Cruz, a retired marine sniper, son of the iconic marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, whose valorous exploits Hunter has richly detailed ("Dead Zero", 2010, etc.). . . . Snipers and SWAT teams gather, but only one man is in an advantageous tactical position, behind enemy lines, as it were. Only one man, but he's Bob Lee Swagger's son, and what a good thing it is that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree."--"Kirkus Reviews" "Combining elements of the locked-room mystery, the disaster novel, and the lock-and-load thriller, Hunter produces a remarkably gripping tale, building character (the captives, the bureaucrats, and the "terrorists" all get compelling backstories) every bit as convincingly as he drives the narrative to its High Noon-style finale."--"Booklist" (starred review) "Fast-paced...fearsome."--"Publishers Weekly"