I thought this was a solid thriller from Hunter. This is the second novel to feature Ray Cruz, Bob Lee Swagger's long lost son. He first appeared in the Swagger thriller Dead Zero which I thought was one of Hunter's best. In this one, Cruz just happens to be in America the Mall in Minnesota (a thinly disguised Mall of America) when the mall is attacked by a group of Islamic terrorists. Cruz plays a key role in dealing with the terrorists along with an FBI sniper on the roof of the mall and an unauthorized State police SWAT team. But all is not as it seems... there is a young psychopath who idolizes school shooters and mayhem in general who has organized the attack along with a local Somalian Imam. Nikki Swagger, Bob Lee's daughter, also has a role as a news reporter covering the attack by helicopter. Overall, the book did have a lot of action but it was not as focused as Hunter's earlier works. Cruz just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time to help alleviate a potential massacre. Mild recommendation for this one.
I've already started the next Hunter book, "The Third Bullet" which features Bob Lee, and it has grabbed my attention!
I've already started the next Hunter book, "The Third Bullet" which features Bob Lee, and it has grabbed my attention!
Stephen Hunter is a pretty good author but I was not impressed with his stereotypical characters in this novel. He says that it is an allegorical tale - I think it's a bit far fetched. While I do agree that radicals have a great target of opportunity in attacking a shopping mall, I thought the premise of this book was weak.
We like Ray Cruz character
I only realized after I finished the book that there is a previous novel about this character, so clearly you don't need to start with #1.
It starts out very much like Ringo's Kildar series in which John Harmon, a very capable soldier, happens to be in either the wrong place or exactly the right place when someone decides to break all the rules.
In Hunter's book also a meglomaniac decides to amuse himself by breaking rules and killing people...but he didn't plan to run into Ray Cruz.
From back cover: 10,000 people jam the corridors of Americas largest shopping mall. 9,988 of them have come to shop. The other twelve have come to kill. Stephen Hunters hyperdrive, eighth-gear thriller chronicles the day when the unthinkable happens: terrorists descend upon the heartland, opening fire in a Minneapolis supermall and executing innocent victims one by one.
Those on the upper floors, including retired Marine sniper Ray Cruz, take cover any way they can, but within minutes the gunmen have rounded up more than a thousand hostages. As it so often does, the story comes down to one man with a gun.
Except Ray doesnt have a gun.
It starts out very much like Ringo's Kildar series in which John Harmon, a very capable soldier, happens to be in either the wrong place or exactly the right place when someone decides to break all the rules.
In Hunter's book also a meglomaniac decides to amuse himself by breaking rules and killing people...but he didn't plan to run into Ray Cruz.
From back cover: 10,000 people jam the corridors of Americas largest shopping mall. 9,988 of them have come to shop. The other twelve have come to kill. Stephen Hunters hyperdrive, eighth-gear thriller chronicles the day when the unthinkable happens: terrorists descend upon the heartland, opening fire in a Minneapolis supermall and executing innocent victims one by one.
Those on the upper floors, including retired Marine sniper Ray Cruz, take cover any way they can, but within minutes the gunmen have rounded up more than a thousand hostages. As it so often does, the story comes down to one man with a gun.
Except Ray doesnt have a gun.
This book starts off with a bang...literally. First sentence reads "The bullet hit Santa Claus beneath the left eye". Think Die Hard in a mall. The book doesn't focus entirely on Ray Cruz or his killing of the bad guys but instead works in two very good side stories involving the press coverage and the "anti-hero" the newly appointed commandant of the Minnesota state police. All three story lines are completed different in tone and development but mesh quite well. The only weak part of the book is the backstory of the head bad guy. Good read, good second Ray Cruz novel.
