Hard Target
A Gideon Davis Mystery by Howard Gordon
Review: Former Presidential UN envoy Gideon Davis, a "man of peace", is simply looking forward to the quiet life of an academic married man. He is already the former, the latter soon to come. But he finds himself drawn into a home-grown terrorism plot in Hard Target, the second thriller in this series by Howard Gordon.
Whereas Gideon advocates a peaceful solution to any crisis, his brother Tillman is all for show of force. While they don't see eye-to-eye on the subject, and it has driven them apart, Gideon needs his brother's help when he learns of a potential terrorist plot from the most unreliable of sources, a meth junkie. The government rejects the information as spurious, but FBI agent Nancy Clement, Gideon's ex-girlfriend, isn't so quick to dismiss it, especially when the informant disappears. Gideon knows Tillman will be able, by infiltrating the white supremacy group thought to be involved, to verify how real the threat is while he — and Nancy — work the other side to persuade government officials to take precautions. By utilizing their respective strengths, Gideon and Tillman hope to prevent a cataclysmic event from toppling the government of the United States.
Hard Target is, minute by minute, a thrilling read. The storyline has a "ripped from the headlines" feel to it, hard to believe it could happen here but ever so credible. Enjoyable as a fictional thriller? Yes. Scary as a factual scenario? Most definitely, yes. This is a terrific entry in this series (of only two so far) and highly recommended.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Hard Target.
Acknowledgment: Simon & Schuster provided a copy of Hard Target for this review.
Review Copyright © 2012 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Selected reviews of other mysteries by this author …
Gideon's War
Touchstone (Hardcover), January 2011
ISBN-13: 9781439175811; ISBN-10: 1439175810
Location(s) referenced in Hard Target: Washington DC; Idaho
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Hard Target by Howard Gordon
Publisher: Touchstone
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-4391-7582-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-7582-8
Publication Date: January 2012
List Price: $25.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): Gideon Davis has settled into the quiet life of an academic and is weeks away from being married when he discovers evidence of an impending terrorist attack on U.S. soil. He brings his suspicions to his ex-girlfriend, FBI Agent Nancy Clement, but her bosses are leery of Gideon’s source: a meth-head informant affiliated with a white supremacist group. Both Gideon and Nancy become increasingly convinced that a serious plot exists, but their informant is murdered before they can get more details from him. So Gideon enlists his brother, Tillman—newly sprung from prison through a presidential pardon— as an undercover operative to infiltrate a group of white supremacists who may be involved.
Eventually, Gideon and Tillman get on the trail of the real conspirators and uncover their audacious plan to eliminate the entire top tier of the U.S. government during a high-value, mass-casualty attack. With only Nancy’s support, Gideon and Tillman go rogue to stop the powerful titan behind the conspiracy before the entire government is toppled.