KCR: Dead Shot (sniper, war, novel)

Dead Shot is a very good "shooter" novel, with a great premise, and a great showdown at the end. My only problem is it is too much of a spy thriller, with the bad guy moving almost at will, little if any tension until when the "hero" gets on his tail.

Premise: Juba sniper, a true Al Qaeda assassin, managed to assassinate an informant in the middle of allied Green Zone in Iraq, in order to silence him from revealing Saddam's WMD cache location. The now-declared-dead Kyle Swanson, part of Task Force Trident, is asked to hunt down this guy, since clearly someone knows enough to access that WMD, and someone will be accessing it. Soon, a horrific attack in London (that made the bus bombings look like a picnic) proved him right, and Swanson tracked Juba down to a rural village in Iraq, where sniper meets sniper in an ultimate showdown, shot to shot...

The problem with this novel is the bad guys are just too good at their job. SWAT team at the door? Booby trap. More SWAT? Blow up the whole block. There was no "close calls". There is no tension... the bad guys always get away. EVERYTHING falls within their plan, EXCEPT the hero. This is often a problem when the plotting is a bit too clever. Why would the good guys be the only ones making mistakes? Still, the duel is neat, though not that satisfying, as there are two more novels after this in the series.

Rating: worth reading at least once

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• KCR: Kill Zone (sniper, war, novel) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)

KCR: Shooter (autobiography, sniper, non-fiction, war)

Cover via AmazonShooter, by Sgt. Jack Coughlin, is an autobiography by the top shooter in Iraq, with 60+ confirmed kills. He was there when they pulled down the Saddam statue that ended up on TV. He was in Somalia, and everywhere else there is a need for a good marine.

This book is not as jingoistic as one may suspect, but another warrior's memoir. The man is plain-spoken, and Donald A Davis helped polished up the prose quite a bit, having previously published several history books and crime books. The officer Casey Kuhlman also contributed a lot of the facts and recollections for overall perspective.

The book is about the conditions of the job, and the comraderie and trust between warriors, not about the tally of the kills and such. This also serves as a first-person account of Battle for Baghdad. Most Iraqis are glad to see the Americans topple Saddam... at least at first.

If you like the warrior memoirs, you need to pick this one up.

Rating: get it

KCR: One Shot, a Jack Reacher novel (crime, sniper, detective, novel)

Another sniper novel... almost same premise as I, Sniper... sort of. A sniper kills 5 office workers with 6 shots, and disappears. Forensics picked out one guy, and he was arrested. However, he refused to cooperate. Instead, he said, "You got the wrong guy. Get Reacher for me."  However, Reacher was already on his way... Having seen the news. You see, Reacher knew this guy... who did the exact same thing a long time ago... However, Reacher will get to the bottom of this... and deal justice the only way he can.

This book has quite a few twists and turns, and enough red herrings that keep you guessing which side some of the characters are on, which is great for mysteries. Overall, a great read, esp. if you like the genre.

Rating: read it!

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• Killing Floor, by Lee Child (mrsaubergine.wordpress.com)
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KCR: The Silent Men (novel, war, Vietnam, sniper)

Cover of The Silent MenThe Silent Men by Richard H. Dickinson is about a Vietnam sniper Jackson Monroe, who's doubly out-of-place... he's a sniper, which is a lonely breed already, and he's black. Set against the backdrop of the Tet Offensive, Monroe, who's known as "Black Ghost" among the VC, and his partner Patterson was sent on a mission to shoot a North Vietnamese general just over the border in Cambodia. When the mission encountered sudden complications, his existence was denied and when the rescue went awry, he was left behind. He did not know that a VC sniper is out to hunt him... for a very personal reason. Only one man will walk away...

The little details are great in this book. There is enough action, enough shots, and enough plot twists. However, the problem with the novel is it shifts viewpoints several times over. The book is about Jackson Monroe, the sniper. However, when Monroe went missing, the viewpoint shifts to that of Brady, a reporter determined to get a scoop. Monroe was barely mentioned. It wasn't till the end when the two "meet". Also, you get another view... that of Patterson, Monroe's partner/spotter mixed in with Brady. We are not talking about the Tom Clancy style jump in location but continuous timeline. We're talking long stretch, then *poof* jump to some other viewpoint.

Still, the action is nice, the characters all have proper motivations and are consistent, and there are a few plot twists that are very interesting. Worth checking out at least once.

KCR: I, Sniper, a Bob Lee Swagger novel

Cover via AmazonSince we're on the subject of snipers, I have to cover one of my favorite novels about snipers... I, Sniper by Stephen Hunter.

The hook is interesting... four famed '60's radicals were gunned down at long range by a sniper. All the evidence... timeline, ballistics, forensics, motive, means, and opportunity... all points to Marine war hero Carl Hitchcock. When he was found dead apparently of suicide, police was tempted to call it "he went wacko" and close the case. However, one FBI analyst believe the case is TOO perfect... as if somebody went to great lengths to cover up the truth, so Bob Lee Swagger was brought in to consult, and he finally spotted an inconsistency that everybody else had missed...  and realized someone very rich, and very powerful had set up his fellow marine and war hero, and he will not rest until he get to the truth, and deal some justice against other snipers and gunmen... with a little help.

This wasn't my first Bob Lee Swagger novel, but my first, 47th Samurai, was a disappointment, as it's basically... incredulous. This one, however, makes perfect sense all the way through, though I have a bit of problem imagining Swagger as a gunslinger and a quickdraw artist.

Definitely read it.

KCR: Sniper Reloaded (movie, war)

Sniper Reloaded is a new chapter in the "Sniper" franchise (that had previously spawned 3 movies starring Tom Berenger as Tom Beckett). This time, Brandon Beckett, Tom's son, is on a peace mission in UN to extract a foreign citizen when a sniper ambushed their team, apparently killing everyone (except Beckett himself, who fell into a ditch). He survived and somehow made it to safety. His father's old partner, Miller (Billy Zane from the first movie) came to help "train" Beckett to confront the sniper, only known as "The Italian". There is a conspiracy that reach up the ranks, and only one will be walking away from this encounter.

The problem with this movie is the whole plot is rather contrived. Why send the "rescue team" at all if the sniper was already there? Can an American soldier in a UN base in Africa just go AWOL without anyone even checking?

And they had to redo the "shot through the sniper-scope" thing AGAIN, sheesh. Seems you can't do a sniper movie without that cliche nowadays. It was in "Saving Private Ryan" and it was in at least one of the previous Sniper movies as well. And now here is it again.

Still, if you turn your brain mostly off it is somewhat enjoyable, with no major quibbles.

Rating: Try it (i.e. rent it)

Sniper: Reloaded