- Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Avon; New title edition (May 6 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060524103
- ISBN-13: 978-0060524104
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.8 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 195 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,333,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The title acronym is short for Special Operations Air Regiment, and is one of dozens of technical abbreviations whose easy use lends Weisman's gritty adventure some of its believability (footnotes aid the civilian reader). The story begins in the Xinjiang region of China, where Sam Phillips leads a small group of CIA operatives posing as a British documentary film crew. Their true mission is to investigate reports of Chinese nuclear weapons caches, and their capture by a small band of IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) guerrillas sets off alarm bells at the White House. The president summons Delta Force leader Mike Ritzik for advice on a rescue mission. The maverick Ritzik suggests a small covert team, in marked contrast to the show of force advocated by the secretary of defense. The proposed rescue is complicated by the captors toting a nuclear weapon, ready to detonate at any moment, in one of their trucks. For this and other reasons, the president assigns Ritzik a special partner, Tracy Wei-Liu, deputy assistant secretary of energy and an expert on the detonation of said devices. Using short, punchy sentences and quick cuts, the story moves back and forth between the condition of the captives, the situation in Washington and the exploits of Ritzik and company. Weisman (coauthor of nine books in the Rogue Warrior series) imbues every stage of the operation with appropriate complexity and suspense. His clear, precise prose should make the story riveting for both fans and newcomers.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Richard Marcinko's collaborator on six Rogue Warrior novels resumes his solo career with a knowledgeable, fast-paced, near-future thriller. As U.S and Chinese negotiators sit down for arms talks, Uzbek terrorists capture covert American observers of a Chinese nuclear test site. The Uzbeks soon possess a Chinese nuke, too, which they plan to present to their Arab allies. The thefts launch a race between Chinese special operations forces, who want to get the nuke back, and U.S. operators who also want the bomb. The clock is ticking faster for the U.S. because of the hostages, who must be rescued before the Chinese discover them and break off negotiations in a blaze of publicity a la the U-2 spy-plane brouhaha of 1960. Weisman draws on his own and many others' covert intelligence and special operations experience to craft a convincing scenario and a great many gripping scenes and believable characters. A definite treat for thriller fans. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
SAM PHILLIPS LOOKED BACK across the tussocky desert landscape toward the tan speck that was the antique Toyota land cruiser, making sure for the sixth time in just under two hours that it still sat concealed behind a ragged row of poplar trees, far enough off the sparsely traveled two-lane highway to render it invisible to any traffic. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
SAM PHILLIPS LOOKED BACK across the tussocky desert landscape toward the tan speck that was the antique Toyota land cruiser, making sure for the sixth time in just under two hours that it still sat concealed behind a ragged row of poplar trees, far enough off the sparsely traveled two-lane highway to render it invisible to any traffic. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Research overwhelms the story,
By
This review is from: Soar: A Black Ops Mission (Mass Market Paperback)
If you're looking for a fairly quick, Clancy-esque beach read, you could do worse than SOAR. I know, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement. But this action yarn has all the realism in technical details and battle engagements that you'd wish for-and for some people that's all they want. SOAR is about a secret Delta Force rescue mission to extract a covert CIA operations team from western China after the latter has been captured by Uighur terrorists. The "Mission Impossible"-like rescue also involves a lot of shooting, bomb-making, and the defusing of a nuclear weapon. It's basically an action movie (with a lamentable lack of gratuitous sex). The problem is that the characters are only sketchily drawn; they basically exist for their roles or skills. One might as well have called them "CIA Guy No. 1," "CIA Guy No. 2," "Delta Guy No. 1," etc. The guys in "The Dirty Dozen" had more personality. The politicos in Washington seem to have a little more depth, but that's at least in part because John Weisman seems to have adapted the personalities of some of our current officeholders for these roles. (President Forrest admittedly doesn't seem much like President Bush.) For some reason, there's a token female character, Tracy Wei-Liu, that's dragged through the story line, ostensibly to defuse the nuke. Perhaps the real reason is the short diversion in the latter part of the book in which the main character, Mike Ritzik, engages in a bit of repartee with her on the morality of killing in battle. But Ritzik just gets royally pissed off, and the subject is dropped. In the lead-up to the climax, the characters seem to get sidetracked into a few exchanges like this that, to me, seem unlikely when you're literally under the gun. I guess the author is trying to score a few political points amidst the fun. I, for one, found the preparations for insertion more interesting and exciting than the actual engagement. The battle scenes just seemed a tad tedious after a while. However that may be, I'll look forward to future works by Mr. Weisman. If he can make the people as real as the technology, then he might make something really worthwhile.
5.0 out of 5 stars
very good. it's time for weisman to dump richard macinko,
By justareader (yorba linda, ca United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Soar: A Black Ops Novel (Hardcover)
this is a very good military operation novel. can't believe how weisman knows so much about almost everything. with his new 'jack in the box', senor, i've got to tell you i'm totally hooked by this conservative battle-crying eagle dude. the only regret after this tour-de-force reading is that i just wish our real time president would be like pete forrest, the president in this particular book. but compare these two guys....well, it's just a shrub to a forest.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great story, great cast of characters,
By
This review is from: Soar: A Black Ops Mission (Mass Market Paperback)
I have to say I too grew tired of the Rogue Warrior and was not too sure of Mr. Weisman's solo effort.I am very pleasantly surprised with SOAR. I found myself caught up in the chase and was able to loose myself in the wilds of China for the day and a half it took me to devour this thriller. I liked the Delta Force team as well as the spooks, I thought the female was a bit much, but in the end her character proved to be of little concern to me in the overall scheme of the story. Keep it up John Weisman!
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