7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting thriller that goes down to the wire, Mar 7 2005
By Geoffrey Kidd - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Targets Of Opportunity (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a sequel to the author's earlier (and excellent) "Scope of Justice." The team of Kyle Monroe and Wade Curtis are being sent out again, this time to chastise a ring of terrorists who seem to delight in blowing up children.
The book is slower-paced than "Scope", but but the pacing is perfect for the theme, which is more about the stalk than the kill, and about the obligations of warriors toward the innocents who may be caught in the crossfire. The heroes come across as craftsmen, who care about their work in the world, their obligations both to themselves and to those they protect, and ultimately, to why their jobs are important.
This is a book about winners, and while the ending doesn't have the slam-bang finish of "Scope", the tension level is, if anything much higher. I read the climax with little beads of sweat on my forehead, and it certainly put the normal troubles of daily life (dodging traffic and unreasonable demands) into a new perspective.
A fun book, solid storytelling, and it was muchly worth the time spent reading it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent modern military action, Aug 6 2005
By Leo Champion - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Targets Of Opportunity (Mass Market Paperback)
Halfway between spy and military fiction, Williamson's Target: Terror trilogy is a well-executed and very well-researched set of stories about the 'War on Terror' that avoids making a lot of the mistakes that other writers in the genre have done.
Islamic terrorists weren't rare bad guys in spy/military fiction before 9/11 and, of course, after the attacks they became a lot more common; topicality and all that. Covert missions, espionage, etc. Seeing stories about fighting them isn't rare; seeing those stories done *well*, however, is. Too many authors draw their 'good and evil' lines WAY too clearly: if you're not an All-American Hero you're an Evil Skulking Terrorist. Good-guy Muslims appear as tokens. And the stories are all about technology, not people - more words are spent describing, in loving detail, the weapons and sensors that the main characters are using, than what's going through the main characters' heads as they use them.
Williamson makes none of these mistakes.
Which isn't to say that we're talking about a tremendous amount of moral ambiguity here: Targets of Opportunity is about Good versus Bad, but the good guys are realistic and all the more likeable before it; they're people, not idealized caricactures. The bad guys are scum, but they're plausible scum, not cardboard stereotypes.
The research is as good as anything Clancy's ever done - the difference being that Williamson does it to support the story, and you have the impression that he knows ten times as much as he sees fit to put down. The technology plays a support role to the people using it, which is as it should be.
Plot-wise, Targets of Opportunity is set in modern-day Romania, twelve or fourteen years after the Ceausescu government fell. The setting is well-drawn and the story moves along fast - unlike the first book, The Scope Of Justice, which takes a while to get going. The action is very nicely-done; one car chase scene should be excerpted in textbooks as an example of *exactly* how such things should be done.
Thoroughly recommended; enough military detail to keep technothriller fans happy, but the covert stuff is as nicely-done as anything by LeCarre. I had some doubts with Scope of Justice, but Targets of Opportunity proves that Williamson he can do present-day just as well as his sci-fi, if not better.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fast Paced Military Thriller, Mar 4 2005
By Nathan Balyeat "the MIGHTY ix" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Targets Of Opportunity (Mass Market Paperback)
Like all of Mr. Williamson's books, this one has fast-paced military action and is one of those books that is hard to put down. I think that this novel is a bit weaker in the character development area than his other books, but compares favorably to any military fiction that I've ever read. The plot is believable, the characters realistic, and the research complete enough that there is no need for the suspension of disbelief that would accompany a typical 'cutting edge secret technology' book. If you like your books to be believable, fast paced, and filled with action, definitely add this one to your collection.