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The Second Saladin by Stephen Hunter
Synopsis: A second chance...In the windswept sands of the Middle East, Paul Chardy fought side by side with Ulu Beg: one, a charismatic, high-strung CIA covert warrior, the other a ferocious freedom fighter. Then Chardy fell into the hands of the enemy, and Beg was betrayed. Now the two men are about to meet again.A second gun...Beg has come over the Mexican border under a hail of bullets--determined to assassinate a leading American political figure and avenge his people's betrayal. The CIA wants Chardy to stop the hit. Chardy wants to save Beg's life.Between the two men is a tragic past, a failed mission, and a woman who knew them in war--and who knows their secrets now. Around both men is a conspiracy of lies and violence that reaches back to the Cold War. But as Beg moves in for his kill and as Chardy breaks loose from his handlers, a terrible truth begins to emerge: somewhere, someone wants both men to die.
Review: This book was a book where yo were just waiting for it to end. Why did a publisher even put this back in print? You can tell it's old in the lack of experince in the writing.The book itself is about a hundred pages to long.t.It started out with a great action scene but then slowed down to a halt. All the characters were poorly portrayed but one, miles lanahan, the only character that actually was three dimensional. One thing this book has is timing. The end, you must wade through gallons of crap to get to it, is exciting but with complete lack of suspense. I love all of mr.hunters books but this one. Learn from you're mistakes mr.hunter
Review: Pretty far fetched and jumps too much. The reading has thought gaps and it is the kind of book that you can put down and pick up much later just to finish it. Hunter has done much better work.
Review: I couldn't wait for the end on this one. Unfortunately this was not because I was excited , but rather I only to move on to something else. The plot itself was extremely contrived and very disjointed. It offered no suspense whatsoever. On the positive side, character development was strong with Spreshnev's dialogue particularly chilling. I'll wait awhile to try another SH novel.
Review: The good part: lots of action. The bad part: lacking entirely in substance or interesting characters, liberally sprinkled with mindless violence, highly improbable, basically without any significant redeeming qualities.
Review: This book fits in the category of "highly improbable thriller with lots of action and little else". Also, much is made of the fact that one of the main characters is Jewish. The vivid description of this person's lack of character and his cowardice leaves one wondering about Hunter's feelings generally about Jews. This is particularly so when his behavior is contrasted with virtually all of the other characters in the book. Overall, this book is mildly entertaining and has nothing else to offer.
Review: Anyway, thoe book was good, as I find all of Hunter's books to be. A former CIA "Cowboy," a man who goes into countries hostile to the US, in this novel its the Soviet backed Iraq, arms and trains rebels, the Kurds with guerilla tactics, is sold out. In the backlash of the sell out, his brefriended leader's son is killed. Fast forward to 10 years later and man is trying to cope with the sell out, he ultimately blames himself for what happened. Now that former befriended Kurdish leader is gunning for someone important, and our "Cowboy" has to stop him.
There is no telling how popular this book would have been if it had come out during the 1st Gulf War, or in more rescent times with the 2nd Gulf War, when the American people knew about the Kurdish people, instead of the early 1980's. If you like Hunter give it a try. Thanks.
Review: I made the mistake of reading this novel after such great Hunter novels as Dirty White Boys, the Bob the Nailer trilogy, and the Day Before Midnight. With those books as my point of reference, this one didn't have a chance. It's painfully obvious that the Second Saladin is one of Hunter's early works (but believe me...he gets MUCH better). The novel starts out with some great action as Ulu Beg heads across the Mexican Border into SW United States on an unmentioned covert mission to assasinate a major political figure. Enter Paul Chardy, who lived and killed with Beg in Afganistan several years earlier. However, fate entered and Chardy had to double-cross his friend and now must enter back into the world of covert operations to thwart the assasination. Great premise, but lacking in the energy and action that becomes Hunter's trademark in his later works. This novel just seems to kick back and relax. We don't really get to know Beg or Chardy too well, a strength of Hunter's later works as well. Overall, this isn't a bad piece of work, but definitely pales in comparison with Hunter's other novels. If you've read any of the books referenced above, you may want to take a pass on this one.
Review: The fact that most of the action, in this early work by Hunter, happens off stage is perhaps the most surprising thing about it. For an author, who is at the top of the action genre, this one is frustratingly restrained. But all of the elements he later masters are there- guns, assasins, heroes and villains, and haunted dreams of battles lost.
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