Reaper: Ghost Target

March 12, 2018
The combined military experience of bestseller Irving (The Reaper) and retired general Tata (Direct Fire) lends credibility to this series launch, but off-the-shelf bad guys and standard mystery genre elements slow the momentum. In 2010, Chechen terrorist Khasan Basayev and three Russian army men parachute into the ocean off the coast of Savannah, Ga. The Russians are captured, but Basayev successfully buries a nuclear suitcase-bomb and escapes. In the present, the deadliest sniper in the U.S. Army, Vick Harwood (aka the Reaper), and spotter Corporal Sammie Samuelson are in Afghanistan on a mission to kill Basayev. When artillery rounds hit their position, Vick survives and returns to the U.S. for rehab, but Sammie disappears. Later, as Vick travels from base to base training snipers, someone is using his personal sniper rifle, which he lost in Afghanistan, to kill American generals. Suspicion falls on Vick because the killings coincide with his being nearby. Despite the pacing problems, military action fans will eagerly await the next installment. 75,000-copy announced first printing. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group.

May 1, 2018

Vick Harwood is known as the Reaper because of his extraordinary skill as a sniper---he's taken down 33 enemy targets during three months in Afghanistan. Then an assignment goes bad, when Harwood and Samuelson, his spotter, are attacked while tracking a Chechen mercenary. Harwood returns to the United States to recover from his injuries, and Samuelson goes missing in action. In his new role as an instructor, Harwood travels among military bases training snipers, but odd coincidences start happening--in each town he visits, a high-profile target is assassinated by a sniper, and the rifle used is the one that Harwood lost when he was attacked. Someone is framing him, and soon he's on the run from both his own government and the person intent on getting him killed. Expert sniper Irving (Reaper; Way of the Reaper) and coauthor Tata (Direct Fire) understand their weapons, tactics, and tradecraft inside and out. The action is relentless and exciting, and the conspiracy against Harwood is twisted and nasty. Although this is a plot-propelled thriller, Harwood's humanity and sense of justice shows via his actions on and off the battlefield. VERDICT This thrilling series starter will appeal to fans of assassin-on-the-run tales, such as Mark Greaney's "Grey Man" series.--Nanette Donohue, Champaign, IL

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018
This debut of a new black-ops series boasts two coauthors who know the field. Irving is the author of a pair of nonfiction accounts describing his own career as a sniper (The Reaper, 2015, and Way of the Reaper, 2016), while Tata writes the Jake Maheganseries starring a Delta Force captain. Here Vick Harwood is world renowned for his sniper skills, and he's known, like Irving in real life, as the Reaper. Khasan Basayev is also a sniper with the code name the Chechen, and he's a thorn in the Reaper's side. When Vick has a chance to take out the Chechen, he fails and is severely injured. His spotter is left for dead, but he's quite alive and is about to become a pawn in the Chechen's game to rid the world of the Reaper once and for all. The writing seems a little rough around the edges, but there's time to fix that in future installments. Irving's stature in the black-ops world will ensnare readers who follow Brad Taylor and Vince Flynn.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)