Counterstrike [Hardcover]

Sean Flannery (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1990

Hired by top Russian officers to kill Mikhail Gorbachev, ace assassin Donald Moran waits to make his move. Then the job is cancelled at the last minute, but Moran is a psychopath who has perfected his fool-proof plan for 20 hours. Now the only thing standing between Gorbachev and Moran is Russian Investigator Nikolai Ganin. HC: Morrow.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This thriller's basic premise has a veneer of plausibility about it. Perestroika and glasnost , so heralded in the West, have not simply backfired in the Soviet Union but have inspired a high-level plot to assassinate their author, Gorbachev--at a Geneva summit meeting. The conspirators choose super-hitman Moran for the job, only to discover, after a last-minute decision to call off the plot, that the cold-eyed Moran doesn't relinquish a project of this nature once he has clamped his jaws onto it, and is ready to kill anybody, male or female (he particularly enjoys killing women), who gets in his way. The rest is nonstop action both on land and in the air as the CIA, FBI, KGB and Soviet military intelligence pool wits and resources to apprehend the deadly sociopath. Flannery, whose novels include Moscow Crossing and The Zebra Network , doesn't bother with literary grace notes, but he seems to have some knowledge of the infrastructure of U.S. and Soviet intelligence services, and he certainly knows how to keep a high-speed international suspense caper rattling along.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The attempted killing of Gorbachev by an anti-reform cabal is just the appetizer in this 12-course orgy of gruesome deaths. A deranged assassin, honed to operational perfection by his grisly past, rivals the Terminator in his persistent and horrifying compulsion to taste blood. Led from behind by an engaging but low-level Moscow Militia investigator, an international crew with varying loyalties scrambles to head off the automaton. The author of 11 previous novels, including The Zebra Network ( LJ 3/1/89), Flannery writes with compelling force and freely salts his work with keenly precise details and invigorating language. One particular vignette will haunt librarians: the madman breaks into a public library's computer file to learn the address of his victim. Homely touches like this one enhance the suspense, which builds to a bone-chilling crescendo.
- Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 383 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (October 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688087779
• ISBN-13: 978-0688087777
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,088,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Cold War thriller, April 24, 2005

By 

sleeper30 "tom" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Counterstrike (Paperback)

This is a great Cold War assassination thriller. Hard liners from the Soviet Union hire a psycho-assassin to terminate Gorbachev due to his openness towards the West and freedom. As the assassin carefully plans his hit, the hard liners are forced to reverse their decision, but it is too late because the assassin wants to kill Gorbachev anyway. A Russian investigator, Nikolai Ganin, is sent out to stop him or have his own life be ruined if he doesn't. A great game of cat and mouse begins. A superb thriller with great characters and a great plot from a great writer.

5.0 out of 5 stars Former Medal Of Honor Winner Becomes Political Assassin, May 8, 2009

By 

Michael L. Slavin "HardBopper" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: COUNTERSTRIKE (Mass Market Paperback)

Donald Moran had been a hero in Vietnam escaping from a Viet Cong prison camp and leading some of his fellow prisoners thru the jungle to safety. He became a professional political assassin. And subsequently was hired by a group of top ranking Soviet officers to take out Gorbachev. The mission was discovered and cancelled. However, Moran decided to continue on in pursuit of Gorbachev. He was followed by the intuitive Militia Detective Ganin. Who reminded me of the French detective Lebel in The Day Of The Jackal. In fact this book very much reminds of Day Of The Jackal. A real page turner shifting from Geneva to New York and the U.S. and Russia and Finland. This was really a delightful suspenseful read.

5.0 out of 5 stars COUNTERSTRIKE HITS HARD WITH ACTION, AND SUSPENSE!, November 27, 2005

By 

J. J Kamlani "jotuj" (Fairfield, Connecticut United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Counterstrike (Hardcover)

DAVID HAGBERG, WHO ALSO WROTE UNDER THE NAME OF SEAN FLANNERY BEATS THE HECK OUT OF TOM CLANCY FOR ACTION, SUSPENSE, AND AN INSIDER'S KNOWLEDGE OF ESPIONAGE, AND THIS IS PROBABLY HIS BEST ACTION NOVEL.

A SOCIOPATH HAS TAKEN ON THE JOB TO KILL GORBACHEV, AND WHEN HE IS ORDERED OFF THE HIT, HE STARTS KILLING THE PEOPLE WHO HIRED HIM, AND CONTINUES TO HUNT HIS QUARRY.

THE ACTION IS SLAMBANG, THE SUSPENSE BUILDS IMMEASURABLY, KEEPING YOU HOOKED TO THE END OF ONE OF, IF NOT, HIS BEST BOOK EVER!

OTHER GREAT FLANNERY BOOKS INCLUDE

A. KILO OPTION(HIJACKING OF AN AMERICAN NUCLEAR SUBMARINE, TO BE USED FOR TERRORISM AGAINST THE U.S.A.)

B. THE ZEBRA NETWORK(ABOUT CATCHING A TRAITOR AGAINST THE U.S., OR IS HE A TRAITOR?)

C. BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT(WRITTEN UNDER HAGBERG'S OWN NAME) AB0UT PAKISTAN USING A NUC AGAINST INDIA, AND AMERICA'S INVOLVEMENT TO AVOID ALL OUT NUCLEAR WAR.

EACH OF THESE BOOKS HAVE A RING OF TRUTH TO THEM, AND ARE VERY TIMELY, AND PROPHETIC.