31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not great, but not horrible - the mediocrity sets in, July 29, 2005
Patrick Robinson really started his fiction career with a bang with "Nimitz Class" and "Kilo Class". Since then, he has seemed wildly erratic. The quality of his output has evened out somewhat in the last three or four outings, into a pattern that is almost maddeningly mediocre. As with most every one of his naval-themed novels, the plot summary seems that it should be wildly entertaining and at least partially plausible. Mr. Robinson has delivered on that promise on a few occasions, and other times he has not. "Hunter Killer" seems to have fallen into the latter category.
One hang-up in some of Mr. Robinson's earlier works is that he got bogged down in trivial detail; every meal and wine tasting that every character had was described down to the most minute detail, at the expense of the storyline. Fortunately he curtailed these descriptions, though they pop up a few times throughout "Hunter Killer", and - despite the obvious fictional content - one can't help but wonder how naval officers can afford such extravagant feasts. In reducing the gourmet play-by-plays, Mr. Robinson kept the story very tight. However, that has led to another problem in the past several stories. Where he has reduced that unnecessary detail, it seems that he has not adequately filled out certain components of the plot and storyline. Everything seems to play out just a little too cleanly or awkwardly, or the action sequences are minimally detailed, while the discussions fill up three or four chapters.
In "Hunter Killer", this pattern holds. So much is devoted to discussions about carrying out the operations, recruiting the participants, and so on. Several chapters occupy the reader's time to these details. But then the actual execution of the operations and the ensuing U.S. response occupies a very small percentage of the book. The result, to this reader, is a lot of buildup to a resultant sequence that elicits a sigh in response. There is also the continued annoyance of how Mr. Robinson keeps writing the escapes of the antagonist Ray Kernan; I had a hard time fathoming in "Hunter Killer" how he could walk up to a team of SEALs who have targeted him for years and still be able to slip away. It is a somewhat lame way of trying to keep your foil for future novels.
The characters in Mr. Robinson's books - "Hunter Killer" included - also fail to ever do much for me. I find the Jimmy Ramshawe character slightly annoying, and Arnold Morgan - for all his bluster and kick-ass attitude - pretty boorish and obnoxious. That doesn't say much for the protagonists of your franchise. Even in reading fiction as escapism, one can't help but wonder how these two would continue to run roughshod over the Washington political establishment and leaving the President completely impotent. To his credit, though, Mr. Robinson did introduce a character with some potential in Jacques Gamoudi. He could be what John Clark was to Tom Clancy's franchise, but something tells me that this potential may not be tapped, or at least not fully exploited.
One last pet peeve that shows up in "Hunter Killer"; that of the stabs at humor through overused lines that Mr. Robinson tries to pass off as funny. He'll use it throughout the entire book, or take the "shock-and-awe" approach and use it dozens of times in the course of one or two chapters. To cite one example from "Hunter Killer", he usues a line about Jackie Gleason doing a French accent at least four or five times in the course of twenty pages. It wasn't very funny the first time, and got worse as the same line repeated itself in that short a space. I don't mind humor, but it has to be funny, and the reader doesn't need to be repeatedly hit over the head with it.
All those annoyances aside, "Hunter Killer" does have its interesting and somewhat entertaining moments. It is clear that Mr. Robinson possesses a great deal of naval knowledge, and so the descriptions of the battles and naval operations are among the best in the fictional realm. Again, though, it just raises the sense that there was a lot of unfulfilled potential. Readers of this genre can do a lot worse than "Hunter Killer", but they should expect better. In that regard, then, I rate it three stars to reflect the latest in a line of mediocrity that has found its way into Mr. Robinson's writing.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
HUNTER/KILLER A BUST, June 2, 2005
As a huge fan of Patrick Robinson, I was greatly disappointed by his latest, "Hunter/Killer". It spent half the book setting up the "bad guys" mission (which is what I expected), but when it came to the rebuttal from the US of A, it was as if Robinson decided that to do it right would make for too long a book, so he hurried through it. What happened to the French President? Did the ships docked along the French Riveria ever get blown up?
Did King Nasir go after the French Special Services for trying to assasinate his buddy? General Rashood played second to a new character - so I suppose the saga of him and Shakira is still to follow. Operation Tanker was a total "shoot and run" . There is normally more action taken by Morgan and the USA. To blow up France's tankers and escort was a good starting point, but come on, Patrick, you can finished much, much better than this!!!!
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19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh, those perfidious French . . ., June 17, 2005
This is one fun book. Patrick Robinson has whipped together a plot that will keep any military/techno/political thriller junkie vastly entertained.
A young Saudi Prince who does nothing but party and snort drugs rams his power boat into the Queen Elizabeth II. Just another day in the carefree life of almost 35,000 members of the Saudi Royal family supported by the nation's monarchy and oil wealth. Well, not all 35,000 royals are such fun lovers.
One senior Saudi Prince is so upset that he approahes those always lovable French with a proposal to overthrow the reigning monarch and put himself on the throne. The plan calls for treachery, inflicting massive pain on billions of innocent, greed, dishonesty and requires a complete lack of morality.
The French love it.
And so the fun begins.
Robinson deploys an arsenal of state-of-the-art submarines, special forces, political players and the skills of Jimmy Ramshawe, an underling at the NSA.
The plot is excellent. Lots of twists and turns all serving to advance the story without causing the reader to blink in disbelief. The characters are a bit uneven. Some are larger than life and unbelievably so. With others, Robinson paints well.
The action is never ending and Robinson does an excellent job of not telegraphing his punches. If you're given to biting your nails, wear gloves while reading "Hunter Killer," lest you munch straight through to your knuckles.
An excellent thriller and one that I obviously thoroughly enjoyed.
Jerry
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