The Second Saladin [Mass Market Paperback]

Stephen Hunter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 1998

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best straight-up thriller writer at work today."
--Rocky Mountain News

"Only a handful of writers today can match hunter for imagination and the ability to make a reader's adrenaline rush."
--Daily News ( N.Y.)

"Great entertainment...intelligent, realistic, spellbinding."
--Ron Hansen, author of Atticus

From the Publisher

"The best straight-up thriller writer at work today."
--Rocky Mountain News

"Only a handful of writers today can match hunter for imagination and the ability to make a reader's adrenaline rush."
--Daily News ( N.Y.)

"Great entertainment...intelligent, realistic, spellbinding."
--Ron Hansen, author of Atticus

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Dell (April 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440221862
• ISBN-13: 978-0440221869
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.3 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Hunter won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism as well as the 1998 American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for Distinguished Writing in Criticism for his work as film critic at The Washington Post. He is the author of several bestselling novels, including Time to Hunt, Black Light, Point of Impact, and the New York Times bestsellers Havana, Pale Horse Coming, and Hot Springs. He lives in Baltimore.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars fuhgedaboudit ditto, April 8, 2002

By 

Jerry W. Burnett "jerrydgeek" (Corvallis, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Second Saladin (Mass Market Paperback)

I concur that this is not the most exciting book Stephen Hunter ever wrote. And also that this is MUCH better than "Spanish Gambit".

It's not as good as "Master Sniper", but that shouldn't be interpreted as a recommendation for that THIRD of Stephen Hunter's three 'learning novels'.

Your Stephen Hunter collection isn't complete without these 3 novels, so go ahead and buy them. Keep them by your bed to read when you need to go to sleep because you want to get up early in the morning. Works for me.

Do NOT keep any of the Bob Lee Swagger/Earl Swagger books in the same room where you're suppose to be sleeping. They call you in the middle of the night, you find yourself turning on the bedlight, clamping reading glasses to bleary eyes, and reading just ONE more chapter before I go back to sleep, honest!

Jerry the (Yeah, but it's never just one, is it?) Geek

PS: Hunter's single non-Swagger novel that I can recommend is The Day Before Midnight. Store that with Bob the Nailer books; it's non-putdownable.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You may be disappointed...I was, April 27, 2003

By 

Mark Wagenschutz (Battle Creek, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Second Saladin (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Hunter's best, but one hell of a finish., January 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Second Saladin (Mass Market Paperback)

In reading the other reviews of this book, I find it difficult to understand the continuing reference to great humor in the Second Saladin.Yes, there were some humorous moments, but moments were all they were.Hunter starts the book with a nice action sequence, but then things seem to settle down for longer than might otherwise be necessary or desirable. It was interesting to see the use of characters which appear in subsequent Hunter books such as Black Light, and the twists and turns at the end are worthy of Mr. Hunter's talents. My only problem with the book, as already alluded to, is the amount of time spent filling the middle of the book with plot elements which did little to advance the action or to maintain the reader's interest.Overall, a good read, but not up to Point of Impact or Hunter's other later works.