Customer Reviews

The Second Saladin

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

If you enjoyed Dirty White Boys or any of the Sniper books, give this one a miss. Starts off fine but the action tales off and the story is disjointed and contrived.

If you haven't read the others, get to it, a great author who has had a bad day.

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

I really can't understand what other Stephen Hunter fans find to not like about this book.

Okay, it's not Bob Lee Swagger, or even his dad, Earl, and it doesn't have wild gun - or sword - battles where one lone, determined Marine takes on the world and wins against all possible odds.

But it does have a great story line with wonderfully colorful characters, an ex-Marine/CIA anti-hero who is probably the prototype for Bob Lee, an intricate plot that jumps back and forth across time and space from Afghanistan and Iraq in the 70s to Mexico and Washington, DC and the thread that pulls it all together in an underground parking garage a decade or so later.

If you are a Stephen Hunter fan, pick this book up after first clearing your mind of the Swaggers and get ready to root for Paul Chardy. He won't disappoint you.

And if you're not a Stephen Hunter fan, *WHAT* is your problem?

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.

They can't all be gems. This one wasn't. In fact, it was boring. See "Spanish Gambit" to prove to yourself that even Stephen Hunter can write two turkeys.

I had to borrow this book from the Main Library in Boston- no other local library seemed to have a copy.I was surprised at how good the novel was and that it is out of print (1982) when an earlier book-Master Sniper(1980) is in vigorous print and his weakest book-Tapestry of Spies is also easily available.Very Different But also very good

I am the person who earlier marveled that Hunter's best book was out of print. I almost didn't take my copy of the book back to the Library. It is a book that you can open to a page and begin re-reading it and just enjoy the flow of words and the great deal of humor Hunter puts into the story. I laughed and laughed as the author lampooned many of our sacred Cows in the intelligence community. The story is excellent and I wanted it not to end. I felt I had lost a couple of friends when it did, but now in May,1998 I will see them again.