Soft targets [Paperback]

Dean Ing (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1979

An Islamic terrorist organisation decides to organise a bombing spree on mainland USA.

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

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fastpaced thriller."--Publishers Weekly

"A breathtaking story....Characters are delineated so vividly that the reader ahtes, admires, loves, fears, and despises thema s if they were flesha nd bone."--Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto

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

About the Author

Dean Ing has worked as a USAF interceptor crew chief, a senior research engineer in the aerospace industry, a builder and driver of sports-racing cars, and a university professor. He has a doctorate in communications theory. Ing is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Ransom of Black Stealth One, The Nemesis Mission, and The Skins of Dead Men. He lives in Ashland, Oregon.

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 217 pages
• Publisher: Ace Books (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441774059
• ISBN-13: 978-0441774050
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,157,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written story on ignored but very possible topic, February 26, 2000

By 

Stephen Kammerer (Taji, Iraq) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soft Targets (Paperback)

I was pleased to see Dean's 1980 story, "Soft Targets", re-released. Dean's a family friend and autographs upon request all of his books we buy. Anybody who knows Dean can close their eyes and hear him talk through all of his books. Soft Targets addresses an entirely plausible issue whose nonoccurrence is taken for granted by the American public - terrorists loose in our own country, waging a religious war in the name of their leader. Hakim Arif stars as the leader of the Arab-backed El-Fatah band of terrorists who have in their group a Panamanian and - surprise - two Israeli members of a religious sect whose beliefs are so convoluted as to ally them with their own enemy. Maurice Everett is the FCC Chairman whose idea to have the country's major TV networks ridicule terrorists versus giving them the publicity they and their backers so crave, puts him and the co-creators of the idea at the top of El-Fatah's hit list. The two men match wits and cross each other's trails through several confrontations running the full gamut of terrorist activity and although Hakim's band succeeds in kidnapping a member of Everett's coterie of television co-conspirators - and scooping up Everett in his new identity through pure bad luck when the plan to fake his death backfired - Everett wins through, saving his fellow hostage after the terrorists have a falling out amongst themselves. Dean crafts his stories with technical excellence, fully accurate geographic detail, trademark colloquialisms and word usage, and draws on his experience as an ex-Air Force crew chief and small-car buff to put together yet another story that will draw you through from beginning to end. It's a great story. Those of you who have read other books by Dean may have noticed a common thread amongst his leading characters: a gruff, burly, worldly-wise and competent tough guy of mature years who nevertheless has his sensitive side. This may be Dean's idea of how he views himself, and it's damn close to the truth.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frighteningly relevant now, September 15, 2001

By 

G. Styles (Vienna, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soft Targets (Paperback)

This was the first novel that came to mind after the horrific events of September 11. I had read it when it first came out and again a few years later, and its message has stuck with me. Although the brand of terrorism Ing was writing about--rooted in the hijackings and bombings of the 70s--may seem sadly outdated, his thinking on the subject and how a nation responds is all too relevant now. Highly recommended, along with most of his other work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars prophetic but undeveloped, January 30, 2003

By 

David Group (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soft Targets (Paperback)

This novel of Islamic fundamentalists waging a terror attack on the US was written in 1978-79, long before such things were thought possible (at least, by most people); there is even mention of terrorists in Buffalo, NY. Though it contains some interesting ideas, such as waging a media campaign against the terrorists and the inclusion of radical Jews among the terrorists, the writing is not as good as it could be, and one feels that he could have developed the ideas a bit more. I was expecting something along the lines of Frederick Forsythe or Alistair MacLean, but this novel doesn't reach those heights. A better-written, if less ambitious, treatment of the same topic can be seen in Thomas (Silence of the Lambs) Harris' Black Sunday.