Sonora [Hardcover]

E. Howard Hunt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

Jack Novak is E. Howard Hunt's answer to James Bond. A smart, savvy hero for the 90's, Novak isn't afraid to let the bullets fly or the bad guys get what's coming to them. He charmed both readers and the sensuous heroines of Cozumel, Islamorada and Mazatlan. Now, in Sonora, we finally get the Jack Novak adventure that started it all.

The year the Guadalajara cartel tortured and murdered Kiki Camarena, Jack Novak was working out of the Nogales DEA office. Within six months he'd find himself facing down the worst of the Central American drug traffickers, avenging the kidnapping of an innocent and stopping a crooked politician with his sights on the Mexican presidency. In a desperate effort to help the beautiful Susana, Novak quickly learns he must take the law into his own hands.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of "Hunt's answer to James Bond," the rogue DEA agent Jack Novak, might find some pleasure in seeing how the whole shooting match started: this seventh book in the series is billed as a "prequel," predating the first Novak adventure (Cozumel) by five years. But readers who have managed to stay out of the former Watergate burglar's recent fictional loop might well be baffled by the violent, sexist and xenophobic tone of the enterprise. In the course of bringing down a couple of high-ranking Mexican drug lords and rescuing a fellow DEA agent from a Mazatlan jail, Novak kills dozens of people with only a bit of pro forma bitching from his bureaucratic bosses. His behavior is apparently excused because a Mexican drug cartel has just tortured and murdered DEA agent Kiki Camarena, so anything goes. This might even reflect actual internal agency policies of the period, but it comes across here as less than convincing--especially when Novak is allowed to spend vast amounts of confiscated cash on a luxuriant lifestyle, and to have frequent inappropriate sex (including the porno favorite of mother and daughter) on land, sea and in the air (twice). And Mexico-resident Novak's rough caricatures of Mexicans--even the peasants and priests he apparently approves of--add to the book's discomfort level. (Jan.)

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Hunt handles dialogue well, moves the action even better, and provides a good bit of verisimilitude . . . It's also fun for Washington readers to see how well, or ill, he captures our town and its environs."-The Washington Post Book World

"Hunt is an exceptional storyteller who leads readers through more twists and turns than a laboratory maze."-Roanoke Times

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

Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312872054
• ISBN-13: 978-0312872052
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This one is bad., January 15, 2003

By 

Jake Blues (Calumet City, ILL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sonora (Mass Market Paperback)

I mean really bad. I like novels usually. I could not read more than 10 or 15 pages of this book. It seemed like it was not written by a real writer.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I wouldn't pay money for it ...., April 29, 2001

By 

j peterson (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sonora (Hardcover)

... but then I get many free books from my job.

The action is interesting enough, and I may finish it when I get really bored. However, Mr. Hunt doesn't know a whole lot about civilian aviation, though I read he was a naval aviator. He really should learn this stuff before writing the book. i.e. Twin Comanchee with a wet bar! It only has enough room for the four seats, and what about the Grumman [sic] Skyhalk with an eight-cylinder engine? I'm afraid not. 8 cylinders is not done much (cooling problems) except in the 400 Hp version of the single-engine Piper Comanchee. It goes on like that.

Secondly, though this is only a novel, I think the author's views on the drug war are irksome, to say the least. The pilot/DEA man narrator of the story is pretty full of himself as the savior of the Mexican priests, etc. He thinks nothing wrong with making use of all the airplanes and motor vehicle's that the DEA has illegally siezed, many from people only remotely connected with drug crimes. His character feels it's OK to torture, firebomb people's ranches, etc. in the name of "Just Say No". The US Constitution (and missionaries in Cessna 185s in Peru) be damned, I guess.

Well, I hope Mr. Novak, the DEA man, gets shot in the back before the end of the book. I don't think it's gonna happen though (wouldn't want to spoil the ending anyway), and if it does, it won't be soon, as I put the book on a big pile.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Fun Read!!, July 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Sonora (Mass Market Paperback)

Mr. Hunt does not take himself too seriously. The Jack Novak series is meant to be a fun read with some terrific, realistic facts that only a former CIA man could provide. Great summer fare.