The Man Who Never Missed (Mass Market Paperback)

by Steve Perry (Author) "DEATH CAME FOR him through the trees..." (more)
Key Phrases: jade flower, explosive bullets, freight handler, Shamba Scum, The Maze, Emile Khadaji (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Once a ruthless soldier, Emile Khadaji has disappeared from the Confederation-with a secret plan to destroy it all in the name of freedom.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Ace (August 15, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441519180
• ISBN-13: 978-0441519187
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #430,616 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One man can make a difference., May 17, 2000

By	Anthony Hinde (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you like action and larger than life heroes, then you will love Steve Perry's Matadora Series. It's fast paced and contains plenty of original ideas which he explores ruthlessly.

Don't believe the book covers, the series actually starts with, "The 97th step", and so should you. Then comes "The Man Who Never Missed", "Matadora", "The Machiavelli Interface", "The Albino Knife", "Black Steel", "Brother Death".

The total story line mostly centers around one man and his efforts to overthrow a repressive government, on a galactic scale. Our hero is Emile Khadaji. He starts his life as one of the government's own soldiers but during a battle to put down a rebellion he experiences an epiphany. From that moment on he is no longer a soldier.

Luckily a rather mystic figure called Pen, takes him under wing, trains him in the martial arts of the ninety nine steps and then releases Emile to fulfill his destiny. Along the way he single handedly starts, maintains and ends a guerrilla war against the government and then assembles and trains a team which forces the whole system to its knees.

Perry is definitely a commercial author but I doubt he would apologize for that. The Matadora series is a good example of this. It panders to my every boyish reading desire and I thank Perry for it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wasp in Their Ear, February 7, 2003

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Man Who Never Missed is the first novel written in the Matador series. However, it is the second novel in the series by internal chronological sequence, following The 97th Step.

In this novel, Emile Antoon Khadaji is an former Confed veteran with six years combat experience when he finds himself in a bloodbath on Maro, where three-quarters of a million religious fanatic ran, walked and crept into the Confed fire zones and died. This traumatic event breaks his social conditioning and gives him an epiphany about violence. He runs into the oncoming mob, discarding his equipment as he goes, and later finds himself in a nearby town, where he meets Pen (see The 97th Step).

He realizes that the amount of violence used by the Confed is wrong and looks for a way to eliminate the strong-arm tactics. Pen teaches him how to control himself and Juete teaches him to see others as they are. On Bocca, he learns the nature of politics and military force as well as many other subjects. He wallows in learning for a while, but then moves on to gaining money as a power base.

On Greaves, he buys a bar and specializes in providing a good time to the troops. At night and in his spare time, he shoots select troopers with darts carrying Spasm, a convulsant that leaves the victims totally incapable of speech and movement for six months, but leaves the mind clear and undamaged. During these six months, he shoots 2388 of the 10,000 Confed troops, including the commanding officer.

When the Confed finally catches up to him, he is on record as being the one and only member of the Shamba Freedom Forces. This spooks the System Marshall and every single trooper that learns the tale. His fame and example spreads throughout the Confed.

This novel is a SF psyops story, focusing on the use of minimum force to achieve political objectives. Underlying this is a martial arts philosophy which teaches much the same lesson. When a political system degenerates into a self-perpetuating organization that preys on its own citizens, it only takes a small event to crystallize opposition to its existence. Witness the fall of the Soviet Union from the inside.

This story is much like Eric Frank Russell's Wasp, but with a more military approach and a different objective. In Wasp, the goal was to reduce the will to resist of the planetary population, but in this novel, the goal is to increase the will to resist of the planetary populations by breaking the reputation of Confed forces.

Recommended for all Perry fans and anyone who enjoys psyops stories in a SF setting.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Ten in Sci-Fi From the 80's!!, April 11, 2004

By	Brent Duane Cates (Portland, Tx) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Man Who Never Missed is, hands down, one of the finest,entertaining and most original Science Fiction novels to come out of the Eighties. The plot is both action, military and spiritual all in one as the unique journey of the Hero unfolds and we bear witness to his growth and development from a shattered, spiritualy stricken soldier to a freedom fighter capable of challenging an empire. This story remains a benchmark for all military or martial fiction in the Science fiction genre. This is the first of 3 novels in the Matador Trilogy, The Man Who Never Missed is followed by Matadora and The Machiavelli Interface. Collect them. Read them. Enjoy them and may the Spirit of Adventure never leave you.