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Soft Target: A Thriller (Ray Cruz #1)

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 851 ratings · 165 reviews

Black Friday America’s largest shopping mall Suburban Minneapolis 3:00 P.M. Ten thousand people jam the aisles, the corridors, the elevators, and the escalators of America, the Mall—a giant Rubik’s Cube of a structure with its own amusement park located in the spacious center atrium. Of those people, nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight have come to shop. The other...more Black Friday America’s largest shopping mall Suburban Minneapolis 3:00 P.M. Ten thousand people jam the aisles, the corridors, the elevators, and the escalators of America, the Mall—a giant Rubik’s Cube of a structure with its own amusement park located in the spacious center atrium. Of those people, nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight have come to shop. The other twelve have come to kill.

Stephen Hunter’s hyper-drive, eighth-gear new thriller, Soft Target, chronicles the day when the unthinkable happens: twelve gunmen open fire in the mall corridors, driving the pack before them. Those on the upper floors take cover or get out any way they can; but within a few minutes the gunmen have herded more than a thousand hostages into the amusement park.

Ray Cruz, one of the heroes of Hunter’s last bestseller, Dead Zero, is in the mall with his fiancée and her family. The retired Marine sniper thought he was done with stalking and killing—but among the trapped thousands, he’s the only one with a plan and the guts to confront the self-proclaimed “Brigade Mumbai.” Now all he needs is a gun.

FBI Sniper Dave McElroy has a gun. But positioned on the roof of the vast building, looking down through one of its thickly paned Great Lakes–shaped skylights, and without explosives or fuses—or the go-ahead from his superiors—he is effectively cut off from his targets and forced into the role of witness to the horror unfolding below.

Set during the four hours of the terrifying event, the story follows both hostages and gunmen, detailing the complex strategic police response, the full-press media saturation coverage, even the politics of SWAT as both the Minnesota State Police and the FBI struggle to control, confront, and ultimately defuse the crisis.

Having learned the lessons of Columbine, the feds believe that immediate action is the only solution. But Douglas Obobo, the charismatic and ambitious commandant of the state police, orders cooperation, tolerance, communication, and empathy for the gunmen. He feels that with his superior negotiating skills, he can make contact with the shooters and gently nudge them into surrender. But what if their goal all along has been unparalleled massacre—and they’re only waiting for prime time?

With unrelenting suspense and vivid scenes of violence and chaos in the center of a terror-crazed afternoon in Middle America, thriller master Stephen Hunter takes us into the belly of the softest of soft targets.(less)

ebook, 272 pages

Published December 6th 2011 by Simon & Schuster

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Feb 20, 2012 Jeffrey rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012, thriller

Taut short thriller.

When terrorists take over the America Mall and hold 1000 hostages, what will the police and FBI do to stop the carnage.

Ray Cruz, a former marine sniper, and his girlfriend are in the Mall shopping for gifts for Christmas when the action starts.

The police are led by a bureaucrat more interested in spin then dealing with the terrorists, who seem to have only one demand before they free the hostages.

Cruz goes on the hunt for terrorists in the Mall with the help of one of the sn...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action

This book is the "logical continuation" of the Bob Lee Swagger series of books...but it's not a Bob Lee book. Bob you see has gotten a little...long in the tooth. He was 64 years old in his last outing. Luckily for us however Bob discovered a long lost son! In this book the "saga" continues with Bob Lee's son, Ray Cruz.

The plot is one that I've been sort of dreading hearing of in real life... Terrorists decide to hit one of America's largest malls on "Black Friday".

Of course things aren't that s...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Nick Brett rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have enjoyed most of the author’s books to varying degrees, but this is without doubt the worst of his output.

The flaws and problems are many, in what is basically Die Hard in a shopping mall and Ray Cruz being the man in the spotlight to stop an attack. There is very little that is ‘right’ with it, so let me focus on the downside: It’s short, about 250 pages so quite expensive for a slim volume, it has an observational style of narrative that is annoying, the dialogue is utterly woeful and th...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Alain Burrese rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

"Soft Target" by Stephen Hunter is a fun action yarn, that if you wanted to sum up in a few words, could be called, "Die Hard" in a mall. Something that Hunter himself, I believe, also thought, especially with the little tongue-in-cheek reference to the 1988 action movie starring Bruce Willis, that along with Lethal Weapon really set standards for action movies to follow.

I'll admit, I enjoyed Hunter's previous books about Bob Lee Swagger more than this one, even though this book featured Swagger...more "Soft Target" by Stephen Hunter is a fun action yarn, that if you wanted to sum up in a few words, could be called, "Die Hard" in a mall. Something that Hunter himself, I believe, also thought, especially with the little tongue-in-cheek reference to the 1988 action movie starring Bruce Willis, that along with Lethal Weapon really set standards for action movies to follow.

I'll admit, I enjoyed Hunter's previous books about Bob Lee Swagger more than this one, even though this book featured Swagger's son, that he didn't know about until the previous book, and a couple references in regards to the famous sniper of Hunter's previous thrillers. It is not that I don't like Swagger's son, Ray Cruz, I do. I just liked the Bob Lee stories a bit more. However, I still had a fun time reading "Soft Target," and recommend it to all of Hunter's fans, and anyone else interested in a "Die Hard" like adventure story.

I also like that the tale focuses on snipers. Not just Ray Cruz, but there are parts about the other snipers that respond to the crisis. It's obvious that Hunter enjoys writing about these kinds of characters, just as I enjoy reading and writing about them too, so that made the book a bit more enjoyable for me than had the main character been a regular cop as in the movies this book resembles. So maybe I should have called it "'Die Hard' in a mall with a sniper."

The story has a few holes, and a few places that are a bit too convenient, but that's okay. You are not reading this kind of action thriller for precise technical accuracy or information. It's the reason action movies are not featured on the History or Discover channel. They have different purposes, and the purpose of this novel is fast entertainment, and for that, it delivers.

Even though the entire story takes place in a short amount of time, with a couple of flash backs, Hunter does a great job of keeping one's interest and describing the action. I like Hunter's writing, and even though the story had some predictability (Just like the "Die Hard" movies), and some things that were a bit formulaic and tidy to wrap things up (again, just like the movies), I had fun reading it, and that's what I read these kinds of thrillers for. It's escapism and enjoyment, just like the films on the silver screen. For that kind of light, enjoyable reading, Hunter's "Soft Target" hit the mark.
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Jul 19, 2012 Benjamin Cheah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the sort of book you'll want for a flight, train ride, or cross-country travel. It'll occupy a few hours, and provide some laughs and some thrills. It's pure escapism. But that's all I can recommend for it. In many respects this is a break from Hunter's previous work: the protagonist is Ray Cruz, not Hunter's acclaimed Bob Lee Swagger; the story is much shorter than previous novels; Ray Cruz is a much more reluctant warrior than Swagger; and the politics of this story is much more pronou...more

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Jun 12, 2012 William Bentrim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Soft Target by Stephen Hunter
In the era of jihad the concept of soft targets is sobering. People who wouldn’t recognize democracy if it bit them in the tush would love to enjoy our freedoms while they try and destroy them. This book pits a retired marine sniper against a home grown nut case and some deluded Islamic terrorists.

Ray Cruz is the protagonist in this book. He represents the best of our service people, loathe to leave a job half done and patriotic to a fault. He finds himself thrust in...more

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May 28, 2012 Kristin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While this is one book in a series involving ex-military sniper Cruz, it was the first I read, drawn to the plot of terrorists taking siege of the largest mall in the USA. Of the 3 books I read with this similar plot, I'd say it falls in between Ridley Pearson's 'Hidden Charges', by far the best, and Alex Kava's 'Black Friday'.
Hunter definitely pulls readers in right away by having the shooters kill the in-mall Santa Claus on Black Friday in the book's very first line. From there, Hunter covers...more While this is one book in a series involving ex-military sniper Cruz, it was the first I read, drawn to the plot of terrorists taking siege of the largest mall in the USA. Of the 3 books I read with this similar plot, I'd say it falls in between Ridley Pearson's 'Hidden Charges', by far the best, and Alex Kava's 'Black Friday'.
Hunter definitely pulls readers in right away by having the shooters kill the in-mall Santa Claus on Black Friday in the book's very first line. From there, Hunter covers a mere 4 hours in 200+ pages but packs a lot into those 4 hours, from the continued bloodshed inside the mall, to the strategic operations planned by various law enforcement agencies outside, to the masterminds behind the takeover and their continued execution of their grand plan.
Despite the author's note at the end of the book that he only loosely based the mall, called America, the Mall, in the book on the Mall of America actually located in Minnesota, I found the similarities to be many. America, the Mall is also located in Minnesota, has an amusement park in the center like MoA, and many of the stores are the same in both malls. The structure does differ, as Hunter calls AtM an exxagerated pentagon loosly based on a map of the United States, with the central skylights being in the shape of the 5 Great Lakes, the main corridors named for 4 of America's biggest rivers, and the shops in each wing of the mall representing the culture and lifestyle of the geographic region for which the wing is named. However, even when Hunter describes the shape of the mall early on, I could not draw it to look like a pentagon.
Much of the early action occurs in the central amusement park but as the book progresses and the good guys begin to move in on the terrorists, the various structural elements begin to play a larger role. While Cruz does play a big role by the end of the book, it took a little while to get him in on the action, and he was already in the mall and therefore not involved in the planning outside. Likewise, I felt a lot of time was spent on the law enforcement teams on the outside and not so much on the hostages and shooters inside. For a book set in the largest mall in the country, the mall element didn't seem to play that big a role except as a space where there would be a lot of innocent, naive people gathered in a small space.
I also detected a bit of satire in this book, as leader of the state police, a black man named Obobo, seemed to be a spoof of President Obama. Obobo was depicted to be a young guy being fast-tracked to a high government role despite not showing great moments of leadership, who was a smooth talker and looked good on camera, winning him over with the public. All of these have been things I've hear about Obama before and during his presidency. Plus, Obobo wants to talk down the terrorists instead of sending in the armed highly-trained personnel stationed outside the mall, perhaps a nod to President Bush's declaration of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Obama's withdrawl of the troops. There were other moments that had me laughing, namely the scene involving potatoes, but that might just be me.
Overall, I'm not sure I will necessarily read another of the books in this series unless the plot sounds appealing. The lead character of Cruz wasn't very strong, and military/government intelligence books aren't usually my thing, so since it was the mall setting that drew me in, the others might not hold my interest.(less)

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May 20, 2012 Cheryl rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ray Cruz was a Marine. He is trying to adjust to cilivan life. It is Christmas time. Ray and his friend, Molly are shopping. So are tons of other people on this day. People ae in a jolly mood and children are having fun sitting n Santa's lap, telling him their wish list. Suddenly, a shot is fired. Santa's brains go splattering. Soon people start to realize what has happened and panic arupts. People go screaming. More shots are fired. Terrorists come out from every direction. They gather people u...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Alan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Stephen Hunter's "Soft Target" is a major disappointment that reads like a novelization of a superficial action film that includes sideline commentary on the state of America's politicians and lawyers. These latter elements make the book more of a satire than the type of action thriller that we have come to expect from Hunter. Yes, I know that characters like Howard "Howdy Duty" Utey from the Swagger series were also meant to personify the bureaucratic mindset in opposition to action men such as...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Truly enjoyable book. Lots of suspense, (don't like the killing), but plot is intricate, love the police commissioner being a total idiot (but keeps getting promoted -- who hasn't seen that in today's society -- it's not about worth anymore). Also, kids being so messed up and still are functioning in society and they further mess it up. At some point, all this will bite us and the world will be right. Not in my lifetime.......

Black Friday America's largest shopping mall Suburban Minneapolis 3:00...more Truly enjoyable book. Lots of suspense, (don't like the killing), but plot is intricate, love the police commissioner being a total idiot (but keeps getting promoted -- who hasn't seen that in today's society -- it's not about worth anymore). Also, kids being so messed up and still are functioning in society and they further mess it up. At some point, all this will bite us and the world will be right. Not in my lifetime.......

Black Friday America's largest shopping mall Suburban Minneapolis 3:00 P.M.
Ten thousand people jam the aisles, the corridors, the elevators, and the escalators of America, the Mall--a giant Rubik's Cube of a structure with its own amusement park located in the spacious center atrium. Of those people, nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight have come to shop. The other twelve have come to kill.

Stephen Hunter's hyper-drive, eighth-gear new thriller, "Soft Target, "chronicles the day when the unthinkable happens: twelve gunmen open fire in the mall corridors, driving the pack before them. Those on the upper floors take cover or get out any way they can; but within a few minutes the gunmen have herded more than a thousand hostages into the amusement park.

Ray Cruz, one of the heroes of Hunter's last bestseller, "Dead Zero," is in the mall with his fiancee and her family. The retired Marine sniper thought he was done with stalking and killing--but among the trapped thousands, he's the only one with a plan and the guts to confront the self-proclaimed "Brigade Mumbai." Now all he needs is a gun.

FBI Sniper Dave McElroy has a gun. But positioned on the roof of the vast building, looking down through one of its thickly paned Great Lakes-shaped skylights, and without explosives or fuses--or the go-ahead from his superiors--he is effectively cut off from his targets and forced into the role of witness to the horror unfolding below.

Set during the four hours of the terrifying event, the story follows both hostages and gunmen, detailing the complex strategic police response, the full-press media saturation coverage, even the politics of SWAT as both the Minnesota State Police and the FBI struggle to control, confront, and ultimately defuse the crisis.

Having learned the lessons of Columbine, the feds believe that immediate action is the only solution. But Douglas Obobo, the charismatic and ambitious commandant of the state police, orders cooperation, tolerance, communication, and empathy for the gunmen. He feels that with his superior negotiating skills, he can make contact with the shooters and gently nudge them into surrender. But what if their goal all along has been unparalleled massacre--and they're only waiting for prime time?

With unrelenting suspense and vivid scenes of violence and chaos in the center of a terror-crazed afternoon in Middle America, thriller master Stephen Hunter takes us into the belly of the softest of soft targets.

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Jan 03, 2012 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Swagger legacy lives on in Ray Cruz, an ex-marine sniper who is Bob Lee Swagger's son through a brief encounter while Bob Lee was in the marines. Ray, recently retired from the marines, is Christmas shopping with his fiance at the Mall of America when terrorists shoot Santa Claus and take over the mall along with about a thousand hostages. The rescue revolves around Ray, who is hiding inside the mall, the Minnesota state police--who has a weenie commander morer worried about his reputation a...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Randy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love Hunters books. He writes one of the most well thought out testosterone torpedoes you could ever ask for. With Dead Zero, he put to bed a worry that had been building, that is, who will be the male protagonist going foreward? No offense to females anywhere but the Swagger clan seemed to end with two daughters who I just couldn't see filling the shoes of any of the Swaggers, but hell, I've made a habit of being wrong all my life. In this case however, Hunter gave us Swaggers long lost son,...more I love Hunters books. He writes one of the most well thought out testosterone torpedoes you could ever ask for. With Dead Zero, he put to bed a worry that had been building, that is, who will be the male protagonist going foreward? No offense to females anywhere but the Swagger clan seemed to end with two daughters who I just couldn't see filling the shoes of any of the Swaggers, but hell, I've made a habit of being wrong all my life. In this case however, Hunter gave us Swaggers long lost son, Mr. Cruz and this book is the first that features Cruz as the main character.

All that said, I feel like something is missing here. It's almost as if Hunter intended to end the Swagger story and then at the last moment realized it was like killing off a part of himself so he hastily (and I use that word with hesitation) penned in the long lost son. In Dead Zero, you're reading along and then bang, turns out, the questionable villain in Swaggers mind is, his son! Swaggers reasoning was a little vague but he made it work and I for one was happy to see the new face even if the ending of Dead Zero was just a wee bit too Hollywood.

So here we are with Soft Target and to begin with, its a tiny book. I read the whole thing on boxing day and while its nothing like James Patersons rip offs, it about the same size. Contained within is a story that is compelling yet sort of dumb. Its a movie treatment! I just had an aha moment. Duh, what this book is missing is the careful leadup to the moral questions our hero must face, those long winded eloquent pieces of prose that made us want to stand with or at least behind the Swaggers. What it is missing are all the things that you couldn't put in a movie! The things that make a book so much better than a film. When they make this into a film, and they will, its just perfect, a younger version of Bruce Willis as Cruz, people will say, It was just as good as the book! Of course they will! The book has little of the substance that made us all believers in the Swaggers. That said, it's still hands and feet above a lot of authors who try their hands at this sort of thing but its far below Hunters usual efforts.(less)

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Dec 20, 2011 Bill Garrison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

SOFT TARGET, by Stephen Hunter, is the first novel in years to not feature a Swagger sniping and killing a bunch of bad guys. While his daughter does make an appearance as a journalist, this novel stars Marine Ray Cruz. Ray is shopping with his girlfriend on the day after thanksgiving and America, the Mall, which is basically the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. At the heigth of Black Friday, a terrorist shoots the mall Santa right between the eyes. Then a group of terrorists rounds as...more

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May 02, 2013 Brandon Collinsworth rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bad-ending

Here is the thing, I actually enjoyed this book, but was so upset at the very very very unsatisfactory ending that I can not in good conscience recommend this book to anyone. I have usually come to the conclusion that you can not let the ending ruin a book that had been perfectly enjoyable up to that point, after all the it is about the journey and not the destination. But here is the thing and it is completely unforgivable and unredeemable.

**********************SPOILERS*************************...more Here is the thing, I actually enjoyed this book, but was so upset at the very very very unsatisfactory ending that I can not in good conscience recommend this book to anyone. I have usually come to the conclusion that you can not let the ending ruin a book that had been perfectly enjoyable up to that point, after all the it is about the journey and not the destination. But here is the thing and it is completely unforgivable and unredeemable.

**********************SPOILERS*******************************************

It becomes apparently that the Police Superintendent in charge of the crisis, Colonel Douglas Abobo is completely incompetent and a danger to the people he is in charge of and more so to those he is suppose to protect. You spend the entire book cringing at every one of his horrible decisions and his inability to take advice from anyone other than his PR rep. As the book progresses he becomes just as much of a villain as the terrorist in the mall only of a different kind. You get to the point where you can't wait for the ending so he gets his comeupance, he will be humilated and completely upstaged by those whose advice he has totally ignored. Here is the thing his horrible leadership would have lead to the deaths of all 1000 hostages and the escape of at least one of the two people responsible. But he doesn't fall in the end, now he royally screws up and the situation is only saved because people did not listen to him, so what happend to Colonel Abobo, he manages to spin the story so that he looks like the hero and gets a promotion to director of the FBI. That is so bad on every level I can't believe I wasted my time with this book that has just uttterly pissed me off at the end. I know every story doesn't have to have a happy ending, but this was so very wrong it hurt it too bad. I know the cutting edge things these days is to have books more realistic where things do always go perfect at the end, but I read books to be entertained not infuriated with realism, especially in a book that was essentially Die Hard in a mall. (less)

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Jan 06, 2013 Bookstorequeer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, spy-thriller

This book really wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be much more of a mindless action-type, with suspense and adventure and that sort of thing. I was pleasantly surprised by the multiple viewpoints and I think the author really did a great job of combining all the different points of action and events together seamlessly.

I liked the characters and it was easy to cheer for them, growing attached as I went.

I was a little disappointed with the (view spoiler)...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What can a top-notch sniper do when he finds himself in a situation without a rifle? That’s what happens to Ray Cruz, just separated from the Marine Corp, finding himself Christmas shopping in America, the Mall with his girlfriend when a band of terrorists takes over 1,000 hostages in a “Holy War.” The answer: Improvise, of course.

And that is exactly what he does as the authorities flounder outside and Ray, the sole possible savior inside, takes action in this latest action thriller packed with...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Paul Pessolano rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Soft Target” by Stephen Hunter, published by Simon & Schuster.

Category – Mystery/Thriller

In Stephen Hunter’s last book we were introduced to Ray Cruz. Ray is an ex-Marine sniper who is the son of Bob Lee Swagger. Bob Lee is also an ex-Marine sniper and has appeared in most of Hunter’s other novels.

At 3pm on Black Friday in America’s largest shopping mall, America, the Mall in suburban Minneapolis (not to be confused with The Mall of America) a potential massacre is about to take place.

Ray a...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ray Cruz, ex Marine sniper is in the Mall of America with his girlfriend when someone shoots Santa Claus. Shortly thereafter 12 gunmen with the look of middle eastern terrorists move down the various halls shooting and herding the shoppers towards the center plaza and ride area. While this is going on someone has taken control of the computerized control center of the mall and locked all the exit doors, elevators and stairwells. Once news of what has happened, (from frantic cell phone calls) the...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Denise Eggleston rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Soft Target is different yet similar to Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger books. For one, Bob Lee is not in the book although alluded maybe three times. For another, there is no intricate plot, no long time-line, no real mystery. There is plenty of Hunter's expertise in guns, gear, and tactics.

The story, with a few flashbacks, takes place over a long afternoon and evening. A thinnly veiled Mall of America is taken over by active shooters, such as the Mumbai hotel. Bob Lee Swaggger's biological son, Ray C...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another good story by Stephen Hunter, I stayed up until 2 am to finish this book. While it wasn't as great as some of the earlier Bob Lee Swagger books (I,Sniper; Dead Zero) it was still pretty good. It was much shorter than the previous two books and the main character is Ray Cruz, Swagger's son, not Swagger himself. So it looks like Hunter is passing the sniper torch to Cruz, after all Swagger is in his late 60's and in his own words "getting too old for this @#$ stuff." Or I wonder, possibly...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Wesley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 26, 2013 Walk rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"I clonked his ass with a eight iron"..."I hope they ain't mad I bust it"
I have no clue concerning the emotional landscape going on behind that sentence, actually I have no idea of how the character got in a position to do the clonking it was just very fortunate that they did.

There are rather too many moments in the book where I was left with those questions.

The heroes sidekick stretches credibility beyond breaking point. The scenario at its most basic might seem "all too real ", the rest is pur...more "I clonked his ass with a eight iron"..."I hope they ain't mad I bust it"
I have no clue concerning the emotional landscape going on behind that sentence, actually I have no idea of how the character got in a position to do the clonking it was just very fortunate that they did.

There are rather too many moments in the book where I was left with those questions.

The heroes sidekick stretches credibility beyond breaking point. The scenario at its most basic might seem "all too real ", the rest is pure nonsense.

As others have observed this is Die Hard in a shopping mall. A mall dripping with contrived imagery as are the acts of violence. All the characters are on the top of their game playing the tightly defined roles with little deviation. It is movie simplistic. It even has the product placement, almost every phone, that gets named, is an iphone.

The book runs on smooth rails at a fast pace. It nearly runs fast enough that you do not mind this is novel by numbers, but not quite. There is a checklist and all the boxes get a tick.

The glaring oddity was the total lack of guns owned by good guys. One security character wobbles in on a segway gets killed and that would appear to have been mall security plan A done with.

About half way through I was beginning not to care, perhaps it was a timing thing. The news of the latest homegrown US lunatic with assault rifles is still fresh in the mind.

It might be a chilling blueprint for terror attack but we all know how it really plays out now, lunatic goes to school armed like Rambo goes on killing spree, kills himself before the authorities finished eating the donuts. You dont need endless planning and complexity you just need a nobby-no-mates with a chip on his shoulder and access to his mums gun arsenal.

Might be I am going to need time to adjust to a retired Bob Lee Swagger (he is no more than an answerphone message in this book) . Or perhaps Stephen Hunter has said all he has to say to me now.

As my introduction to Ray Cruz I really did not learn much about his inner workings, he was like pretty much everything else rather one dimensional, more video game character than novel character.(less)

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May 27, 2013 Peter Fortune rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-thriller

For background to Stephen Hunter's books, see my review of "Point of Impact."

This introduces a fourth-generation member of the Swagger family. We now have Charles Swagger, son Earl, grandson son Bob Lee, and great-grandson Ray Cruz. Ray is Bob Lee's son by his second wife, a Filipino. Like Bob Lee, Ray is a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines and a sniper. Cruz was first introduced in Hunter's "Dead Zero;" now he plays front and center.

The scene is the Mall of America in Minnesota, where bad guys (a...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Richard Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Soft Target by Stephen Hunter follows the story of a terrorist attack at the Mall of America, the largest mall in America. The attack occurs on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which is traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Mr. Hunter has written many exciting novels of this genre. Soft Target follows the pattern of his previous novels and engages the reader with carefully crafted characters and suspense filled events. One of the characters from his previous novel,...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Jody rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

This novel seemed to lack some of the elements that really made the Swagger novels so good. Perhaps it was because of the short length of this novel. I never felt that the pacing matched the intensity of many of Hunter's other novels. Still it was an fairly exciting read. Some character's - Nikki Swagger, Nick Memphis - from previous books make an appearance. I've always enjoyed the character of Nick Memphis, and it is good to see him in this book.

One thing that I found a real turn off, however,...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Timothy Hallinan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Bob Lee Swagger has stepped aside, possibly for a hip replacement, and has been replaced in Stephen Hunter's affections by his son, Ray Cruz. In this book, which took off like a fire engine but (for me) eventually sputtered and slowed), Ray is shopping in a thinly disguised Mall of America when some Somalian Islamic fundamentalists, led by a super-bright, twisted, American post-teen, take over the place, shut it down, and start killing.

Hunter's action scenes are nonpareil except maybe for James...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Kevin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Man, this was a real let down. Let me first state that I am a huge Stephen Hunter fan. After reading my first Hunter book a couple of years ago I have devoured all he has written. I anxiously await when I new one comes out. I was on a waiting list to get this book from the library and was excited when it came in for me. Quickly I felt the disappointment in this story. Way too much going on, too many semi main characters, little side stories that didn't pan out worthwhile at the end and the uneve...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Jeffrey Lawson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Gunnies and Fans of Action Thirllers

Stephen Hunter is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. Sometimes his plots become too contrived, and he has an annoying penchant for including characters and situations that are thinly veiled representations of real people and events. This notwithstanding, most of his books are alright (His first, Point of Impact was far better than your average action thriller.), and I really like certain aspects of his stories.

Soft Target is in the category of a little better than the average action thriller. I...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Ann Keller rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

This novel grips the reader by the throat from the very first page and holds him on a mind bending razor’s edge until the final page is turned. We are asked to delve into the mind of the smart criminal, perhaps the most difficult assailant to predict and understand.

Disgruntled Andrew Nicks has been bailed out of school after school by his wealthy father. With his father’s prestige and power, young Nicks can have virtually anything he asks for - and they allow him his excesses. Despite their effo...more This novel grips the reader by the throat from the very first page and holds him on a mind bending razor’s edge until the final page is turned. We are asked to delve into the mind of the smart criminal, perhaps the most difficult assailant to predict and understand.

Disgruntled Andrew Nicks has been bailed out of school after school by his wealthy father. With his father’s prestige and power, young Nicks can have virtually anything he asks for - and they allow him his excesses. Despite their efforts, however, Nicks seems fascinated with violence. Somehow, he manages to get a job in a game store in America, the Mall, one of the largest collections of stores and shops under one roof. This puts him in contact with the Imam, a young man who dreams of the jihad, his one way ticket to Allah, where he will enjoy the ultimate pleasures of the universe, forever.

Together, Andrew and the Imam manage to smuggle twelve Somali warriors into the U.S. through Canada and equip them with enough weapons to begin a small war. They spring their trap on Black Friday, when the Mall is filled with bargain hungry shoppers. While Christmas music drifts delightfully in the festive air, the Somalis first kill Santa and then open fire on the shoppers. In panic, the crowds flee for the exits, but over a thousand people are still trapped inside the complex, being held at gunpoint.

One of the shoppers trapped on the upper level is retired Marine Sergeant Ray Cruz, one of the best snipers in his field. Bravely, Ray ventures out to assess the situation and finds an unlikely partner in Lavelva, a large African American woman used to dealing with street toughs in all shapes and sizes.

While the police and FBI battle for jurisdiction outside and politics war with Emmy award-driven press eager for a scoop, snipers take positions on the roof of the huge complex. What are the group’s demands? If they accede to their wishes, all will be well and the hostages might be freed without any further bloodshed. What a political coup that would be! The only trouble is, Andrew Nicks isn’t interested in having his demands met and freeing any hostages. He’s in it for the joy of the Game!

This is one of the most fast-paced and frightening books I’ve ever read. It’s also delightfully studded with great characters, the kind any reader can really sink his teeth into. Every twist and turn yields a new line of thinking, another aspect of the twisted mind of this killer. So come, open the cover and jump into the game.
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Jan 24, 2012 Rick Fisher rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: military-thriller

I am a huge fan of Stephen Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger novels. Bob Lee is the epitome of everyday man, of American man, of hero. This being said, he does not appear in "Soft Target". Bad news. His son Ray Cruz does though. Good news. (Also, his daughter has several cameo appearances as well.) With Ray appearing in his own novel, I wonder if Mr Hunter is prepared to retire Bob Lee. Fans, such as myself, can only hope not. I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the character of Ray, just not as well as his...more

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About Stephen Hunter

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Stephen Hunter is the author of fourteen novels, and a chief film critic at The Washington Post, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Soft Target: A Thriller (Ray Cruz #1)

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