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Target of Opportunity
The death of his brother-in-law sends a California cop names Gilman on a chase to find the killer, and the trail leads to events that took place forty years ago and to Martin Spurling, a French Resistance hero now living in America
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
11 people want to read
About the author
Max Byrd
32 books20 followersMay Byrd is the author of a number of scholarly books on 18th century English literature, including Visits to Bedlam and London Transformed. Winner of the Shamus Award for best paperback private detective novel, his oeuvre of detective novels include the Book-of-the-Month Club selection Target of Opportunity. Byrd is also the author of four historical novels: Grant: A Novel, Jefferson: A Novel, Jackson: A Novel, and Shooting the Sun. He currently serves as the president of the board of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.
Max Byrd has taught English at Yale and UC Davis, has been a visiting professor at Stanford, and has lectured at UC Berkeley, Warwick University, the Sorbonne, and Monticello. Among the many publications featuring Byrd’s articles and book reviews are the Yale Review, New York Times Book Review, New Republic, and Woodrow Wilson Quarterly. He has served as editor of the scholarly journal Eighteenth-Century Studies.
Max Byrd has taught English at Yale and UC Davis, has been a visiting professor at Stanford, and has lectured at UC Berkeley, Warwick University, the Sorbonne, and Monticello. Among the many publications featuring Byrd’s articles and book reviews are the Yale Review, New York Times Book Review, New Republic, and Woodrow Wilson Quarterly. He has served as editor of the scholarly journal Eighteenth-Century Studies.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 4, 2022
1 star, not a good read.
December 8, 2015
Target of Opportunity is a great example of a cross-genre novel that does it right. Blending a 1980s search for a murderer with events from WWII, the author creates something so much more than a regular police procedural, whodunit, or historical novel... because history’s repercussions drip through the most unexpected channels.
The first part of the novel introduces characters and crime in the 1980s, with a family wounded by recent events, its members struggling to repair broken hearts and broken bodies. Listening is hard against a background of inopportune noises. And seeking is hard against a background of obstruction and malice. But the reader is suddenly thrown into the past, following a new American as he comes of age in a time of death and war. Part three begins, perfectly timed, just as the reader begins to wonder what the stories might have in common. And soon, so soon, reader and protagonist are racing through theories, spotting connections, and pondering the implications of it all.
The reader gets there just before the protagonist, as in all the best-crafted mysteries. The clues fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The history slots into place. And the modern world is not so different from the past.
Gilman is a convincingly real protagonist, neither too good nor too bad, in life or at his job, neither too clever or too foolish, and just enough wounded, physically and mentally, to inspire sympathy. Fathers, sons and role-models provide an amply absorbing, anchoring theme. And France in a time of occupation is beautifully drawn, through scenery and character, just as real as America’s cities and seas. The history is well-researched too, presenting an accurate snapshot of two eras, united by the common sins of man.
A target can be chosen for several different reasons. The reason for the title is clear by story’s end, as the random violence of the first dark scene, comes full circle and truth is revealed. Target of Opportunity is a wonderfully literary, fast-moving, exciting, absorbing and intriguing novel and a really great read.
Disclosure: I won a free copy and was thoroughly hooked as soon as I started to read.
The first part of the novel introduces characters and crime in the 1980s, with a family wounded by recent events, its members struggling to repair broken hearts and broken bodies. Listening is hard against a background of inopportune noises. And seeking is hard against a background of obstruction and malice. But the reader is suddenly thrown into the past, following a new American as he comes of age in a time of death and war. Part three begins, perfectly timed, just as the reader begins to wonder what the stories might have in common. And soon, so soon, reader and protagonist are racing through theories, spotting connections, and pondering the implications of it all.
The reader gets there just before the protagonist, as in all the best-crafted mysteries. The clues fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The history slots into place. And the modern world is not so different from the past.
Gilman is a convincingly real protagonist, neither too good nor too bad, in life or at his job, neither too clever or too foolish, and just enough wounded, physically and mentally, to inspire sympathy. Fathers, sons and role-models provide an amply absorbing, anchoring theme. And France in a time of occupation is beautifully drawn, through scenery and character, just as real as America’s cities and seas. The history is well-researched too, presenting an accurate snapshot of two eras, united by the common sins of man.
A target can be chosen for several different reasons. The reason for the title is clear by story’s end, as the random violence of the first dark scene, comes full circle and truth is revealed. Target of Opportunity is a wonderfully literary, fast-moving, exciting, absorbing and intriguing novel and a really great read.
Disclosure: I won a free copy and was thoroughly hooked as soon as I started to read.
September 30, 2015
San Francisco Police Inspector Gilman was so close to the shotgun blast that he now has a constant ringing in his ears that the doctor calls Tinnitus. Sometimes it gets so bad it almost drives him crazy. On the other hand, Gilman was the lucky one. His brother-in-law, Attorney Donald Kerwin caught the blast full in the chest. He died in a Seven-Eleven staring down the barrel of a shotgun wielded by a man wearing a ski mask. Sure, they caught the man, but a team of high priced lawyers got him off because of a police procedural mistake. Gilman was very upset, but he had been a cop for too long to not know the bad guys sometimes got away. Kevin’s wife, Nina, was devastated when Gilman broke the news to her. In fact, she went ballistic, even asking Gilman to use his contacts in the criminal world to arrange to kill the perp. When he refused, Nina stormed off leaving her three girls at home, saying she would track down and kill him herself. In order to stop her, Gilman has to find the killer first. Tracking him to Boston, Gilman’s old hometown, he tries to find out what lead to the shooting and how a young criminal could afford a team of high priced lawyers. Was it just a random act of violence or was it the culmination of a well laid plan? What was it about the killing that tied it to a French Resistance fighter in World War II, who Kevin had mentioned to Gilman earlier that fateful day? A fighter armed and supported by the American backed O.S.S. and it’s secret wartime missions. As Winston Churchill stated, “Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.” A fast paced book with plenty of action and suspense. Book provided for review by Turner Publishing Company.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews