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Book review: “Hard Target” by Howard Gordon

In “Hard Target” (Touchstone, $25.99), Howard Gordon's sequel to “Gideon's War,” Gideon Davis has been forced to give up his State Department work in exchange for a presidential pardon for his brother, Tillman.

Now working as an academic, Gideon is approached by a junkie who tells him a terrorist attack by some white supremacists is coming soon, and it's aimed at the top levels of the federal government.

Gideon tells his former girlfriend, FBI agent Nancy Clement, but when they go to a second meeting with the informant, he's disappeared. The FBI is naturally skeptical.

Tillman Davis is living off the grid in West Virginia, and Gideon enlists his help to infiltrate the supremacist group headed by Dale Wilmot. Wilmot has a real hatred and grudge against the government for what he thinks authorities did to his son. The feds continue to refuse to act, so the brothers and Nancy start their own attack to prevent the disaster.

This is a first-rate thriller, and the action doesn't stop.

— John Harrington

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