Dead Shot

A Sniper Novel

By: Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis

Narrated by: Scott Sowers

Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

In this follow-up to the highly successful Kill Zone, former Marine sniper Kyle Swanson faces his most deadly enemy yet, a legendary enemy sniper working with a fringe Islamic organization that has created a terrifying new weapon of mass destruction.

In Baghdad's Green Zone, an Iraqi scientist is murdered just before he is to reveal the monstrous secret that Saddam Hussein took to his grave: the Palace of Death, home to a chemical weapon that Islamic militants quietly have been developing and whose formula is nearly complete. The assassination is the work of a mysterious sniper called Juba, who was originally trained by the British but now works with a twisted mastermind determined to wrest leadership of the terrorist world from Al Qaeda.

Kyle Swanson, once the top sniper in the Marine Corps, has become the key member in a secret special operations team known as Task Force Trident. When Juba tests the new weapon by killing hundreds of people at a British royal wedding in London, Swanson is assigned to hunt down his old special ops rival. The birth of a new reign of global terror can be stopped only by a confrontation between the two best snipers in the world, a duel in which the first shot wins. Usually.

©2009 Jack Coughlin with Donald A. Davis (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Very Good Listen

Good story and well written with excellent narration. Portrays what I envision a snipers life to be like, but then I am not a snipe. However, I did enjoy it. I will read another of his books.

A bit slow

Overall a bit slow. Not as action packed as previous book. But still entertaining. Looking forward to next book.

Not in the USMC vernacular

OK. This story is OK. It is a bit trite and predictable. I am not sure why so many male authors feel compelled to add a female character to save the day. Is this pandering to the female reader demographic? Most likely. Just stick with "the guy is a loaner" or a realistic scout/sniper combination.

Further, the final disposition of the bad guy is telegraphed. It has become a lazy author tact to preserve the existing villain rather than work to create an original story.

Finally, and this is painful for Marines, get the freaking terminology right. I am not speaking of the weapons systems and minutia.

Marines are Marines. We are not soldiers. Marines do not refer to other Marines as soldiers. Warriors, grunts, devil dogs, jarheads, but never soldiers.

Secondly, Marines say Ooohrah not Hooah (Who-Uh). That is an army attempt to once again emulate the Corps. This is true of Marines in the fleet, MARSOC, JSOC and anywhere else.

Lastly, from USMC boot camp forward, every Marine knows that 0500 is ZERO FIVE HUNDRED and never, ever O Five Hundred. O is a letter in the alphabet and not a number. 0 (Zero) is a number. Time is referenced as numbers always.

These may be reading errors but they evoke a visceral response from Marines. If you are taking the time to make this an audio book. Get the phrases right. I can't believe Gunny Coughlin made these errors in the writing.

I will give the next book a shot (pun intended) but if there is no improvement, I will move on. Still looking for someone to step up and continue to efforts of Flynn and Clancy.

okay not great but okay. too much tech if you dont

. .know anything about weapons and how they work. It might also help if you have been a sniper.

Consistent!

Pretty good story although a little short. Time went fast as the story moved right along; good narrator, a good writer. Kyle Swanson, USMC sniper is a reoccurring character in Coughlin's books. I liked it and look for other books by Coughlin.