Shadow Over Babylon - Softcover

David-mason

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451176715 ISBN 13: 9780451176714

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1994

Synopsis

The assassination plot is the brainchild of the most powerful men in government. It is manned by the most savagely skilled death team money can buy. It is armed with the most advanced weapons and technological systems on earth. It is assembled behind the backs of its own and its allies' intelligence agencies. And it is perfectly calculated to bypass the defenses of its target - President Saddam Hussein. A high-ranking government minister conceives the plan for reasons of state the public must never know. Roger Asher, a flamboyant and shady global financier, takes it over. Sir Peter Dartington, a construction magnate in need of mammoth government contracts, is enlisted to bankroll it. And Ed Howard, a maverick who runs his own super-security organization, accepts the contract and meticulously mobilizes an awesome arsenal and international attack team while working out, in daring detail, a course of action that gives new meaning to this mission impossible. Each step is intricately and ingeniously engineered to from the Highlands of Scotland, where a young deer stalker with a secret motive for murder is recruited for his incredible shooting talent, to the oval office in Washington, where powerful forces are set in motion to derail the plan...from research centers in England, where invaluable esoteric information is gathered, to the plains of Texas, where an American pilot comes aboard...from the Saudi Arabian desert, where a deadly border must somehow be breached, to the most forbidden territory inside Iraq itself...from the most icy and callous conspiratorial minds to the most elemental qualities of courage and endurance. And as the countdown begins on this terrifying master plot to change the course of history, an assassin moves step by step, danger by danger, heartbeat by heartbeat, to the moment when Saddam Hussein moves into the gun sights, and a finger tightens on a trigger.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Just the ticket for everybody still smarting from our ineffectual Gulf War victory: a Day of the Jackal-esque fantasy recounting an elaborate postwar plot to assassinate Saddam. A discreetly indirect overture from a government minister leads to security expert Ed Howard, a Special Boat Service veteran, who, agreeing to take on the job for a $10 million payoff, recruits a crack British team, from volatile Mideast expert Johnny Bourne to Scottish sniper Danny MacDonald. Bolstered by enviable inside information, meticulous planning, periodic bouts of restorative sex with brave, pliant women, and a list of supplies--including outsized stores of frozen peas, margarine, and an inflatable raft--Howard and Co. follow an ingenious blueprint to Saddam's birthday celebration in his hometown of Tikrit and dig in for the one shot they'll be allowed. Even as they're lining up the target in their crosshairs, though, trouble has already struck. John Kearwin, an eager beaver reconnaissance analyst in D.C., has picked up their trail via satellite recon and--courtesy of some Clancy-esque technological wizardry--traced them back to Britain and forward to Tikrit. After an initial abortive attempt to wipe out the assassins--because only Saddam can hold together the strong Iraq the US needs to balance Iranian power in the Mideast--the top dogs in Britain and America (a bunch of fictional bozos named George Bush, John Major, Brent Scowcroft, John Kelly, Robert Gates et al.) trade accusations and try to keep a step ahead of the plotters even as Kearwin and other underlings sentimentally cheer them on. British first-novelist Mason still has a few tricks up his decorated sleeve; you'll love the details of exactly what happens to Saddam, and the reaction to assassination rumors back in Baghdad, even if you guess the surprise saved for the very end. A good time is promised to everyone in the novel's huge, exasperated target audience. (Film rights to United Artists) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Mason is already being compared to Clancy and Forsyth; his book's been sold to publishers in 11 countries; and the film rights are going for "seven figures." All the hoopla may be justified--this first novel boasts a bizarre and imaginative plot, extraordinary suspense, and an overwhelming array of military detail. A mysterious, powerful someone with unlimited bucks wants Saddam Hussein dead. The request winds its way through a labyrinth of go-betweens until it reaches the ears of Ed Howard, a former royal marine who's tough, resourceful, and smart, with an incredible knowledge of the latest techno-gizmos in weaponry and covert operations. Howard's quickly assembled team of crack operatives finds that carrying out the dirty deed is harrowing, tedious, thankless work, but for a few cool million, they're willing to try. Mason's plot rockets along at supersonic speeds, and if the technical particulars are occasionally too intricate for normal humans to grasp, readers can always skip ahead to the next action-packed section, where they'll be off once again on a roller-coaster ride of white-knuckled suspense. Emily Melton

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451176715
• ISBN 13: 9780451176714
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 672