Sniper

December 2, 2013
Four people lie dead on Boston Common at the outset of Hardaker’s hard-hitting, if predictable first novel. To Det. Mike Houston’s trained eye, the evidence points to an experienced sniper, someone trained, as Houston was, by the U.S. Marine Corps. When Houston’s ex-wife, Pamela, falls to the assassin’s bullet, he knows that the lives of his family and friends are at stake. Allying himself with criminals, Houston takes on his unseen opponent in a game of cat and mouse that leads to a bloody showdown on an isolated Maine island. A paean to vigilante justice, this thriller offers a rich assortment of revenge fantasy clichés without building on them in any way. Readers should be prepared for torture scenes, problematic racial and misogynist elements, and a passionate rejection of rule of law in favor of more emotionally satisfying violent confrontation. Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch Literary Services.

January 1, 2014
Random killings are bait to draw a Boston detective to the killing ground in this cop-vs.-military thriller. Mike Houston is a homicide investigator from the hard-boiled school of fictional predecessors. He is a tough guy from Southie; a former Marine sniper, recovering alcoholic and ex-husband whose brother-in-law happens to be on the other side of the law. Perfect. Four people are shot and killed on a lovely summer day on Boston Common, and Mike thinks the hit is too precise, too clean to be other than a trained sniper kill. Why? The question and the answer go back years to a military deployment in Mogadishu. Former Marine Hardacker knows his stuff and begins each chapter with a quote from the Scout/Sniper Training Manual that serves as setup for the action following. Mike, his partner, Anne Bouchard, and crime boss/brother-in-law Jimmy O'Leary provide nonstop suspense through the streets of Boston and into the bush in Maine. When the killings get personal, Mike resorts to his own training as a Marine Scout/Sniper. Hardacker balances the action with scenes of Mike's struggle to be a complete man, and the undercurrents are poignant: reconciliation with his estranged daughter, suppressed romantic interest for his partner, the balance of good and evil with his job, and the vigilante actions of Mike's brother-in-law. All is not as it seems, and the thrill is in watching the whole revealed. Hardacker handles the action and the characters well and ties things together in a suspenseful manner.

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