Hunt the Viper

March 26, 2018
Mann and Pezzullo’s uneven seventh military thriller featuring SEAL Team Six leader Tom Crocker (after 2016’s Hunt the Dragon) finds Crocker in Iraqi Kurdistan, where a call comes in from coalition command ordering his team to rescue the survivors of a French helicopter crash 50 miles inside the Syrian border. During the drive to the downed helicopter, Crocker and partner Akil chat about the complications of tribal and religious strife in the region; the action picks up when they get into a firefight with some ISIS soldiers. The mission brings the team within range of ISIS commander Abu Samir al-Sufi (aka the Viper), a learned man and a fierce warrior. When al-Sufi captures a 24-year-old American working for Doctors Without Borders, Dyana Hood, and threatens to behead her, Crocker goes to the rescue. The resulting battle is brutal and people die, not all of them bad guys. The epic battle scenes compensate only in part for the extended history lectures and the forays into the team members’ lives back home. Agent: Eric Lupfer, Fletcher & Co.