The Scope of Justice

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book!
Review: This turned out to be a very good book.You are given close up
details of the role of a sniper in wartimw activities.You are
shown the training that Army snipers go through.
In this book SFC Kyle Monroe is given the assignment of killing
the number three leader in al-Quaida,Rafiq bin-Quasim.He and his
spotter Wade are dispatched into Pakistan to locate the terrorist leader and assassinate him.They have to overcome the
various tribal factions that have no loyalty to anyone.They finally find an ally in Nasima,a teacher who serves as their
translator.Then you are given the action of the carrying out of
their assignment.
This is a very good book that you will enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Fine book for it's length
Review: If you like Tom Clancy's older stuff and cringe at Dale Browns cliches and innaccuracies then you'll like this book. It's a bit short for my tastes but the author crams in enough character development for you to care about them. Detail - Good, Characters - V.Good, Attempt to write irish speech patterns - BAD :).
Now go buy his other books, they're better than this one :)

Rating:
Summary: Well researched details, original plot.
Review: Mike Williamson did trememdous amount of reasearch when writing this book. His characters are realistic and technical details are almost 100% spot on -- except in a couple of instances where he deliberately used his creative license to make the plot work better. See if you can spot these couple of liberties. "Scope of Justic" is a rousing adventure that would make the reader wish to brush up on languages, landnav and shooting skills!

Rating:
Summary: Very nice present-day military action by a rising SF writer
Review: The first in a new trilogy by Mike Williamson (Freehold, The Hero), Scope of Justice is modern military fiction. Better than Tom Clancy on the details (Williamson researches them as well as the experts - as a combat engineer he presumably doesn't *need* to do much research - but unlike Clancy and most of his contemporaries, he makes it interesting and doesn't dwell on the technical stuff), and faster-moving than most military fiction out there, this book is definitely worth reading.

US Army snipers Kyle Monroe and Wade Curtis are sent into the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region on a covert mission (it's Pakistan, US troops aren't supposed to be active there) to take out Al-Qaeda's number three man, a charming fellow who likes to rape and murder American journalists. It's a realistically-drawn country; not many good-guys or bad-guys, but a LOT of neutrals whose allegiance, to badly paraphrase Lehrer, is based on expedience.

There's a minor romantic subplot, logically drawn. Monroe is white, Curtis is black, and there's buddy-cop byplay that wouldn't be at all out of place in a Hollywood movie. The two characters are realistic: most snipers, by the temprament needed for the job, are *not* outgoing kick-ass-and-get-laid Schwarzenegger types. Monroe and Curtis read like snipers, not Rambos.

Worst problem that I had with this book was the slowness of getting started. To be fair, it's the start of a trilogy and the other books presumably get moving a bit faster, but almost half the book goes by before the first shot is fired in anger. Not that the setup isn't interesting, but you read this type of book for action and plot, and there aren't even a lot of significant plot twists in the first half. (Admittedly, the second half moves fast enough to make up for a LOT of that.) And I suppose there's only so much detailed interaction you can *have* when your characters are in a rural part of a foreign-language-speaking country.

Williamson proved in Freehold that he knows his combat and he knows how to write it; the battle sequences in this are as good as anything by Drake, which from me is about as high as praise can get. If you're willing to go through the slow leadup - think of it as an education in the stuff the main characters worry about every day in the field - then this is about as good as modern military action gets.

Rating:
Summary: Not as bad as it could be.
Review: What we have here is a typical adventure yarn, with the heroes fighting for Truth, Justice, Etc. The US has the best of everything, the poor local Pakistanis just don't measure up. The good guys are good, the villain is bad. Shallow.

Frankly, after Freehold, I expected better from Williamson. This is better than average for the genre--at least the technical details seem right, and no one gets blown yards back from explosions, legs flailing. But it's still right-wing chest-thumping gun porn. It was a bit of a let down.

Rating:
Summary: Impossible to put down!
Review: When I picked up Mike Williamson's latest work, I expected a bit of light reading for my road trip. Little did I know that I wouldn't be able to put it down until I'd finished it from cover to cover.

I relate to "Scope" in several ways. I am an Army veteran, so the atmosphere described in the book brought a bit of nostalgia to my life for an environment I miss.

I also have the utmost disdain for what we affectionately like to call "airport insecurity" - a mindless jumble of vacuous procedures that make no one safer and inconvenience many.

But first and foremost, "Scope" is a gripping action story, with characters who are very real, painfully so at times. Kyle is a sniper - a troubled man with a troubled past and ghosts that vividly haunt him and threaten to affect his mission - to kill a vicious terrorist, before he causes more innocent deaths. Accompanied by a talented partner, the two snipers wind up in the very heart of the Islamic culture - a culture vastly different from the West - a culture rich in history, bloodshed and tradition unfamiliar to the two Army sergeants.

Rich in detail, technically accurate and meticulously researched, "Scope" doesn't overwhelm with technicalities, but rather uses them nicely to complement the story and make it more real.

The action is quick-paced, but not so fast that it's difficult to follow. Rather, it pulls the reader along to its emotional conclusion.

But the real hero of this book is the characterization. We see these soldiers as skilled craftsmen and strong human beings, but not supermen, incapable of love, anger, frustration or fear.

It's a terrific read, and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging and Imaginative
Review: Williamson is able to put together something that you don't find much in military fiction anymore... something new. Scope of Justice is a top of the line military novel in all the standard respects. He has done meticulous research on the tactics and weapons of his story, and writes some of the best combat scenes I've ever come across.

What sets this book apart from the rest is that the plot is unique and different. Let's just say that not everything goes the way you expect it to. Also refreshing is his deep understanding and portrayal of the society of Afghanistan and Pakistan in which this novel takes place. It's good enough to make you think about your perspectives about the region.

Great read!