The Target, written by first time author Bill Bowen offers a unique perspective on the modern day terrorist/thriller novel. Whereas MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) worked fairly well during the Cold War in keeping the superpowers from attacking each other, could that same idea work with today's terrorism?
The plot of this novel surrounds Mike Curran, an ex-soldier now living in Chicago working in financial markets. When a terrorist dirty bomb attack on Union Station injures and ultimately kills his wife, Mike comes up with an idea to turn the tide on the terrorists by making a similar attack, or at least demonstrating the possibility of such an attack on that which is most sacred to them: Mecca. Mike hopes when they see how terrorism can work both ways, it will be an effective detterent.
The concept of the novel is unique, at least in my experience. The author is very knowledgeable about current events and, indeed, wields an impressive resume that lends credence to what he is talking about. The plot is pretty well constructed but I felt the characters need a bit more work. Mr Bowen falls into the rookie trap of having a lot to say, so much so that several scenes of dialogue turn into lectures...valuable information for the reader to have but not presented realistically. Some of this information could have been handled a little better and could have served to flesh out the characters more at the same time. He does a great job of showing just how easily such a terrorist attack could occur though. Very believable, even disturbingly so.
Overall, this is a solid first novel; very readable and offering some thought provoking concepts, especially when it comes to deterrence, or the lack thereof when it comes to dealing with terrorism and nuclear weapons.
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