Hard Target: a Novel by Howard Gordon - Opening Sentences

Opening sentences in a novel can set the tone and help readers decide about the book. Here are the opening sentences for Hard Target, a thriller by Howard Gordon.

"Gideon Davis scrutinized the Windsor knot in his yellow tie in his rearview mirror as he waited for the stoplight to change. It had been eight years since he was last in front of a classroom, and tying a knot was just one of the skills he had lost. Now, as he fiddled with it in the mirror, he missed his days as a diplomat and presidential adviser, where he'd conducted his business in rolled up shirtsleeves.A least his tuxedo had come with a clip-on bow tie.

The light turned green, and Gideon turned right off the bridge that connected Virginia to Washington D.C. " (ch. 1)

Title: Hard Target by Howard Gordon

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published January 3rd 2012 by Touchstone
Genre: political thriller
Source: Publisher

Book description:
A follow-up to Gideon’s War involves a harrowing attempt to stop a homegrown terrorist plot to destroy the U.S. government.
Gideon Davis has settled into the quiet life of an academic and is weeks away from being married when he discovers evidence of an impending terrorist attack on U.S. soil. He brings his suspicions to his ex-girlfriend, FBI Agent Nancy Clement, but her bosses are leery of Gideon’s source: a meth-head informant affiliated with a white supremacist group. Both Gideon and Nancy become increasingly convinced that a serious plot exists, but their informant is murdered before they can get more details from him. So Gideon enlists his brother, Tillman—newly sprung from prison through a presidential pardon— as an undercover operative to infiltrate a group of white supremacists who may be involved.

Eventually, Gideon and Tillman get on the trail of the real conspirators and uncover their audacious plan to eliminate the entire top tier of the U.S. government during a high-value, mass-casualty attack. With only Nancy’s support, Gideon and Tillman go rogue to stop the powerful titan behind the conspiracy before the entire government is toppled.

Author Howard Gordon has been a writer and producer in Hollywood for more than twenty years. He is the executive producer of the television show 24 and was a writer and executive producer for The X-Files. This is his first novel.

I was sent a complimentary copy of this book.