Crime, cops and corruption (Soft Target - Stephen Leather)

Member Name: salem_witch

Product:	Soft Target - Stephen Leather
Date:	21/11/06 (305 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A very easy to read undercover cop book

Disadvantages: It's hard to put down!

It was in a service station where a Stephen Leather book caught my eye for the first time. I picked it up, read the back and thought how good it sounded. I had no intention of buying it and thought next time I was in the library I’d look for it. That was if I could remember! I did though, although I forgot the title. My library only had one on the shelf, ‘Soft Target’ so I thought that I’d give it a go. Looking at the cover (a gun being pointed by a man) I figured it would be aimed at men. I didn’t let this put me off though. I’m glad, as it has been one of the best books I’ve read recently. It won’t be winning any awards but it had me gripped from the first few pages and was incredibly easy to read.

The book is described as a tense action thriller on the back. So I had images of him being similar to someone like Ludlum. I’d never read him before but I’d seen film adaptations so I thought it would be interesting to see if I’d enjoy the genre or not. I didn’t see it being a problem though as what I normally read is very similar. The first thing that won me over was the fact that it is set in the UK. It makes it easier to relate to when you can picture the places. Plus after reading many novels written by Americans sometimes they use phrases which I haven’t been all that familiar with.

The story opens up with the journey of a batch of heroin. It started as opium in Afghanistan and ends up in the hands of Delroy Moran in London. He has come from Jamaica recently to escape a murder investigation. His fellow accomplices seem to be equally shy of the law with Chas Eaton being the driver of a hit and run which left a young girl dead. They along with their heavies ‘Starvin’ Marvin Dexter and Lewis ‘Jacko’ Jackson have just made a deal with some Turks and are returning to their flat. As Eaton goes to put the car into the garage he is hit unconscious. Whilst this is happening Jackson, Dexter and Moran go up to the flat, They are greeted by two men, one in an alien mask and the other with a Frankenstein mask. Both parties have guns and as a result things turn nasty. Alien is shot in the stomach and Moran and Jackson are shot dead. By now the man who knocked Eaton out has joined them. He too is wearing a mask, a Werewolf one.

Once they get away Frankenstein and Werewolf discuss what to do with Alien who is now being referred to as Andy. Werewolf wants to take him to the nearest A & E whereas Frankenstein thinks that it would be too risky and as a result they’d be caught and sent to prison something he isn’t prepared to risk. Whilst they are arguing Andy dies from losing too much blood. This is only the beginning and it had me hooked, which is why I’ve gone into so much detail. If this intrigues you already then I suggest it is something you’d enjoy. There is so much more to it than a simple drug bust/robbery gone wrong though. Firstly, I was intrigued to who the men were and why their identities weren’t revealed right at the beginning. Leather obviously wanted this to be a mystery and after reading the whole book and knowing who they are I’m glad he did.

The story then switches to Dan ‘Spider’ Shepherd who is the main focus of the novel. He is an undercover cop who is working on a case where a businessman has paid him under his alias Tony Nelson to kill off his business partner. It all seems to be going well when the businessman Harry Hendrickson tells him that a ‘friend’ of his may require his services. He hardly knows her as he met her at the gym but she wants her husband dealt with as he is making her life misery. Shepherd decides to find out more, as getting another arrest out of the same operation would be great. It turns out that the husband in question is a gangster in Manchester. So Shepherd thinks that it could be useful to see if they could find information out from the wife about the gangster, as the authorities have wanted him for a long time.

Another sub-plot sees Dan working undercover in the SO19 in London trying to get information on a corrupt cop. He doesn’t seem happy about this, as he feels like he is betraying one of his own. The deeper he gets into it the more he finds out. I won’t elaborate, as it’ll spoil the story for anyone who does want to read it. What I can say is that Leather is very clever in that he manages to get all these sub-plots that don’t seem to be connected to all come together. I never guessed what was going to happen and I was eager to find out what happened so I kept on reading a little more and a little more and in the end I read the book in very few sittings.

Shepherd is a very likeable character and I found the more I knew about him the more I wanted him to succeed. He is ex SAS and when he found out his wife was pregnant he became a police officer so he could be closer to home and spend more time with his family. This never happened and how he is widowed he is struggling to see his eight-year-old son Liam as much as he would like to and he has ended up staying with his in laws in Hereford. Throughout the book you see him struggle juggling his time on the cases and trying to see his son who is bitterly disappointed when he doesn’t make it to see him. It’s not that Shepherd doesn’t care though. Ideally he would love to move Liam in with him and get an au pair that could look after him when he isn’t at home.

Leather has clearly done his research into the SAS, the army and undercover work. The story flows really well and it is incredibly easy to read and very difficult to put down! This is mainly due to the fact that he almost teases you with information but doesn’t tell you everything. So you find yourself reading on just to find out. I kept wondering what would happen and some of the snippets left me intrigued and I wanted to know all the facts. There is plenty of action and never really a dull moment. What I liked is that I couldn’t guess what would happen and a few times something I never expected to happen did! There are no chapters as such which make it harder to actually put down. There are short exerts followed by a gap so you keep reading thinking a little more.

Leather tackles some interesting subjects as well. There is a part, which is based on the London Underground and features terrorists. It made me wonder if it was written before or after the July bombings. After a quick check he actually wrote ‘Soft Target’ in 2004 and the book was published in February 2005 so only a few months before the real terrorist attack. There is also another event in the book, which has actually happened now. I can’t say what this is as it would ruin it but it makes you wonder.

After a quick look on Stephen Leathers website I’ve discovered that this wasn’t the first novel in which Dan Shepherd was featured. He first appeared in ‘Hard Landing’ and ‘Soft Target’ is the second. By reading ‘Soft Target’ first it isn’t apparent that there is another novel with him in although there is a few references to another undercover job he did in a prison. You can read this without first reading ‘Hard Landing’ although you may prefer to read that one first. It certainly didn’t ruin my experience of ‘Soft Target’ and I never felt like there was something I was missing out on. I will look out for ‘Hard Landing’ and his third Dan Shepherd book ‘Cold Kill’.

I’d certainly recommend Leather to anyone who likes action or crime fiction. If you’re interested then you can read the first chapter at: http://www.stephenleather.com/softtarget.pdf

Summary: A Dan 'Spider' Shepherd book