Hard Target

Just last year, Gordon burst onto the publishing scene with his debut thriller Gideon's War (January 2011). In Gideon's War, global peacemaker Gideon Davis is called on by a family friend and government bigwig to chaperone a rogue agent from Southeast Asia to Washington, D.C. The agent, Tillman Davis, had promised to turn himself in - but only to his brother, Gideon. Gideon's War earned high praise from bestselling authors and reviewers alike with the New York Times Daily Book Review saying, "Gideon's War is not only a gift to conspiracy theorists, but also to anyone with pedal-to-the-metal taste. The book is so jammed with action, there's even a literal cliffhanger (fingers and rock included)." Kiefer Sutherland said, "True to form of my eight-year experience with Howard Gordon on 24, Gideon's War is a rip-roaring thriller."

Now comes the exciting follow-up that Howard Gordon fans have been eagerly anticipating! Packed with the edge of your seat excitement we have come to expect from Gordon-on the page and on the screen-HARD TARGET: A Novel (Touchstone Hardcover / Simon & Schuster; January 3, 2012; $25.99; ISBN: 978-1-4391-7582-8) involves a harrowing attempt to stop a homegrown terrorist plot from destroying the U.S. government.

In HARD TARGET, Tillman is newly sprung from prison through a presidential pardon which resulted in Tillman being stripped of his military rankings and Gideon being forced to resign from the State Department. Comfortably settled into the quiet life of an academic, Gideon discovers evidence of an impending terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Enlisting the help of friend and FBI Agent Nancy Clement, they take the information to the Bureau, though Nancy's bosses are leery of their chief source-a meth-head informant affiliated with a white supremacist group.

When the informant turns up missing, Gideon and Nancy become convinced that a serious plot exists. Gideon turns to Tillman, enlisting his brother as an undercover operative to infiltrate the group of white supremacists. Gideon and Tillman follow 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.

Howard Gordon's signature ability to combine thrill-a-minute, nail biting action and edge-of-the-seat suspense definitely translates in his latest effort. HARD TARGET proves Gordon is not only a talented television writer and producer, but also an exciting author to watch.