The Sniper

Joe Ryker #1

by Nelson DeMille

The sniper chooses his victims at random, killing with the cold skill of a pro. Detective Sgt. Ryker is going after him--in a deadly battle only one will survive! Jack Cannon is a pseudonym for Nelson DeMille, author of The Charm School, who published the Jack Ryker series in 1974 and 1975.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Action, Crime, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Nelson Richard DeMille was an American author of action adventure and suspense novels. His novels include Plum Island, The Charm School, and The General's Daughter. DeMille also wrote under the pen names Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, Ellen Kay and Brad Matthews.

Reviews

[John Marr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one up based on my old copy of 20th Century Mystery Writers praising "Jack Cannon" for his extreme readability--something nor normally associated with men's action series published by Leisure Books. And while this one doesn't exactly live up to this billing, it certainly is different from the usual cop-as-vigilante gore fests that filled the drugstore spinner racks in the '70s. The sniper, freshly back from Vietnam with a grudge, a brain injury, and a sniper scope is a cut above the usual lunatic with a gun, while Ryker, his cop opponent has enough bad attitude and crime fighting chops that won't pass muster in court to deliver the goods. While the body count is significant, the gore is oddly enough understated. The real grit comes from the '70s NYC atmosphere, when rats and roaches ruled and the city was covered in a layer of dog shit. Not bad.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

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‘The Sniper’ is a far better book than it has any right to be. Originally published in 1974, it’s a quick and nasty cop thriller about a brutal, nihilistic cop hunting a deadly sniper. The fact that it came out a few years after ‘Dirty Harry’, a cop thriller about a nihilistic cop hunting a deadly sniper, is probably no coincidence. It was the first published novel by author Nelson DeMille, who is best known for writing fat espionage thrillers that you might call Ludlumesque if they weren’t better than most of Ludlum’s output. He obviously decided the weightier books were better for his career, as they kept his real name and ‘The Sniper’ and its four sequels were reissued under the unlikely pseudonym Jack Cannon. He obviously still had some fondness for the books though, as he took the time to update them for the late 80s reissues. This review is of the 80s edition of ‘The Sniper’.
The main draw of the book is the anti-hero cop at its centre. Joe Ryker is a scumbag who will stop at nothing to catch his prey. In between times he takes cheap sex where he can get it and drinks cheap liquor. He cares about justice rather than the niceties of the law. So determined is he to catch the villain in this book (a crazed Vietnam veteran sniping blondes) that he spends large parts of the book smeared in dog faeces. DeMille knows what a dick Ryker is and seems to delight in putting him through as much pain and degradation as possible.
The result is a book that feels like it wants to shock readers into enjoying it. Watching Ryker at work is a guilty pleasure, whether he’s beating up suspects or threatening witnesses. DeMille is a good enough writer that he keeps things taut and interesting, even if the plot lacks originality..

[Wenzel Roessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good police story that was very suspenseful. There was an unusual cast of characters with it including our lead who is an anti-hero and who makes Dirty Hairy look like a choir boy.

[Steve Mactaggart · Rating 3 out of 5]

not my normal type of book, but on holidays at the camp book borrow it was the pick of the bunch.