Shadow Over Babylon

by David Mason

Book Overview

American intelligence experts accidentally uncover a plot by a British businessman and a government minister to assassinate Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Reprint. PW. NYT. AB. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525937099
• ISBN13: 9780525937098
• Release Date: November 1993
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 485 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A gripping story about a plot to assassinate Saddam Hussein

"Shadow Over Babylon" is the first book by David Mason and it's a gripping read very much in the style of Frederick Forsythe or Tom Clancy. The story revolves around a group of British ex-Special Forces men who are hired to assassinate Saddam Hussein and the planning and organisation involved to infiltrate Iraq, shoot Hussein and then escape. They draft in a sniper, Danny MacDonald, who is a deer stalker and we are introduced to Danny at the beginning of the book as he explains about shooting to a deer hunter. This aspect of the book - the technical detail of the sniper's craft - is fascinating and not something I've read elsewhere. As the book progresses we learn more about the characters and the plans that they are making to carry out this difficult task, although we don't know the full plot at any time - as it unfolds we understand why they organised things as they did. There is a parallel story taking place in the American NRO (National Reconnaisance Office) as they find themselves tracking the team and trying to work out who they are and what they are doing. Big brother was definitely watching them! The book has some technical detail but perhaps less than a Tom Clancy book - which isn't a bad thing. There is also more characterisation of the men involved in the mission - why they are doing it, how they handle the stress and violence - and even a couple of little romantic storylines for three of the main people involved. And do they succeed in killing Saddam Hussein? Well, you'll have to read it to find out, but it's a really great read and there's a little twist in the tail which I wasn't expecting and was fun. Enjoy the story and the plot and the characters - this is an excellent debut novel by someone who clearly knows an awful lot about what he's describing and it's great fun to read a book with British special forces, rather than American ones, with the humour and amusing conversation of the Brits.

Shadow Over Babylon is worth the time taken to read it.

Mason was good at making this premise work, even though he was working with the handicap that came with setting this a few years back. We know the history of the Gulf War aftermath, so where's the suspense in reading about this crack team headed to take Mr. Hussein down? It's there all right. Obviously this is the work of a sharp intelligence. If Mr. Mason were to write another novel, I'd be sure to at least take a look at it.

Proberly the best book ever written

Shadow over Babylon was given to me by a friend, he said that the book was impossible to put down. I thought that this might be a bit of an exageration, so i decided to read it. I ended up reading the book in 4 days while during my summer holidays. I can honestly say that this is the best book that i have ever read. My favourite author may be Wilbur Smith but this book eclipses anything that he has ever written. David Mason's second book Little Brother is also worth reading.

A very satisfying read

An interesting and plausible plot. The author writes with authority, and tells an exciting story. The technical details of a Clancy novel and the twists of a Forsyth spy thriller. I hope Mason writes more.

A book written by a pro. Simply wonderful!

If this book could be more condensed 50 to 100 pages less, it would be greater. The description of a great sniper in this book could only be compared with the other two in the "WHITE STAR" and "POINT OF IMPACT", although the final conflict with the Iraq's army was kind of unpractical. This book has been purchased movie right for $1.0 million but never pulled through. The effort to assassin Sadan Hussein was a nice try but no cigar, but still much much better than Ken Follett's "ON WINGS OF EAGLE" which was proved to complete waste of your time.