Sniper by Theodore Taylor

Sniper Reviews

• 
  P.M.

  What interesting timing! This is a story about Big Cats being targeted in a game preserve and Animal Planet had a special about the big cats in the Masai Mara.
• 
  Paige

  I've only ever read The Cay from him before; another good coming of age book that kept me turning the page.
• 
  Aaron

  Its an amazing book
• 
  Wolf

  I know I'm probably a little old to read such a book, but it was sitting on my shelf and I was deciding whether to sell it or not. No question: I'm selling it.
  
  So forgive my harsh review. Perhaps the book wasn't intended to be intellectually stimulating at all? If that's the case, ignore this. BUT, I couldn't help but wonder why this book irritated me, so I spent a bit thinking about it once I'd finished it. Here's what I've found.
  
  There was no attempt to explore the captivity vs. freedom theme that young Ben kept briefly mentioning. I mean, maybe Taylor assumed that everyone had already heard so much about the argument that it would really have just been a bore. At first, that's what I was thinking, and I was grateful that there wasn't a whole paragraph devoted to debating the subject. But... on second thought, the book does center around a bunch of animals in captivity. Not to mention, this book was apparently written for "young adults" (or, in some goodreads list's opinion, 7-10 year olds), and either way, not everyone that young has read Life of Pi or done extensive research in the matter of zoos & ethics. There should have been at least a two-second mention of what, exactly, Ben thought about all this. But no. He's apparently just a boring 14 (or 15?) year old who really doesn't care about things taht affect him directly.
  
  That also got on my nerves: the characterization of Ben. I felt the author was making a very strong case for it being perfectly fine for 14/15 year olds to drive everywhere without a permit (since the age of 12), drink their parents beer while making stupid plots about how to kill/threaten one's neighbour, and... just a bunch of other stupid, 1600's-type crap. And that just personally irritated me. Let's just encourage kids to act like really rude, selfish assholes cowboys because they think they're old enough to do so. And I don't hate cowboys. I loved Lonesome Dove. But when you're in charge of running a very important facility and you don't know what you're doing it may be best not to act like an idiot.
  
  A more serious problem was what the description of the book and what the first few chapters of the book had in common: practically nothing. I mean, the decription (and often Ben himself) gave the very clear idea that Ben's parents left him to take care of the facility - intentionally. And Alfredo wasn't even part of the picture. But in the first chapter, Taylor writes that, no, Alfredo was actually the one left in charge. The only reason Ben had an inkling of responsibility was because he was in the hospital. So, although there was an attempt at the theme of child-with-too-much-freedom-because-his-parents-trusted-him, it failed. Halfway, at least, because somehow Ben ended up taking care or 80-90 or so rare animals.
  
  I also didn't like the setup of the whole research-center (or whatever Ben decided it should be called). It seemed rather quickly put together. How big was this place that he could do a night walk and check on everybody in less than ten minutes? How does a boy get to take his lion for a walk whenever he wants to, in a place without perimetes fencing? Or did I miss something? I probably missed something...
  
  Anyway, two more things and then I'm done. First is Ben's relationship with his mother. There was barely any exploration of that, either. Sure, at one point Ben's dad said something along the lines of "she shows her love in a different way and cares about you," but Ben never really seemed to believe this. And at the end, he states he can finally deal with his mother after talking to her on the phone and having her ignore him (even when he shouts at her). But since when have these two characters discussed their issues with each other? When did Ben finally realize that she actually loves him and is simply ludicrously over-protective of him? Sure, Taylor clearly wrote that Ben got over feeling mediocre - but that wasn't half of the problem! Or, at least, it shouldn't have been! Wasn't Ben doubting his mother's love for him?
  
  Good God. Help me.
  
  The last thing was Sandy. There was this frequency of the author to draw comparisons between Ben and Sandy to show that certain things about her made Ben confused or angry or just plain stupid. For instance, Sandy was playing Depeche Mode. Ben basically thinks that the lyrics don't make sense. The end. Now, I have a huge problem with this because Depeche Mode's lyrics DO make sense to anyone who cares to listen and think about it. But perhaps there's an attempt to criticize any "weird" or slightly progressive music by the author. Fine. So go ahread and criticize it, but for crying out loud, why didn't Ben and Sandy get into an argument? That's what real living couples do. And near the end, when Ben was acting like a vengeful two-year old with no self-control and little intelligence, chasing after a guy with a gun just because he wants to, Taylor kept mentioning Sandy was more tense and angry than usual. Wow. I wonder why. But there was no conclusion to her tension; no resolution. Why build her up to do this if there was absolutely no connection between her actions and the plot (or at least, with Ben, her supposed beloved)? Was it commentary that she's a coward? That she's not a coward? That what Ben was doing was actually incredibly stupid and you shouldn't write about such things when Ben's supposed to be growing more mature? Was it foreshadowing that Sandy and Ben aren't right for each other? Foreshadowing that Ben is going to die? (well, obviously that wasn't it). But really, my point here is that the author is very clearly trying to say something about Sandy, but it comes across muddled and not very interesting. So I think what I'm saying here, if it hasn't come across as muddled and confusing as Sandy's point of being in the book, is that Sandy and Ben's relationship made almost no sense and it seemed like they were just "together" so Ben could have a girlfriend who enacted the typical female role of helping him, hindering him, irritating him, and getting irritated by him. Which really any character in that book could have fulfilled without Ben having Sandy massage his head in her lap. Wait, what? How did that get in the book?
  
  Needless to say, I didn't really like the book. But I didn't hate it: there were parts where I was genuinely interested in the animals, or in the parents, or even in the other characters. However, overall this book didn't keep my interest and I was overjoyed when it was done. And, yeah, this wasn't written for a sophmore in college. But I'm not raiting it for everyone; I'm rating it for myself. :P
  
  Oh! And why are Ben's parents going to see Phantom of the Opera when they were just at risk of dying for a good week??? No. Just no.
• 
  Mandy

  Interesting premise, it was also a good reminder how life without cell phones made things very different at times. Ended in a realistic manner with things all not nicely wrapped but good character growth.
• 
  Kimberly

  The descriptions of the big cats and their characteristics were eminently fascinating. I had never thought much about lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, etc., in terms of their personalities. To me, they're all big and scary. The thought of having a cheetah as a house pet, and that Ben mentions that they are well-suited to being housepets, is crazy. I was surprised when it was mentioned that Rachel, the cheetah belonging to the Jepson family and who lives in their house, was afraid to be around the other cats. I suppose it makes sense, cheetahs are far from being the largest of cats, but in my mind, the fact that cheetahs are so fast and able to accelerate so quickly, I was taken aback.
  I am assuming that Theodore Taylor did extensive research on the big cats and their personalities/characteristics before he wrote this book, because I feel like I learned a lot about the cats by reading this novel. I would hate for some of my new knowledge to actually be incorrect. Not that I will be opening a big cat preserve any time soon.
  This book was written roughly twenty years ago and there were a few instances where I felt that it was dated, most of the action still had a current feel. I was a little put off by Ben and Sandy's relationship. I know that teenagers can be very serious about each other, but I work with teenagers and I can't picture any of them acting in the same manner as Ben and Sandy. Their relationship seemed serious in an "old soul" way, not in a typical teenaged way.
  The action and mystery was very suspenseful and compelling, especially during the night scenes. The interspersed backstory describing Ben's parents and their neighbors was very good.
  My biggest complaint is the ending. And this may be a bit of a spoiler...I didn't like how all along I was reading the book, wondering which neighbor could have been so dastardly as to kill the family's lions and cheetah, when, all of a sudden, here comes a new character. Except he really wasn't so new. Apparently, when Ben was a toddler, his father was targeted during a lawsuit and subsequent criminal case, and the man with a huge chip on his shoulder is out to get Mr. Jepson. So, to wrap up the story neatly, Theodore Taylor decides to drop this new character into the mix. I hated that, and I was seriously put off by it. What was all of the lead-up and questions about the neighbors for? Nothing, apparently. And what was the point of killing Richie Lewis? I suppose the reader can rest easy knowing that the town will no longer be terrorized by him.
  Ben's reconciliation with his emotions toward his mother were also hastily contrived at the end of the book. Not only do we not have to worry about the killings of any more cats, Richie Lewis, or persnickety neighbors, Ben's parents have also miraculously survived all of their travails in Africa and will be celebrating by going to see "The Phantom of the Opera" while in London.
  The hasty, implausible ending tainted the book for me.
• 
  Zora

  Y.A. thriller. Plot: a kid grows up in a big cat preserve, 90 lions, tigers, leopards, pumas. His parents go to Africa for 10 days to write an article for National Geographic, and while he is alone with only a couple of illegal immigrant workers, a sniper comes and starts picking off the cats. He has to cope in the face of hostile neighbors, a jerk of an Animal Control officer, and some self-esteem problems.
  
  Like the other book I read by this author, this was well written and rich with believable detail (the author had worked with big cats). A page-turner, and probably good for reluctant male readers.
• 
  Karen

  This book changed from shocking to scary and gruesome.Why? Because it is very possible that this has occured , wih all the wars around the world .Wars can be really hard for families.
• 
  Pamela

  Great young adult book!
• 
  Kitty

  Creepy. It was certainly a mystery I had to read the whole way through to see how it ended.
• 
  Jennifer

  Characters have poor language:-(