Off The Bookshelf US -Books Stallion Gate Stallion Gate New & Used Stallion Gate Books CDS DVD's Nusic Electronics

Search Books - select a category

Buy Stallion Gate online at Discounted New and Used prices. Delivered to your door with Off-The-Bookshelf.

Stallion Gate
by: Martin Cruz Smith

Used Price: $0.99

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780330293570
ISBN: 0330293575
Label: Pan Books
Manufacturer: Pan Books
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: September 27, 1996
Publisher: Pan Books
Studio: Pan Books
Sales Rank: 1278376

Related Items:

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
In a New Mexico blizzard, four men cross a barbed-wire fence at Stallion Gate to select a test site for the first atomic weapon. They are Oppenheimer, the physicist; Groves, the general; Fuchs, the spy. The fourth man is Sergeant Joe Pena, a hero, informer, fighter, musician, Indian. These four men -- and a cast of soldiers, roughnecks and scientists -- will change history forever.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- New Mexico and the Atom Bomb in 1945
This is the first Martin Cruz Smith book that I have read, although I have seen the movie version of Gorky Park. This book is a different genre. It is an historical novel, not a suspense thriller.

The author has done his research well. He has gotten his facts right about the physics and engineering of the Manhattan project. Some of the New Mexico settings that he describes, for example La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, are ones that I have visited, but decades later than his 1945 time period. There may be some let down at the conclusion of the story because we know from history how the first atom bomb test worked. We also know the fate of the Titanic, but Hollywood keeps making movies about it. Historical films and novels share a similiar attribute. People will object if you change ... Read More

Rating:

- Could have been great
I am a huge Smith fan, and I have read all the Arkady Renko novels. The thread running through all of Smith's work is the anti-hero. Arkady Renko, the protagonist in the Russian spy thrillers, is perfect. In December 6th, about the last days before the Pearl Harbor attack, Smith scores again with the dilapidated drunk womanizer American journalist. In Stallion Gate, I for one didn't care for the anti-hero, an Indian army sergeant with a broken career.

I bought the book for its reference to the atomic bomb testing, and like other reviewers I like that part for its historical importance. However, all the protagonist's rummaging around with old Indian chiefs just leaves me cold. For the first time in Smith novel, I found myself scanning, although I did finish the book. Stay away from ... Read More

Rating:

- Star Crossed??
I went looking for this book for a friend. I had read it when it was published years ago and was more than impressed with the story. It was just a great read! I noticed all of these "1 Star" ratings and could not imagine who might give it that sort of evaluation. It just "ain't so." This is a terrific book and,although, Cruz may not hit four or five "Stars" everytime out, he did with "Stallion Gate!!" Try it, you'll like it!

Rating:

- Not Smith's Best
Many writers today find a successful formula and stick to it... over and over. The only thing the same from Martin Cruz Smith's works are their high level of excitement, interesting characters and plot development. Stallion Gate doesn't live up to Smith's past work. What he does best is gives the reader an insiders' view of a setting totally different than what the audience is used to. Whether it be Los Alamos during the development of Man's deadliest weapon in this novel, Cuba in Havana Bay, Japan in December 4th: A Novel, or the Soviet Union in Gorky Park, with his characters on the verge of an exciting adventure for the reader to be a part of.
I enjoy Smith's books. Even Stallion Gate which isn't one of Smith's best efforts, still had more entertainment value than some other writers' best!
Read More

Rating:

- Ten Of The Most Important Seconds In History!
"Stallion Gate" is a character novel, as opposed to the plot-driven suspense thrillers Martin Cruz Smith usually writes. It is also historical fiction, about one of the most extraordinary events precipitated by mankind, concluding with ten of the most important seconds in world history - the countdown for the test of the first nuclear weapon at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The story opens at Los Alamos in December, 1944. U.S. Army Sergeant Joe Pena, a Pueblo Indian who had seen action in the Pacific, was specifically requested by the Project's lead physicist, Robert "Oppy" Oppenheimer, to join the select and top secret group, in New Mexico, as his personal driver and body guard. Oppy had known Joe in his boyhood, when he left New York, for health reasons, to spend the summer in New Mexico. It was ... Read More

Books : Stallion Gate