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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780553282351
ISBN number: 0553282352
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 432
Printing Date: December 01, 1989
Publishing house: Bantam
Release Date: December 01, 1989
Sale Popularity Level: 58570
Studio: Bantam
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Paramilitary terrorists who have taken over a top-secret nuclear complex kidnap Maryland welder Jack Hummel and force him to cut through a half-ton titanium block that conceals the launch button. Reissue. NYT.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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By referring (in my expectations) to his Lee Swagger (sniper)books this book is something very different.As a story it is so complicated that the American way of organizing the military in it is unbelievable.
It can't be true.
The coincidences,one after one,put on top of each other,it makes me nervous.
Rated by buyers 
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This book was fantastic. I could not turn the pages fast enough to see the story develop. It was non-stop action from start to finish, but also enough detail, story and character development to keep the reader on edge. Be warned, it is obviously a little dated because of its cold war theme, but don't be too concerned -- its still a great action story. The book is definitely one of the most exciting, interesting books I have ever read. This is my second Hunter book, and he definitely does his homework. His research and knowledge is unmatched.
Rated by buyers 
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From anyone but Stephen Hunter this would be considered as good as it gets, but if you've been along on the many adventures of the Swagger family this may seem kinda average. That doesn't mean it's bad, it isn't. Fact is, it's hard to put down even if it is rather unbelievable in places. Sure not on a par with "Point of Impact" however!
Rated by buyers -
When I talk to other Stephen Hunter fans, it's surprising to see how many of them don't know about this book. Probably because it's not a Swagger book.
That said, even after Pale Horse Coming and Havana, "Day Before Midnight" is still my favorite Stephen Hunter book. It should be mandatory reading for everyone in the National Guard. I've read this book three times.
An unidentified military force overtakes a U.S. nuclear missile silo. The hostile troops fortify their position outside the silo. Untested National Guard troops are closest to the scene, so they are sent in first. The U.S. commander has to make a lot of tough choices, because some of our guys are going to get killed, but they have to get into the silo before the bad guys can launch the missile. (Hunter creates plausible technical reasons why we can't just bomb them to smithereens.)
Hunter did a great job keeping the tension going, all while giving us great action scenes of small unit military combat. Unlike the Swagger books, where Hunter keeps the action close to the main character, this book follows many different characters and storylines, all headed toward the same place and time.
Rated by buyers -
Great book, plenty of action and suspense! Reads fast and very hard to put down (like Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger novels). The plot is rather contrived, but overall believable. My main beef is with the COL Dick Puller character, who I thought was the weakest character in the book (the Army should have left him retired-- he was, after all, retired in disgrace for a reason!). COL Puller never impressed me as being the great tactician the author intended. Instead, he seemed rigid and outdated in his tactical approach to the battle scenario presented. COL Puller simply "wasted" the Maryland guardsmen in a poorly planned and executed frontal assault against an entrenched enemy force without even trying to obtain basic pre-op intelligence (such as what might be under that "tarp" in front of the silo entrance). Puller even implied the guardsmen were expendible at that stage of the operation, though better planning on his part might have achieved a more favorable outcome for them and the mission. Also, seems that Puller could have simply planned (even if only as his backup contingency) to blow up the MX missle when it exited the silo (missles aren't going very fast at that point of the launch sequence). Better yet, he could have dismantled/destroyed the silo hangers directly to prevent a missle launching through them. Destroying the missle or silo directly would have been easier than trying to fight his way to the launch capsule at the end of the elevator shaft, or trying to infiltrate a small team through an uncertain (erosion-created) tunnel network at the base of the mountain. As it was, he never did have any such backup plan, should his "race against time" not succeed. But Puller-quibbling aside, The Day Before Midnight was still a very suspenseful book, one well worth the read.
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