HUNTER is a very good writer but I think he could be even better. You may ask me, "Why do you say that?" His word choices were lacking. Certain words could have been deleted to speed up the read. He writes like so many others, using phrases like "he said" and "she said" when only two people are conversing. What's the point?

Glad I got that off my chest. Stephen threw me for a loop more than once and I love that. In other words, he caught me off guard. A good writer needs to do that to keep the reader turning the pages. Kudos there! The action never lagged, another positive note.

I have to mention his choice of cover colors. Red on black is the worst color combo. If I hadn't already read a book by him (G Man, a very good book), I never would have taken the book off the shelf. Ten percent of the population is colorblind, myself included. For me and many others, red on black is nearly invisible. Writers and publishers need to keep that in mind.

I would have given Dead Zero five stars but now you see why I just couldn't bring myself to do so. I hope I'm not being too critical. Overall, Dead Zero was an excellent story.