Bob Lee Swagger/ Earl Swagger Novels

As someone said above...Stephen Hunter "gets the guns right" in his books which is a rarity. He loves his guns, loves to shoot and and deservedly won a Pulitzer (for movie reviews).
I've talked to him a couple of times and he is a hell of a nice guy too.
He has a new Bob Lee Swagger novel coming out in December..."Dead Zero".
 
I finished "Night of Thunder" a few weekas ago. It is Hunter's latest published Bob Lee book. It involves a NASCAR race in Bristol Tn- a crazy family of grifters, a multi million dollar heist, a chase sequence which will wear you out, and a final shoot out with Bob Lee shooting a Lady IDPA state champion. Its almost as unbelievable as Crazy White Boys was but for different reasons. But you know what, it was still a fun read. Stephen Hunter Rocks.

Among his older books, before Bob Lee and Earl, he wrote The Second Saladin, and The Day Before Midnight the latter of which is among my Hunter favorites.

Regards,
 
One thing I enjoy is he intertwines characters from previous books. The good russian in Havana was the bad russian in The Second Saladin. A good writer and helps pass the time.
 
I've read all of Hunter's books except a couple. Just picked up the New "I,Sniper" last night, finally out in paperback. Nobody beats Hunter for gun details.
 
One of my favorite Hunter novels is "The Master Sniper". It's a really good read and highlights early night vision scopes and technology. Hunter actually makes a fairly significant error in the novel, but he writes so well that I just try to ignore it and move on. One of the characters in The Master Sniper shows up again in Havana.

Best of luck,

Dave
 
redneckemt said:
Then started on Pale Horse Coming, took around a week. Kept laughing to hard about the "Gun Fighters" he had, how many of them had ever heard a round fired in anger? Yet they had no remorse about shooting anybody and actually looked forward to it. :confused:


.
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Audie Murphy was a decorated WW2 vet, perhaps our most decorated. Bill Jordan a Border Patrolman in an era of many shootings, as was Askins also a combat vet. Elmer Keith was a little disappointed in the fact he wasn't sent to war when he volunteered in WW2 but had no problems killing anything that in his mind needed killing. The animosity between him and O'Connor was enough that either would try to outdo the other in anything they set out to do. McGivern? he was just the best in the world at what he did which was shooting a revolver fast. I believe he was in Law enforcement also, ,maybe in a County Sheriff's dept. but no idea in what role.
 
I, too, am a Swagger fan. I just finished "I, Sniper". If you haven't read it yet, be sure to do so soon. You will not be disappointed if you are a Swagger fanatic!
 
Bob Lee Swagger is back in: I Sniper (now out in paperback)

Quote from the book:

If you want to see a lot of people dead in a hurry, you corner a former Marine sniper with a rifle, a bag full of ammo and no way out, and I guarantee you, you'll have body bags all the way out to the trees and back in the first two minutes.
 
peyton said:
One thing I enjoy is he intertwines characters from previous books. The good russian in Havana was the bad russian in The Second Saladin. A good writer and helps pass the time.
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Yep. I was re-reading "Hot Springs" again this weekend, and forgot that the Grumleys were in this book as well.

If I'm not mistaken, they also appear in "Night of Thunder", "Black Light", and probably one or two more that I can't recall right now.

Frenchy Short has been in several Hunter novels, too, namely "Hot Springs", "Havana", "Black Light", and "The Second Saladin" as well as getting his name in "Point of Impact" (although not actually making an appearance).
 
gr8AmericanBash said:
Frenchy Short has been in several Hunter novels, too, namely "Hot Springs", "Havana", "Black Light", and "The Second Saladin" as well as getting his name in "Point of Impact" (although not actually making an appearance).
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Just got thinking about it, and I think I confused a scene that I thought was in "POI" with an actual scene in "Black Light", where Bob Lee was talking to Gen. Preece and saw a photo on the wall that had Frenchy in it.
So I don't believe Frenchy was in "POI" after all.
 
I am going to reserect this old thread because I just discovered Steven Hunter and Bob Lee Swagger. It is a fantastic book!! I know, 'where have you been?'
I picked up 'Time to Hunt' to read on the plane trip this weekend and have it almost finished; great story. I think I'll find a copy of Point of Impact next.
 
I've been a Stephen Hunter fan for years now....it get's frustrating that I can read them faster than he can write new ones.

I recommend new fans buy all the Hunter books from Amazon, then figure out what order to read them in.

So far my absolute favorite is Dirty White Boys!
 
"Just another peckerwood with too many guns". I love that line towards the end of the movie. Could describe a bunch of us.................................. or not.:)
 
I've read all but the last two or three. The ones I've read have been pretty good, but I have a decided slant towards Earl when it comes to favorites.

...I want more Earl Swagger stories. :D
 
S&WIowegan said:
I've been a Stephen Hunter fan for years now....it get's frustrating that I can read them faster than he can write new ones.

I recommend new fans buy all the Hunter books from Amazon, then figure out what order to read them in.

So far my absolute favorite is Dirty White Boys!
Click to expand...

There is an unofficial Stephen Hunter fan site here: The Unofficial Stephen Hunter Website Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's been updated lately. It does list most of his books in order here: Books by Stephen Hunter The newest two not listed are I Sniper and Dead Zero.

Hunter Books

I first learned of Hunter and his work when I read an interview with him in American Handgunner (reprinted here: The Unofficial Stephen Hunter Website). In the magazine they talked a little bit more about Pale Horse Coming, and I just had to read it. That got me hooked, and I've read all the rest of his books except Target, which is a book adaptation of a movie. I'm in the middle of reading American Gunfight, which is a factual account of the assassination attempt on Harry Truman in 1950.

Pale Horse Coming was a hoot, with thinly veiled characters based on real life gun writers and pistoleros. Totally implausible, but real fun to read.

Elmer Kaye (Elmer Keith)
Jack O'Brian (Jack O'Connor)
Ed McGriffin (Ed McGivern)
Audie Ryan (Audie Murphy)
Bill Jennings (Bill Jordan)
Charlie Hatchison (Charles Askins)

Hunter has a great talent at describing guns and shooting, with not just technical descriptions but is able to evoke the smell of burning powder, the greasy feel of lead bullets, the thump of recoil and slap of muzzle blast - the viscera of the experience.

His primary characters have been Bob Lee Swagger and his father Earl, but I love the way he interweaves characters from his earlier books - for instance the Russian mentioned in previous posts, and Frenchy Short. Havana has several characters like that. However Earl didn't live long enough to have a lot of adventures so that well is pretty much dry, and Bob Lee is getting too old. In his latest book Dead Zero Hunter has introduced a new character Ray Cruz whom he can continue with, thanks to a deus ex machina.

My personal favorite is Hot Springs, and I wish he'd go back to explore a character from that book - Charles Swagger, Earl's father and Bob Lee's grandfather. How did he actually come to be shot in that Hot Springs whorehouse? Did he really drive Earl's brother to suicide? Was he really as bad as Earl thought he was? I suppose it's possible, considering that Lamar Pye from Dirty White Boys shared some of Charles's genes.

Regardless, I'd like for Hunter to flesh out this part of the Swagger clan, and read his take on an early 20th century Bible thumping, head thumping, fire and brimstone Arkansas lawman.
 
bag

I started with Hot Springs read it in a day.

Then started on Pale Horse Coming, took around a week.
 
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