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A review by saareman
Front Sight: Three Swagger Novellas by Stephen Hunter
4.0
A Swagger Trilogy
A review of the Atria/Emily Bestler hardcover (January 23, 2024) released simultaneously with the eBook/audiobook.
[3.66 average, rounded up to 4]
Stephen Hunter (1948-), a former film critic for the Washington Post, has also made quite a career with his 4 generation Swagger family saga, starting with the first book [b:Point of Impact|127712|Point of Impact (Bob Lee Swagger, #1)|Stephen Hunter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1315656617l/127712._SY75_.jpg|3870] (1993) which introduced ex-Marine sniper Bob Lee ("the Nailer") Swagger as a fall-guy scapegoat who battles his way out of an assassination conspiracy. That book was adapted as the film Shooter (2007) and then later extended into the same-titled TV-series (2016-2018).
Further books expanded the saga with tales of Bob Lee's grandfather Charles, his father Earl and his son Ray Cruz. With Front Sight, Hunter revisits three of these characters as they are faced with dramatic showdowns in their younger careers.
I found the earlier stories with Charles and Earl to be more compelling with their gunfights and showdowns. The Bob Lee story was more of a police procedural which barely utilized the protagonist's firearms skills. Still, this was a overall a strong entry for the Swagger series. While reading, I posted mini-reviews of the novellas as status updates, these are copied below.
1. City of Meat **** No one does men and guns better than Stephen Hunter, even if the weapons obsession is very fetishist. This novella trilogy contained in a single volume gets off to a blazing start with a Chicago stockyards showdown featuring grandfather Charles Swagger taking on a dope-gang back in 1934. There is a MacGuffin about the hunt for Baby Face Nelson, but that is soon ignored for the main plot.
2. Johnny Tuesday **** Ex-Marine Earl Swagger goes undercover as the title character in 1947 in order to solve a heist that went bad two years earlier. His reason isn't explained until the end. In the meantime several mob guys find that they have underestimated the unkillability of a Swagger. I think this had even more gunplay than the first novella.
3. Five Dolls for the Gut Hook *** Unfortunately, the reveal here takes it into absurd territory. The upside is that it gives a backstory for ex-Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger coming out of his post-Vietnam alcoholism in 1978 when he is brought in to help hunt down a serial killer in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Grumley crime family put in an appearance. This is a Point of Impact (1993) prequel for the long-term fans.
Trivia and Links
Stephen Hunter is also the author of one of the greatest one-line summaries of a war movie that I've ever read, a line that I've even stolen & adapted for book reviews in the past. This was: "You don't really watch the film; you survive it." written in his review of We Were Soldiers (2002) based on General Harold G. Moore's memoir [b:We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam|42512|We Were Soldiers Once... and Young Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam|Harold G. Moore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328912889l/42512._SY75_.jpg|41999] (1992).
A review of the Atria/Emily Bestler hardcover (January 23, 2024) released simultaneously with the eBook/audiobook.
[3.66 average, rounded up to 4]
Stephen Hunter (1948-), a former film critic for the Washington Post, has also made quite a career with his 4 generation Swagger family saga, starting with the first book [b:Point of Impact|127712|Point of Impact (Bob Lee Swagger, #1)|Stephen Hunter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1315656617l/127712._SY75_.jpg|3870] (1993) which introduced ex-Marine sniper Bob Lee ("the Nailer") Swagger as a fall-guy scapegoat who battles his way out of an assassination conspiracy. That book was adapted as the film Shooter (2007) and then later extended into the same-titled TV-series (2016-2018).
Further books expanded the saga with tales of Bob Lee's grandfather Charles, his father Earl and his son Ray Cruz. With Front Sight, Hunter revisits three of these characters as they are faced with dramatic showdowns in their younger careers.
I found the earlier stories with Charles and Earl to be more compelling with their gunfights and showdowns. The Bob Lee story was more of a police procedural which barely utilized the protagonist's firearms skills. Still, this was a overall a strong entry for the Swagger series. While reading, I posted mini-reviews of the novellas as status updates, these are copied below.
1. City of Meat **** No one does men and guns better than Stephen Hunter, even if the weapons obsession is very fetishist. This novella trilogy contained in a single volume gets off to a blazing start with a Chicago stockyards showdown featuring grandfather Charles Swagger taking on a dope-gang back in 1934. There is a MacGuffin about the hunt for Baby Face Nelson, but that is soon ignored for the main plot.
2. Johnny Tuesday **** Ex-Marine Earl Swagger goes undercover as the title character in 1947 in order to solve a heist that went bad two years earlier. His reason isn't explained until the end. In the meantime several mob guys find that they have underestimated the unkillability of a Swagger. I think this had even more gunplay than the first novella.
3. Five Dolls for the Gut Hook *** Unfortunately, the reveal here takes it into absurd territory. The upside is that it gives a backstory for ex-Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger coming out of his post-Vietnam alcoholism in 1978 when he is brought in to help hunt down a serial killer in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Grumley crime family put in an appearance. This is a Point of Impact (1993) prequel for the long-term fans.
Trivia and Links
Stephen Hunter is also the author of one of the greatest one-line summaries of a war movie that I've ever read, a line that I've even stolen & adapted for book reviews in the past. This was: "You don't really watch the film; you survive it." written in his review of We Were Soldiers (2002) based on General Harold G. Moore's memoir [b:We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam|42512|We Were Soldiers Once... and Young Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam|Harold G. Moore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328912889l/42512._SY75_.jpg|41999] (1992).