Bob Lee Swagger
10 primary works • 16 total works
Book 1
“A harsh, visceral, novel of conspiracy and betrayal . . . a distrubing mix that plays on our sense of history while at the same time it appeals to our darkest fantasies of rough justice.”—Chicago Tribune
The inspiration for the USA Network series Shooter
He was one the best Marine snipers in Vietnam. Today, twenty years later, disgruntled hero of an unheroic war, all Bob Lee Swagger wants to be left alone and to leave the killing behind.
But with consummate psychological skill, a shadowy military organization seduces Bob into leaving his beloved Arkansas hills for one last mission for his country, unaware until too late that the game is rigged.
The assassination plot is executed to perfection—until Bob Lee Swagger, alleged lone gunman, comes out of the operation alive, the target of a nationwide manhunt, his only allies a woman he just met and a discredited FBI agent.
Now Bob Lee Swagger is on the run, using his lethal skills once more—but this time to track down the men who set him up and to break a dark conspiracy aimed at the very heart of America.
The inspiration for the USA Network series Shooter
He was one the best Marine snipers in Vietnam. Today, twenty years later, disgruntled hero of an unheroic war, all Bob Lee Swagger wants to be left alone and to leave the killing behind.
But with consummate psychological skill, a shadowy military organization seduces Bob into leaving his beloved Arkansas hills for one last mission for his country, unaware until too late that the game is rigged.
The assassination plot is executed to perfection—until Bob Lee Swagger, alleged lone gunman, comes out of the operation alive, the target of a nationwide manhunt, his only allies a woman he just met and a discredited FBI agent.
Now Bob Lee Swagger is on the run, using his lethal skills once more—but this time to track down the men who set him up and to break a dark conspiracy aimed at the very heart of America.
Book 2
Only one thing stands between a son and his father's killer: forty years of lies. . .
On a remote Arizona ranch, a man who has known loss, fear, and war weeps for the first time since he was a child. His tears are for the father taken from him four decades before in a deadly shoot-out. And his grief will lead him back to the place where he was born, where his father died, and where a brutal conspiracy is about to explode.
For Bob Lee Swagger, the world changed on that hot day in Blue Eye, Arkansas, when two local boys rode armed and wild in a '55 Fairlane convertible. Swagger's father, Earl, a state trooper, was investigating the brutal murder of a young woman that day. By midnight Earl Swagger lay dead in a deserted cornfield.
Now Bob Lee wants answers. He wants to know the truth behind the shoot -out that took his father's life, a mystery buried in forty years of lies. Because for Bob Lee Swagger, the killing didn't end that day in Blue Eye, Arkansas. The killing had just begun . . .
Weaving together characters from his national bestsellers Point of Impact and Dirty White Boys, Stephen Hunter's gripping thriller builds to an exhilarating climax—and an explosion of gunfire that blasts open the secrets of two generations.
Praise for Black Light
“Put on your seat belt—Black Light is a wild ride you won't forget.”—The Chicago Tribune
“Nobody writes action better than Stephen Hunter and Black Light is one of his best. . . [The] action scenes play like a movie, the plot is intriguing and the writing is top-notch.”—Phillip Margolin
“Only a handful of writers today can match Hunter for imagination and the ability to make a reader's adrenaline rush.”—New York Daily News
“Filled with detail, clever plotting, suspense, and a hunt to the death that leaves the reader dry-mouthed with tension. Hunter knows his guns, and he writes about them with a precision that holds the attention of even a fervent anti-gun supporter.”—The Orlando Sentinel
“One of the most skilled hands in the thriller business. The plot is fast-paced, well-constructed and builds to a pulse-pounding night ambush. . . . It should seal his reputation as an author who not only can write bestselling thrillers, but write them exceedingly well.”—Publishers Weekly
On a remote Arizona ranch, a man who has known loss, fear, and war weeps for the first time since he was a child. His tears are for the father taken from him four decades before in a deadly shoot-out. And his grief will lead him back to the place where he was born, where his father died, and where a brutal conspiracy is about to explode.
For Bob Lee Swagger, the world changed on that hot day in Blue Eye, Arkansas, when two local boys rode armed and wild in a '55 Fairlane convertible. Swagger's father, Earl, a state trooper, was investigating the brutal murder of a young woman that day. By midnight Earl Swagger lay dead in a deserted cornfield.
Now Bob Lee wants answers. He wants to know the truth behind the shoot -out that took his father's life, a mystery buried in forty years of lies. Because for Bob Lee Swagger, the killing didn't end that day in Blue Eye, Arkansas. The killing had just begun . . .
Weaving together characters from his national bestsellers Point of Impact and Dirty White Boys, Stephen Hunter's gripping thriller builds to an exhilarating climax—and an explosion of gunfire that blasts open the secrets of two generations.
Praise for Black Light
“Put on your seat belt—Black Light is a wild ride you won't forget.”—The Chicago Tribune
“Nobody writes action better than Stephen Hunter and Black Light is one of his best. . . [The] action scenes play like a movie, the plot is intriguing and the writing is top-notch.”—Phillip Margolin
“Only a handful of writers today can match Hunter for imagination and the ability to make a reader's adrenaline rush.”—New York Daily News
“Filled with detail, clever plotting, suspense, and a hunt to the death that leaves the reader dry-mouthed with tension. Hunter knows his guns, and he writes about them with a precision that holds the attention of even a fervent anti-gun supporter.”—The Orlando Sentinel
“One of the most skilled hands in the thriller business. The plot is fast-paced, well-constructed and builds to a pulse-pounding night ambush. . . . It should seal his reputation as an author who not only can write bestselling thrillers, but write them exceedingly well.”—Publishers Weekly
Book 3
“Stephen Hunter is in a class by himself. Time to Hunt is as vivid and haunting as a moving target in the crosshairs of a sniper scope.”—Nelson Demille, author of Mayday
He is the most dangerous man alive. He only wants to live in peace with his family, and forget the war that nearly killed him. . . .
It's not going to happen.
Stephen Hunter's epic national bestsellers, Point of Impact and Black Light, introduced millions of readers to Bob Lee Swagger, called “Bob the Nailer,” a heroic but flawed Vietnam War veteran forced twice to use his skills as a master sniper to defend his life and his honor. Now, in his grandest, most intensely thrilling adventure yet, Bob the Nailer must face his deadliest foe from Vietnam—and his own demons—to save his wife and daughter.
During the latter days of the Vietnam War, deep in-country, a young idealistic Marine named Donny Fenn was cut down by a sniper's bullet as he set out on patrol with Swagger, who himself received a grievous wound. Years later Swagger married Donny's widow, Julie, and together they raise their daughter, Nikki, on a ranch in the isolated Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. Although he struggles with the painful legacy of Vietnam, Swagger's greatest wish—to leave his violent past behind and live quietly with his family—seems to have come true.
Then one idyllic day, a man, a woman, and a girl set out from the ranch on horseback. High on a ridge above a mountain pass, a thousand yards distant, a calm, cold-eyed shooter, one of the world's greatest marksmen, peers through a telescopic sight at the three approaching figures.
Out of his tortured past, a mortal enemy has once again found Bob the Nailer. Time to Hunt proves anew why so many consider Stephen Hunter to be our best living thriller writer. With a plot that sweeps from the killing fields of Vietnam to the corridors of power in Washington to the shadowy plots of the new world order, Hunter delivers all the complex, stay-up-all-night action his fans demand in a masterful tale of family heartbreak and international intrigue—and shows why, for Bob Lee Swagger, it's once again time to hunt.
Praise for Time to Hunt
“Stephen Hunter is simply the best writer of action fiction in the world and Time to Hunt proves it.”—Phillip Margolin, author of The Burning Man
“The best straight-up thriller writer at work today.”—Rocky Mountain News
He is the most dangerous man alive. He only wants to live in peace with his family, and forget the war that nearly killed him. . . .
It's not going to happen.
Stephen Hunter's epic national bestsellers, Point of Impact and Black Light, introduced millions of readers to Bob Lee Swagger, called “Bob the Nailer,” a heroic but flawed Vietnam War veteran forced twice to use his skills as a master sniper to defend his life and his honor. Now, in his grandest, most intensely thrilling adventure yet, Bob the Nailer must face his deadliest foe from Vietnam—and his own demons—to save his wife and daughter.
During the latter days of the Vietnam War, deep in-country, a young idealistic Marine named Donny Fenn was cut down by a sniper's bullet as he set out on patrol with Swagger, who himself received a grievous wound. Years later Swagger married Donny's widow, Julie, and together they raise their daughter, Nikki, on a ranch in the isolated Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. Although he struggles with the painful legacy of Vietnam, Swagger's greatest wish—to leave his violent past behind and live quietly with his family—seems to have come true.
Then one idyllic day, a man, a woman, and a girl set out from the ranch on horseback. High on a ridge above a mountain pass, a thousand yards distant, a calm, cold-eyed shooter, one of the world's greatest marksmen, peers through a telescopic sight at the three approaching figures.
Out of his tortured past, a mortal enemy has once again found Bob the Nailer. Time to Hunt proves anew why so many consider Stephen Hunter to be our best living thriller writer. With a plot that sweeps from the killing fields of Vietnam to the corridors of power in Washington to the shadowy plots of the new world order, Hunter delivers all the complex, stay-up-all-night action his fans demand in a masterful tale of family heartbreak and international intrigue—and shows why, for Bob Lee Swagger, it's once again time to hunt.
Praise for Time to Hunt
“Stephen Hunter is simply the best writer of action fiction in the world and Time to Hunt proves it.”—Phillip Margolin, author of The Burning Man
“The best straight-up thriller writer at work today.”—Rocky Mountain News
Book 7
Book 8
Former marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger investigates one of the most enduring controversies of our time--the JFK assassination--in this New York Times bestselling "terrific thriller" (Booklist, starred review).
Bestselling author Stephen Hunter takes on one of the most shocking crimes in American history when his celebrated hero ex-Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger follows the smallest hint of a lead to its staggering conclusion--about the fateful third bullet that ended the life of President John F. Kennedy.
Book 9
Forced off the road and into a crash that leaves her in a coma, barely clinging onto life, journalist Nikki Swagger had been investigating reports of a crystal meth superlab in sleepy Tennessee, when she found herself inadvertently peeling back the layers on a huge conspiracy.
Bob Lee Swagger is worried. As a former Marine Corps sniper, he's picked up more than his fair share of enemies hell-bent on revenge and he senses that something isn't right. Unconvinced by the Sheriff's conclusion that Nikki's crash was caused by a local kid high on Meth, Bob picks up the investigation where his daughter left off.
As Swagger digs deeper, a violent crime clan, gunmen of all stripes and shapes, and deranged evangelicals all rear their ugly heads, but they will live to rue the day they targeted the wrong man's daughter.
Bob Lee Swagger is worried. As a former Marine Corps sniper, he's picked up more than his fair share of enemies hell-bent on revenge and he senses that something isn't right. Unconvinced by the Sheriff's conclusion that Nikki's crash was caused by a local kid high on Meth, Bob picks up the investigation where his daughter left off.
As Swagger digs deeper, a violent crime clan, gunmen of all stripes and shapes, and deranged evangelicals all rear their ugly heads, but they will live to rue the day they targeted the wrong man's daughter.
Book 9
"Bob Lee Swagger is in love--with a woman who died 70 years ago. Ludmilla "Mili" Petrova was a great Russian sniper in World War II until she disappeared on a mission and was virtually erased from history. When Kathy Reilly of the Washington Post encounters a brief mention of Petrova in an old Russian propaganda magazine, she begins building a story around the legendary female sniper, who was once dubbed Die Weisse Hexe--The White Witch--and lauded by enemies and comrades alike. Mili's luxurious blonde hair and statuesque figure belied her fierce resolve to avenge the deaths of her husband and family by joining Stalin's Army and using her sharpshooting expertise to defeat Hitler's organization--ideally from the top down. There is very little on record for Reilly to mine for her profile, which only makes her want to dig deeper, enlisting her friend and former marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger to parse out the scarce details of Mili's astonishing military service. The more Swagger learns about the circumstances of Mili's last mission, the more he reveres the beautiful Russian heroine and longs to have known a fellow sniper with such courage and skill. And the more he believes her disappearance was no accident, and that Mili Petrova, while an essential player in Stalin's master plan, was merely a pawn in some larger conspiracy. But why would the Russian government go to such great lengths to erase one of their own decorated, legendary soldiers from history? And why, when Swagger joins Kathy Reilly on a research trip to the Carpathian Mountains, is someone trying to kill them for what they might find?"--
Book 10
When four famous 1960s radicals are gunned down, including the wife of an international media mogul, it would appear to be an open-and-shut case. A wealth of evidence ties the chief suspect, retired Marine sniper Carl Hitchcock, to the murders. Holder, until recently, of the record number of kills in Vietnam and anxious to reclaim his title, Hitchcock's subsequent suicide would seem to confirm his guilt. But FBI assistant director Nick Memphis has his doubts -- and calls on former Marine Corps sniper Bob Lee Swagger to investigate. As Swagger digs deeper, it becomes clear that matters are more complicated than would initially appear. The shots were not executed with the scope of a 1972 rifle, Hitchcock's weapon of choice, but by a high-tech scope used by active Marines. But as Swagger starts to unravel the tangled web of connections surrounding the murders, he finds his own days may be numbered. Because he's about to face one of his most ruthless adversaries yet -- a sniper whose keen intellect and pinpoint accuracy rivals his own. The end result will be a bloody confrontation that only one of them can survive.
Book 10
"From bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, the latest episode in his Swagger family saga--replete with Hunter's wicked suspense, vivid gun fights, and historical truths. 1934 was a pivotal year in the ongoing battle between the FBI and America's most famous outlaws--it was a year of giant personalities and huge shoot-outs, and it marked the deaths of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and Pretty Boy Floyd, among others. But that year, FBI agent Sam Cowley's priority was to nab the most dangerous gangster this country has ever produced, a man so violent he scared Al Capone and was booted from the Chicago mob--Baby Face Nelson. To stop him, Cowley recruited the most talented gunman of the time--Charles Swagger. When Bob Lee Swagger, now in Idaho, finally sells the land he owned in Arkansas, the developers begin to tear down the old homestead and uncover a steel case hidden in the foundation. The case contains a batch of 1934 memorabilia--a much-corroded FBI badge, a.45 automatic preserved in cosmoline, a gun clip, and a cryptic diagram, all belonging to Charles Swagger. Bob never knew his grandfather Charles, who died before he was he born, and his father Earl refuses to mention him. Fascinated by this new information, Bob is driven to find out what happened to his grandfather, and why his own father, whom he worshipped, never spoke of Charles. But as he investigates further, Bob learns that someone is following him, someone with his own obsession of finding out what Charles Swagger left behind"--
Book 11
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"Bob Lee Swagger is a true American literary icon."--Mark Greaney, New York Times Bestselling Author of Mission Critical
In this blazing new thriller from Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, master sniper Bob Lee Swagger takes on his biggest job to date...and confronts an assassin with skills that match his own.
When Bob Lee Swagger is approached by a woman who lost a son to war and has spent the years since risking all that she has to find the sniper who pulled the trigger, he knows right away he'll do everything in his power to help her. But what begins as a favor becomes an obsession, and soon Swagger is back in the action, teaming up with the Mossad, the FBI, and local American law enforcement as he tracks a sniper who is his own equal...and attempts to decipher that assassin's ultimate target before it's too late.
With all-too-real threats and a twisty, masterful storytelling, Game of Snipers is another gripping addition to a bestselling Bob Lee Swagger series.
"Bob Lee Swagger is a true American literary icon."--Mark Greaney, New York Times Bestselling Author of Mission Critical
In this blazing new thriller from Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, master sniper Bob Lee Swagger takes on his biggest job to date...and confronts an assassin with skills that match his own.
When Bob Lee Swagger is approached by a woman who lost a son to war and has spent the years since risking all that she has to find the sniper who pulled the trigger, he knows right away he'll do everything in his power to help her. But what begins as a favor becomes an obsession, and soon Swagger is back in the action, teaming up with the Mossad, the FBI, and local American law enforcement as he tracks a sniper who is his own equal...and attempts to decipher that assassin's ultimate target before it's too late.
With all-too-real threats and a twisty, masterful storytelling, Game of Snipers is another gripping addition to a bestselling Bob Lee Swagger series.
In "The 47th Samurai, " Bob Lee Swagger, the gritty hero of Stephen Hunter's bestselling novels "Point of Impact" and "Time to Hunt, " returns in Hunter's most intense and exotic thriller to date.Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers, two brave fighters on opposite sides, met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island. Only Earl Swagger survived. More than sixty years later, Yano comes to America to honor the legacy of his heroic father by recovering the sword he used in the battle. His search has led him to Crazy Horse, Idaho, where Bob Lee, ex-marine and Vietnam veteran, has settled into a restless retirement and immediately pledges himself to Yano's quest.Bob Lee finds the sword and delivers it to Yano in Tokyo. On inspection, they discover that it is not a standard WWII blade, but a legendary shin-shinto katana, an artifact of the nation. It is priceless but worth killing for. Suddenly Bob is at the center of a series of terrible crimes he barely understands but vows to avenge. And to do so, he throws himself into the world of the samurai, Tokyo's dark, criminal yakuza underworld, and the unwritten rules of Japanese culture.Swagger's allies, hard-as-nails, American-born Susan Okada and the brave, cocaine-dealing tabloid journalist Nick Yamamoto, help him move through this strange, glittering, and ominous world from the shady bosses of the seamy Kabukicho district to officials in the highest echelons of the Japanese government, but in the end, he is on his own and will succeed only if he can learn that to survive samurai, you must become samurai. As the plot races and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that a ruthless conspiracy is in place, and the only thing that can be taken for granted is that money, power, and sex can drive men of all nationalities to gruesome extremes. If Swagger hopes to stop them, he must be willing not only to die but also to kill.
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From bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter comes a taut, action-packed thriller featuring master sniper Bob Lee Swagger as he protects political hostages in a once-in-a-lifetime standoff.
After his takedown of a dangerous terrorist, Bob Lee Swagger learns that no good deed goes unpunished. Despite the fact that his actions nearly killed him--and did kill the would-be assassin--the U.S. Congress has summoned him to court. A hardheaded anti-gun senator has accused Swagger of reckless endangerment, determined to make an example of him. He must go before the House Judiciary Committee in Boise, Idaho. But what begins as political posturing soon turns deadly when the auditorium where the committee is being held is attacked.
Swagger, the senator, and numerous bystanders and reporters are taken hostage by a group of violent operatives. Soon, the very people who had accused him are depending on him to save their lives. Trapped in the auditorium and still struggling with his injuries, Swagger must rely on his instincts, his shooting skills, and the help of a mysterious rogue sniper on the outside in order to ensure that everyone makes it out alive.
After his takedown of a dangerous terrorist, Bob Lee Swagger learns that no good deed goes unpunished. Despite the fact that his actions nearly killed him--and did kill the would-be assassin--the U.S. Congress has summoned him to court. A hardheaded anti-gun senator has accused Swagger of reckless endangerment, determined to make an example of him. He must go before the House Judiciary Committee in Boise, Idaho. But what begins as political posturing soon turns deadly when the auditorium where the committee is being held is attacked.
Swagger, the senator, and numerous bystanders and reporters are taken hostage by a group of violent operatives. Soon, the very people who had accused him are depending on him to save their lives. Trapped in the auditorium and still struggling with his injuries, Swagger must rely on his instincts, his shooting skills, and the help of a mysterious rogue sniper on the outside in order to ensure that everyone makes it out alive.