Wednesday, March 03, 2010

I, Sniper -- Stephen Hunter

The story begins when four people are killed by a sniper in three separate incidents. All four have in common the fact that they were seriously involved in protesting the Vietnam ward. The FBI quickly hunts down the sniper, who's conveniently killed himself. Or has he? Could the FBI be wrong?

Of course! And who better to point that out than Bob Lee Swagger, aka Bob the Nailer, one of the best snipers of all time. If you're familiar with his earlier exploits, you know that he's not just a shooter. He's practically a genius when it comes to figuring out sniper-related crimes.

He's practically a superman, too. Waterboard him six or seven times and expect him to tell you anything? You poor fool.

I enjoyed I, Sniper, and I found it a cut above Hunter's last book. But I thought that Hunter got a bit too cute with his Marty Robbins "Big Iron" and Texas Red stuff. It just didn't work for me, and the ending was, again, way too cute. For fans of Bob the Nailer, though, it's a must-read. For those who haven't made Bob's acquaintance yet, I suggest going back to Point of Impact and reading that one.

4 comments:

Randy Johnson said...

Haven't picked this one up yet. The last couple disappointed me as well. Point of Impact is my favorite of his books on the Swagger family.

Thought Wahlberg was a bit young for the role in Shooter. Otherwise a decent flick.

George said...

I think Stephen Hunter peaked with POINT OF IMPACT. It's been downhill from there.

MP said...

I used to be a major fan of the Swagger (father and son) novels, but the last two were so bad I had to force myself to try this one, and I tossed it after less than 100 pages. Randy and George are right--the Swagger books peaked with the first one, but I think Hunter's best novel is the standalone "Dirty White Boys".

mybillcrider said...

Great opening line in that one.