Rating:  Summary: best so far in this series Review: this whole series is a guilty pleasure for me. unlike hunters typical readers i am female. i hate to admit i now have more gun knowledge than i could ever imagine. this book is violent, bloody, gory.....and i enjoyed every page. this book makes you root for the good guys and love every second the bad guys get what they deserve!
Rating:  Summary: A Cool Guy Book Review: Stephen Hunter has written several novels in which the characters Bob (the nailer) Swagger, and his father Earl Swagger. Each novel stands on its own as a great work of modern fiction. Pale Horse Comong is no Exception. This book is a special treat for those of us that have read the works of the "golden age of gunwriter" from the 1950's. Elmer Keith, Jack O'Conner, and many other make appearnces in this great novel. This is a book about Justice, etribution, Revenge, and mostimportantly, Gunmen. A great read, and highly reccommended.
Rating:  Summary: Great Action Review: First off I must say this is the first Stephen Hunter book i have read and it won't be the last. Mon this guy can really write! The characters are well written and the action is non-stop. Check this book out!
Rating:  Summary: A great action read! Hunter is getting better and better. Review: His best book since "Time to Hunt." Earl Swagger, the hero, is every bit as good as his son in the earlier written, later set novels. Pale Horse Coming is the second book starring Earl Swagger (Hot Springs was the first) but you can read this novel as a stand alone work. Hunter does a good job of explaining any references to the prior novel. The setting for this action thriller is Thebes, Mississippi in the late 1940s - a town run by anarchists working in a place second only to hell in torment and pain - the Thebes Correctional Facility (Colored). Earl goes to this Godforsaken place to save a friend but ends up getting caught in the processes. That's about the time things get ugly and interesting. A great read. Hunter just keeps getting better and better. Like all Hunter novels, very in-depth in tactical skills and weaponry from the time period.
Rating:  Summary: Pale Horse Coming Review: This is the first novel of Mr. Hunter that I've read dealing with Bob Lee Swagger's father. I was hesitant to purchase it because I did not care for Mr. Hunter's other novels (non-Bob Lee). I was wrong! This novel is a page turner and very difficult to put down. It answers a lot of questions I've had about Bob Lee's father as he is mentioned in all of the Bob Lee Swagger novels. I am buying "Hot Springs" today. Mr. Hunter, keep up the good work!
Rating:  Summary: A Tale of Evil and Retribution Review: Mr. Hunter has provided an intriguing glimpse into the dark side of man and of the cancerous nature of political and personal corruption. Though Earl Swagger is the hero of the story, even he is not without faults. He is also a hero presented with realistic capabilities, not as a 1950s Rambo.The novel has a few inconsistencies and forced explanations that prevents me from giving a five star rating, but overall, it was a good read.
Rating:  Summary: Not Hunter's strongest work Review: "Pale Horse Coming" is yet another book using the fictional Swagger family of Arkansas. Hunter is a competent writer who knows his audience. Fans of the series like heroes (and villians) larger than life and substantive references to the culture of firearms. The "Swagger" series is generally good reading, but uneven in quality. "Pale Horse Coming" starts well but loses focus. Perhaps the most distracting part of the book is using famous gunman/gun writers as characters. What is meant as an homage feels thin and tinny. A note to Hunter--some of your readers are smart enough to see real life parallels without the spoon feeding. Through the books, it increasingly difficult to differentiate between the Swaggers. The son (Bob Lee) and the father (Earl) have become nearly identical... stoics heroes who struggle with internal demons and the gift of killing. Through the series, the Swaggers have almost comic book powers of endurance, tactical knowledge and gun skills. "Pale Horse Coming" has the bone structure of a good novel, but falls short of Hunter's other work. "Hot Springs" and "Dirty White Boys" are both examples of better writing. "Pale Horse Coming" series feels like a Hunter, a talented writer, is paying the bills with another mass market novel. Hunter has a feel for writing the rural south and enough talent to make the book readable... but fans of the series may walk away a bit disappointed. To borrow a pop culture reference, the book comes close to the "jumping the shark." This is a "must buy" for Hunter fans. Readers who haven't tried to series are better served by one of his earlier novels.
Rating:  Summary: Well, I liked it... Review: Well, bein' from the genteel south, and being a certified gun nut and all, I (of course) am eager for anything that the good Mr. Hunter cooks up. The first 2/3 of the book was a serious thriller, and worth the price of admission in itself. Then, and especially for folks like me, the last portion of the book was just pure entertainment... For the folks who didn't figure out any characters other than the "Audie Ryan" character, I suggest that you search on Amazon for books by Elmer Keith, Bob Jordan, Jack O'Connor, Ed McGivern, etc... Those ol' boys saw the elephant for real...
Rating:  Summary: See you and raise you... Review: Stephen Hunter is one of a very few authors whom I can count upon to provide a great read in every book. Having said that, I would also have to say that of all his books, this one was the least enjoyable. As did Thomas Harris in "Hannibal" - his sequel to "Silence of the Lambs," - Hunter seems to have been compelled to "up the ante" in violence, characters, plot credulity. Still a good read, but getting close to Jumping the Shark.
Rating:  Summary: Good but not great Review: The first two-thirds of this book was great stuff. Tense,dramatic and mysterious the pages just flew by. The last third, after Earl Swagger escapes from Thebes was not as good. Rounding up all these old gunmen seemed silly as did the fact that men with no fight against anyone at the prison would so willingly, gleefully even, risk their lives and kill, one could say murder, the guards and authorities at the prison. The detail about all the guns was tedious and we never really got to know the gunmen. There was no real drama in the final scenes at prison and much of the action seemed cartoon like. I will always read anything Stephen Hunter writes, but this was not his best.
|