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Summary: Bob swaggers
Review: For someone who doesn't have a background on rifles/guns, I found this book an interesting read. The variations & functions were concisely described without losing the reader into the technical & miniscule details. But this was just icing to the cake. The real serving was Bob the Nailer...his strength, his vulnerability, his unwavering faith to justice & the institution that embodies it. He is no cut-out hero but a 3-D character very much alive --- living & hurting --- dangerous but likeable.(This review pertains to Reader's Digest abrdiged version.)
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Summary: If You're On The Fence
Review: Stephen Hunter is a master of the written word. He may not be as acclaimed as Hemingway or Dickens or someone of that type, but he has won the pulitzer, and he has written some wonderful books. I have read all of his fiction books. I read this one in a single day. What I love about his books, and it is the case in all but his earliest, is how he manages the intertwined story lines. Just when I was wondering in the back of mind what was happening to so and so the next chapter tells me. Stephen Hunter has mastered the telepathic aspect of writing that Stephen King writes about in his book On Writing.
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Summary: the best
Review: I am glad I discoverd Steven Hunter. His books have bruoght me and my family hours of sheer excitement as well as enjoyment.
I reconmend his books to even the most hardend nonreader.
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Summary: White Knuckle Read
Review: I read this 560 page book in a week. I could not, for the life of me, tear my eyes from it. This is a humdinger of a suspense novel, and it delivers, big time! Great characters, excellent pacing and a subtle sense of humor make this a must-read!
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Summary: One Helluva Story!
Review: Stephen Hunter is definitely one of the greatest writers in this genre. He hit the spot perfectly. I picked up this book in an airport store, and I finished it by the time I got home since it was IMPOSSIBLE to put it down. I love the technical rifle information, mainly because I am a rifle shooter myself and have been since I was a child. I love the action, the mystery, the sheer power of the book... I recommend this to everyone who loves Clancy and other great fictional military writers!
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Summary: Great read
Review: Stephen Hunter wrote 3 Bob Lee Swagger novels. Point of Impact is the first of the series and the first of Hunter's books I read on a long flight to the west coast. I sat up until I finished the story, all 560+ pages. There is no higher praise than lost sleep. Bob 'the nailer' is a former Viet Nam sniper who gets set-up by a shadowy quasi govenment/milatary group to take the fall for an assassination. Instead, the supposedly dead Bob 'the nailer' goes after the puppet masters. Hunter's attention to detail and remarkably adept weaving of mutiple story lines are impressive. Perhaps the best part is Hunter's endings. Just when you think it's done, another one comes along. To quote a character "..I've never met anyone who could outsly a sly old country boy." And Bob Lee Swagger is one sly country boy. Absolutely wonderful. Do read all three books and consider the prequels featuring Bob Lee's father, Earl Swagger.
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Summary: You sure can't put it down
Review: Largely well written the story is so derivative it seems less a homage, than a cut and paste job. Lord Jim, for the torture that plays on vanity, the seven rescuers which has been done over and over, the heart of darkness for the river, and a Kurtz like character who has gone nuts, and so it does. The gang of old men is pretty offensive to the memories of the people involved. Why select characters drawn from real life, but then fictionalize them in ways that seem unlikely to be in character. And they wouldn't be a dream team. It is like the recent DC sniper issue of whether the "snipers" had to have training. You don't need training to make a 100 yard shot, you don't need legendary marksmen. You need folks you have known a long time, presumably from Swagger's military past. Criss-crossing the country, recruiting a movie star, it is laughable. As usual the gun stuff, is only partly correct, despite the raft of advisors. He really needs a gun editor or something, since he seems to be partly always writing for a gun savvy audience. As Bridget Fonda says in Jackie Brown about her gunrunning keeper "He's just repeating stuff he's heard. He's no more a gun expert than you or me". I wonder who the whipping advisor was. Is it true whips crack because they break the sound barrier? Sounds highly improbable to me. Flyrod/lines are basically whips, and they snap in the air, if you get your timing, in their case, wrong. It is just the very tip colliding with the near tip portion, going in opposite directions. To get to 1088 fps the whip would somehow have to juice up the speed of the tip by ten times the speed of the hand. Anyway you will have a lot of time to consider the phenomenon since he refers to it many times. It's a story with a pulse. A bit embarrassing to read though, verges on the pornographic.
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Summary: The Best In a While
Review: "Point of Impact" is the best book that I've read in quite a while. I purchased Stephen Hunter's book on a whim, and hope that it would be entertaining. It was more than just entertaining, it was good. The book is about an ex-Marine sniper, named Bob Lee Swagger, who spent three tours in Viet Nam. For the last twenty years, he's been holed up in the Ouachitians mountains living with his dog Mike and his rifles. The soft-spoken marksman is approached to help out a government branch in tracking down an assassin. Nick Memphis, a down on his luck FBI agent, is investigating a gruesome murder of an informant that was trying to reach him. As the informant dies, he writes the words, ROM DO on the floor with his own blood. The two stories quickly become entwined in a turbulent plot full of double cross, ballistic charts, and 1,400 yard shots. Hunter does a great job of telling just enough of the story to let you think you know where he is going. Then he turns the story on you leaving you surprised. He does this throughout the book. Only once was I able to guess where he was going. All the times that I thought I had him, Hunter was laughing at me from in front of his typewriter. He does it from the very beginning as we open up on Swagger in a deer blind waiting for Ole Tim, the largest buck in the forest. Swagger's character grows on you, even though he appears tough and rough around the edges. Hunter is a master of the false-direction. He sets everything up so perfectly that once he changes the tables on you, you can see how he set you up. It all makes sense. It's the literary version of magic. Some authors are good at it, for others you can see the wires. Hunter is very good at it. If you like action/adventure, good writing, and an author that's good a deception, check this one out. I'll definitely read more of Hunter.
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Summary: That's Bob Lee... NOT Robert Lee...
Review: Bob Lee Swagger... Bob the Nailer. I chanced upon this book and now have ten works by Stephen Hunter on my shelf, eagerly awaiting more (eh, could skip "Second Saladin" maybe). I look up to Bob Lee... a fictional character. Bob Lee can sit in the rain for ten hours without twitching, itching, or sneezing. Bob Lee is all sinew, muscle and bone, no fat. Bob Lee takes the extra half-breath that makes the difference between a hit and a miss. Bob Lee looks like an easy target except he's behind you by the time you get a shot off. Bob Lee is the best of every Clint Eastwood character. And more. Good technical accuracy. The shots described are makeable, the weapons described exist. Could someone be suckered into this situation? Maybe. Could they escape like Bob? Probably. Could they prevail in court? Well... with Sam Vincent... sure! I particulary enjoyed following Bob Lee and the other Swaggers (and the Pye's!) back and forth through different eras in Arkansas as Hunter took us through "Master Sniper", "Dirty White Boys", "Time to Hunt", "Hot Springs", "Pale Horse Coming", etc.
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Summary: One of my favorite books of all time
Review: I read a lot of books, and Point of Impact remains one of the best fiction books I've ever read. I must have read this book 20 times, going back in it to read the main parts over and over again. You don't need to be a gun nut to read this book, the characters and action alone are enough to hook you. To be honest, I stopped reading Stephen Hunter's later books after one or two failed attempts to recapture the magic of this book. All the later novels, despite being written as prequals to this, seem like spinoffs from a successful tv show and never as good as the original. Day before Midnight was excellent but that's about it.
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