Hot Springs : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A welcome prequel
Review: Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the three "Bob the Nailer" offerings from Hunter, I looked forward to this novel whose central character is Earl Swagger -- WWII veteran, medal of honor winner, tortured soul, and father to Bob the Nailer. Although not as good as Point of Impact (which was an impressive page turner), Hot Springs did not disappoint. Early morning workouts on the stepper or exercise bike were not seen as drudgery but rather as an opportunity to pound out more pages of Hot Springs. Throughout the book, one comes to know and further appreciate the intricacies, both positive and negative, of being a Swagger. Action sequences and character development are interwoven and provide a complementary blend throughout the book. This novel is able to stand on its own as an action/thriller, but for those who have already completed the "Bob the Nailer" books, it also offers a good early glimpse at characters from previous novels and ties together events that are littered throughout those efforts. Certainly, this will not be the last novel from Hunter based on the Swagger clan.

Rating:
Summary: More of the same
Review: I almost wish "Hot Springs" was my first Stephen Hunter novel. On its own, it's a solid, hard-boiled tale. It's also a prequel to almost all of his other novels, giving Hunter the perfect opportunity to show off his skill at foreshadowing and drawing connections between apparently unrelated stories, which is considerable. "Hot Springs" would make a great introduction to Hunter's work.

Unfortunately, as the latest installment, it's somewhat lacking. While it does have plenty of new revelations and background information for those readers already familiar with Stephen Hunter's characters, it doesn't have much else, and what's there feels a bit recycled. The plot is fairly straight-forward, lacking the dramatic cross-cutting of "Time to Hunt" and "Black Light", the twistedness of "Point of Impact", or the sheer intensity of "Dirty White Boys". Anyone who's read Hunter before knows exactly how it will end, and may even recognize the setting of the inevitable final showdown.

Still, it's good to see old friends like Earl Swagger and Sam Vincent again, as well as real-life historical characters like Bugs Siegel, Virginia Hill, and colorful FBI agent and trick shooter D.A. "Jelly" Bryce. (In a major role and only thinly disguised under the name "Parker".)There are also tantalizing hints that we may soon hear much more of Frenchy Short, whose character promises to be quite a departure for Hunter.

Rating:
Summary: Would Make a Good Movie!
Review: Not as good as Point of Impact, but still a very good read and gets better as it motors along. Would make a good movie!

Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better than this.
Review: Stephen Hunter is simply a spectacular story teller. This is the latest in the Swagger saga and could be considered the prequel. "Hot Springs" presents the back story of Earl Swagger (Bob Lee a.k.a. "Bob the Nailer's" father.)

Earl returns from the Pacific campaign a Medal of Honor winner...a true hero. He is tapped to ramrod a strike force whose agenda is to put an end to the illicit activities so pervasive in Hot Springs, mostly controlled by Owney Maddox. The head of the strike force has grand polical ambitions, so Earl's enemies and allies both work against him.

Mr. Hunter brings the likes of Harry Truman, Bugsy Siegel, Virginia Hill, Mickey Rooney and Alan Ladd in for cameo appearances and sets the 1946 scene to perfection in many subtle ways.

The book moves at warp speed. You are compelled to turn pages in an attempt to keep up with the action.The story is presented from the minds of four or five main characters in alternating chapters so when you want to learn the outcome of one situation you must enjoy three or four more chapters to get that particular resolution. Like eating peanuts, you cannot read just one chapter.

Mr. Hunter delivers a nonstop action read laced with taut suspense and peopled with rich, well defined characters. No one (heroes especially) is perfect and this novel is hard boiled noir at its very best.

Rating:
Summary: More of that great Swagger action!
Review: This book is a prequel to the novel 'Point of Impact' which centered around Bobby Lee Swagger. 'Hot Springs' instead focuses on Earl Swagger, Bobby Lee's father. Earl Swagger has just returned from WWII where his valor in combat earned him the Medal of Honor. He returns to Arkansas where he grew up and tries to settle down with his young, beautiful and now pregnant wife and live a normal life. But the Swagger blood doesn't appear to be able to thrive unless it is in peril and before long, Swagger is working for an Arkansas D.A. to build a fighting unit to wipe out crime in the gangster controlled gambling town of Hot Springs.

Like all of the Swagger novels, this book is filled with great combat scenes and tactics as well as extensive details on firearms. Set in 1946, the novel also paints a very vivid portrait of vice and the power of gangsters to control a city or even a state. If you enjoyed the other Swagger (Bobby Lee) novels, this newest turn will not disappoint you. If you have never read a Stephen Hunter novel, welcome and get ready for a good old fashion good guys with guns versus bad guys with guns book you will enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Enjoyable Crime Novel
Review: This is only the second book I've read by Stephen Hunter, after _Point of Impact_, but it was another winner. The book mixes real history and characters with fictional characters to great effect, something along the lines of what Max Allan Collins does in his Nate Heller mysteries. Set in the post-WWII years in the corrupt town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, Hunter succeeds in creating a real page-turner, as we follow the adventures of Earl Swagger, a depressed war hero with something of a death wish, as he puts together a group of young lawmen to weed out the corruption.

The group is something like the Untouchables--young, single men gathered from police forces around the country so that they will not be compromised by local connections. The scenes of the group's training are among the best in the book, along with the action sequences wherein they bring down a number of casinos.

This isn't a perfect book by any means: Hunter really strains sometimes to tell his story and there are a lot of very awkward sentence constructions. He isn't entirely successful in bringing the historical characters--Bugsy Siegel, Virginia Hill, etc.--to real, believable life. And, as in the Bob Lee Swagger books, there's a bit too much attention to the guns and the gunplay for any but the firearms-obsessed, which Hunter appears to be.

Still, this was a very fast-moving and enjoyable book and I'd recommend it.