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Summary: Another great Swagger hit from a master storyteller
Review: This is a great story, If you have read all four books in the Swagger series, you will love reading this over and over to pick out all the intricate connections with the other Swagger books. If this is your first Hunter novel, you are missing a lot if you do not read " Point of Impact" next. Earl Swagger is the true persona of an American hero.
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Summary: Wanted a dip, wound up getting soaked.
Review: I'm coming to this novel, perhaps, with a very different perspective. I have never read Hunter's work and I am not familiar with Earl Swagger. I picked up the book on the basis of the Hot Springs setting. I visited the city a couple of years ago and became fascinated by its history. Hunter's "Hot Springs", however, could just as well take place in Peoria. There is no sense of place here. The historical characters are painted with a broad brush, using no finesse or subtlety. Swagger himself is a caricature of a violent man. Perhaps I would have connected better if I had read the previous books. The crew of raiders recruited to quell the gambling in Hot Springs are mere cardboard cutouts. The internal mutiny is broadcast without regard for a sense of suspense. There is a good moment early on when Swagger, on the run from his personal demons and his adoring public, having just been awarded the Medal of Honor, drinks himself nearly unconscious but manages to stick his gun in his mouth in utter despair. Hunter writes this scene with compassion and strength. I only wish he had written the rest of the book in the same way.
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Summary: "HOT SPRINGS" IS KIND OF COLD
Review: The year is 1946 and Hot Springs,Arkansas is home to gambling casinos, and brothels. Gangsters, as well as movie stars have come to take part in the fast excitement of the city overflowing with corruption. At the forefront is Owney Maddox, an English-born gangster representing the New York syndicate, and ruler of the glitzy empire called Hot Springs. Ex-Marine, Earl Swagger, is used to doing battle so it comes as no surprise that he is approached by a newly appointed county prosecutor to help "clean-up" Hot Springs. Swagger must train a team of men to do battle with the vicious crime lords running the city, but after a few successful raids against them the gangsters fight back...waging an all out war. Stephen Hunter is a good thriller writer...Two of my favorite novels "Dirty White Boys" and "Black Light" are Hunter novels. "Hot Springs" unfortunately, is not on the same level with them. Although this novel is readable, and does contain some good action sequences it does not thrill like his previous novels. "Hot Springs" is MUCH better than his previous novel "Time To Hunt", and does bring connection to characters found in previous books, it just seems like a genre switch for Mr. Hunter, it is not the thriller his fans have come to expect. Nick Gonnella
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Summary: Back to the Future with the Swagger Family
Review: It took me a page or two to understand Hot Springs is in the pre-Black Light time period. Earl Swagger is vividly alive in Hot Springs with an amazing family histroy. It has the same lay-of-the-land feel of previous Swagger books with some truely entertaining bad guys. There are healthy amounts of ordnance, manly espirit de corps, and lots of southern ambiance. If you have read Dirty White Boys, Black Light and other Swagger books, you will enjoy learning more about Earl. If you have never heard of the Swaggers, this is a great place to start.
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Summary: More than a shoot 'em up
Review: I've read most of the Swagger series and the only one that tops this is "Dirty White Boys.'' The reason? A sense of time and place. This book makes you feel like you're in Arkansas 1946, as is obvious from the research credits Hunter puts at the back. For the record, the football player mentioned early is Bob WATERFIELD, not WATERFORD, but we can let that one slip. The other grabbers are pace _ this book doesn't stop _ and humor. The Grumleys are nasty rednecks but funny ones, too. Yes, there are a few flaws. How come Earl Swagger's not a racist like everyone else? Well, there's the anecdote about a couple of black ammunition bearers saving his life in the Pacific. More likely, Hunter just doesn't want a racist hero in 2000. Overall. Nice work of popular fiction.
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Summary: The Summer is not lost.
Review: A rollicking read from the prolific Stephen Hunter, worth the price of admission for pages 72-74 alone when protagonist, and WWII Medal of Honor winner, Earl Swagger, has a defining exchange with famed 40's gangster Ben "Bugsy" Siegel in the Hot Springs, Ark. train station. Despite some midstream red herrings pointing to a formulaic, and disappointing, ending, the actual ending is wonderfully formulaic if you just plain like this kind of novel. Most satisfying read of its genre this Summer.
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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.
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Summary: Excellent reading
Review: Whew - another great book from Stephen Hunter. Earl Swagger is an interesting character. This is of course, a prequel to the "Bob the Nailer" books which have come before - Dirty White Boys, Time to Hunt, etc. They are excellent. Of course, you have to be ready to read and imagine quite a bit of violence, but it works in these books. Go ahead, read this one first, and then go and find the ones that came before. Now, is the story of Earl's father to come later? Sounds like a good idea to me.
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Summary: Well, there went a holiday weekend...
Review: Okay. Bought the darn thing right before the 4th of July weekend. Then I read it... Which meant I that then I had to go back and read the others in the saga... Argh! Should Mr. Hunter ever be in St. Louis, and desire a trip to a benchrest rifle club, where the shooters are after the ultimate in accuracy, I'll be happy to have him as my guest. Oh, and from what I understand, the average joe can't weld titanium (grin). Only goof I've ever seen in his books...
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Summary: My Favorite Hunter book to date.
Review: Ok, I admit initially I was disappointed that this was not a Bob Lee Swagger book. But this is probably better than most of the Bob "the Nailer" books, with the possible exception of Point of Impact. I am not easily impressed, but this book blew me away. At times, this book has a little bit different feel about it than some of his other books, definitely very gritty... very Phillip Marlowe. Hunter obviously did a lot of research to get the setting to feel just right. As always, Mr. Hunter manages to throw in plenty of curves and unexpected plot twists. He manages to keep surprising me, and exceeds my expectations for creativity in providing clever, yet plausible outcomes to the sticky situations that Earl finds himself in. It is the characters in this book that carry my interest. Earl Swagger is certainly a VERY different man in this book than he was in Black Light. In Black Light, Earl has it all together. In Hot Springs, Earl is much younger, and much more at war with himself. We finally get to meet and learn all about the enigmatic Frenchy Short, mentioned in so many other of Hunter's novels. Owney Maddox is a ruthless but believable villain, and his henchmen are brutal and dangerous as well. Stephen Hunter is very good at touching a realistic emotional chord, something which most of the writers of this genre don't do very well at all, if they even try. Like most of the Hunter Books I have read (with the exception of his one miserable book, the Spanish Gambit), I could definitely see this one as a great movie. Hunter tends to focus on much smaller plots than someone like Tom Clancy does, in a much more realistic and personal scale, but this doesn't mean they are any less dramatic or exciting. This book is certainly no exception, and I would recommend it heartily. I don't understand why more people haven't heard about Stephen Hunter yet, but I think it is only a matter of time.
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