Rating: 
Summary: A Fast Paced Action Thriller
Review: Master Sniper Murder, conspiracy, Nazis, and guns. If any of those words spark a flame of interest in your mind Master Sniper is a must read. Master Sniper is a novel of twisted murder conspiracies, evil bad guys, and any good novel isn't great without a World War II setting. I personally would recommend this book to any action book fan. This is by far the best book ever written by Stephen Hunter. Set back into the time of Nazi Germany, when Hitler and swing music were dominating the planet. In a German concentration camp a Jewish poet is being held captive, working 16 hours a day just to stay alive. One night they are led into a field in the heart of the Black Forest in Germany. One by one the Jewish prisoners are being sniped. The poet realizes what is happening and tries to escape. He succeeds. In London an American Sargent discovers a new weapon that can snipe better than any other weapon known to man, and with it the Germans can snipe even Eisenhower himself. But the target isn't Eisenhower, it's some one bigger the Eisenhower. Through out the story Leets, the American Sargent discovers more than he ought to know about the Reich. I personally would recommend this book to any one who loves to read historical fiction. I was first drawn to this book because it sounded like an action thriller that would sustain me through an 8-hour long plane ride. Then when I had read it I realized that it had more depth. This is the best novel ever written by Stephen Hunter. There really aren't many details about the book that are bad. Some good parts about the book are that one, the book is realistically placed (in time, setting, and character opinions.) in relation to the time period. In Conclusion, this book is a great, must read novel that deserves five out of five stars. -Sean Villard
Rating:
Summary: A Fast paced Action Packed Thriller
Review: Murder, conspiracy, Nazis, and guns. If any of those words spark a flame of interest in your mind Master Sniper is a must read. Master Sniper is a novel of twisted murder conspiracies, evil bad guys, and any good novel isn't great without a World War II setting. I personally would recommend this book to any action book fan. This is by far the best book ever written by Stephen Hunter. Set back into the time of Nazi Germany, when Hitler and swing music were dominating the planet. In a German concentration camp a Jewish poet is being held captive, working 16 hours a day just to stay alive. One night they are led into a field in the heart of the Black Forest in Germany. One by one the Jewish prisoners are being sniped. The poet realizes what is happening and tries to escape. He succeeds. In London an American Sargent discovers a new weapon that can snipe better than any other weapon known to man, and with it the Germans can snipe even Eisenhower himself. But the target isn't Eisenhower, it's some one bigger the Eisenhower. Through out the story Leets, the American Sargent discovers more than he ought to know about the Reich. I personally would recommend this book to any one who loves to read historical fiction. I was first drawn to this book because it sounded like an action thriller that would sustain me through an 8-hour long plane ride. Then when I had read it I realized that it had more depth. This is the best novel ever written by Stephen Hunter. There really aren't many details about the book that are bad. Some good parts about the book are that one, the book is realistically placed (in time, setting, and character opinions.) in relation to the time period. In Conclusion, this book is a great, must read novel that deserves five out of five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Great at times...A little underwhelmed at others...
Review: rating 3.5 stars I am a big fan of Stephen Hunter's work. The Swaggert series is fantastic. And there is a slight connection with that via the Vampir (which crops up in Black Light- a story about Earl Swaggert, Bobby Lee's father. There is no Swaggerts in this story, though Repp is a man somewhat similar to Bobby Lee (in some respect, vastly different in others)). So the major character here as a master sniper named Repp, a german with a mission to perform at the end of world war 2. Of course, he has Vampir to perform it with. This mission is fairly original I must say! It was a nice hook to keep you in in what is a very readable book (and the revelation of the mission won't cause you to cringe either...more like, 'hey wow isn't that cool'): about four hours to read. It is obvious that Stephen hunter was still learning his craft as his wrote this, however his talent is obvious and consistently shines through. It generally has strong characterizations: Leets, Repp, Susan, Shmauel. And the plot fairly races along, with consistently strong action sequences. The plot is where this novel falls down at times: the dead-ending of characters and then the sudden inspiration and location of the next lead to follow to chase Repp down is just a little too far-fetched at times, particualrly the segment, mid-book, in the camp. Just a little too convenient. If you know what I mean. I find this rather annoying. To me it seems a cop-out. This colors my opinion (and the unfair comparison with his current work, 20 years later which tends to be REALLY strongly plotted). However compared to many of the WW2 novels getting around, this one is still better than most. So in all, not a bad read. Fast, clever at times, suspenseful and never slow, dull or boring or worse, totally predictable. The ending is probably resolved too quickly (suggests some heavy editorial pressure was placed on the author) and in a manner that may have you questioning Repp's abilities, knowledge and intuition in being a master sniper. Nevertheless, it still has high adventure tempered with a acute proximity of the Holocaust and the complete disregard for the vlue of human life, other than as something to be exploited while it was of use and exterminated when it was not (Repp uses Jews for target practice with the Vampir: there is a subtle plot issue/flaw in this as well, particulalrly his choice of targets). You'll certainly notice its shortcoming if you read Stephen Hunter's later work before reading to this one. But fortunately the shortcomings aren't that prevelant or terminal. So enjoy. I could think of worse ways to spend 4 hours.
Rating:
Summary: The publisher notes about this book are wrong...
Review: Read the reviews here at Amazon, the publisher notes are incorrect. I can't believe the publisher even read the book. Here's the info from the publisher, "It is the spring of 1945, and the Nazis are eliminating all the witnesses to their horrible crimes, including Jews and foreigners remaining in the prison camps. Kommandant Repp, who is known as a master sniper, decides to hone his sniping abilities by taking a little target practice at the remaining laborers in his own prison camp." Incorrect. Repp is not the commander of a prison camp. He doesn't "decide to hone his sniping abilities by taking a little target practice" at the laborers. What is happening is that members of the German SS are frantically trying to develop a night vision device before the end of the war for some unknown and ghastly purpose. Repp is the "master sniper" of the project and will be the one to use the device once it has been developed. At the start of the book the Germans are testing the device on some Jews brought into the project for the purpose of being live targets. Unknown to the Germans one of the Jews has added some discarded packing material to the lining of his overcoat. This acts as a super insulator that makes him invisible to the infrared detecting night vision device Repp is using. The Jew escapes in the night to Allied lines and his strange story gives the Allies a clue that the Germans have some sinister project in the works. Because the war is obviously almost over most of the Allies are inclined to ignore the German project. Of course the main characters on the Allied side take the Germans seriously and that makes for a great story. There are a few holes in the plot you could drive a truck thru. The infrared night vision device cannot "see" a person because they are insulated but at the end of the book Repp blasts several inanimate objects that not emitting any infrared. Don't let these get in the way of enjoying the book. I found the book to be a fasinating action story. Very, very few authors ever get their gun talk right. Stephen Hunter is superb in this regard. (John Sandford aka John Camp is another, he writes great police detective stories.)
Rating:
Summary: The Master Sniper
Review: Stephen Hunter does it again! The pages start to fly long before the first shot is fired. The character of And Repp is simply mesmorizing. Hunter is able to mesh together the lives of so many different characters for a breathtaking final climax that will chill you to the bone. Hunter as done far more than reclaim his title as the master of "testosterone" suspense. I think you'll agree!
Rating:
Summary: Technical Flaws
Review: Stephen Hunter has a way with words, and creates interesting character and dialog. That said, virtually all of his books that I have read contain implausible, and/or poorly researched facts and situations. The master sniper was the worst of these. Shooting people at 400 meters with subsonic bullets defies the laws of physics. So many implausible technical flaws, it took me completely out of the novel. I was really into Dirty White Boys until Hunter once again started his unbelievable stuff. Has Hunter ever seen anybody shot with a 45 caliber handgun? In one book he has a Master sniper killing people running at 400 meters with effectively a pellet gun, and in another he has bad boys charging through a hail of bullets still fighting after being shot 30 times. I'd really enjoy his novels if he didn't take me out with ludicrous situations.
Rating:
Summary: Technical Flaws
Review: Stephen Hunter has a way with words, and creates interesting character and dialog. That said, virtually all of his books that I have read contain implausible, and/or poorly researched facts and situations. The master sniper was the worst of these. Shooting people at 400 meters with subsonic bullets defies the laws of physics. So many implausible technical flaws, it took me completely out of the novel. I was really into Dirty White Boys until Hunter once again started his unbelievable stuff. Has Hunter ever seen anybody shot with a 45 caliber handgun? In one book he has a Master sniper killing people running at 400 meters with effectively a pellet gun, and in another he has bad boys charging through a hail of bullets still fighting after being shot 30 times. I'd really enjoy his novels if he didn't take me out with ludicrous situations.
Rating:
Summary: The Master Writer
Review: Stephen Hunter's writing grabs you by the gut and won't let you put it down. I've read, and re-read, all of his books. Great characters that you would love to meet in the real world. Many a nights sleep lost to reading to the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not his best:Start with Point of Impact
Review: Summer in the Mississippi delta: hot as an engine block, the kind of weather made for paperbacks by the pool. In that vein I have just completed, damply, the grand tour through Stephen Hunter's lexicon of gun-and-testosterone novels built around the cult of the lone rifleman and the wild killers from the hills and the dutiful men who oppose them.
I liked them all, more or less: the Point of Impact/Dirty White Boys/Black Light trilogy; the now-dated cold-war era countdown to Armageddon "The Day Before Midnight"; and even the weak sister (now there's a Bob Lee Swagger phrase if i've heard one) of the bunch, "The Master Sniper."
Hunter has the mind and the method of the sniper down cold; the author bio mentions Hunter's time in Vietnam, so maybe he is really in the know. In these technical aspects he is unmatched, and his prose is smooth and elegant. He can describe a shooting like no other author I've ever read.
THe problem with "Master Sniper" is that I just couldn't care enough about the story to justify the effort in getting through the book. Don't read on if you are intent on reading the book yourself.
A legendary SS sniper is loosed by Himmler himself to hunt down and kill a prominent Zionist's son in his Swiss refuge. For a killer who has mowed down two or three hundred Russians in a day's work, this presents no insurmountable moral obstacle, for like all of Hunter's villains and some of his heroes, the sniper kills dispassionately, except for the endorphin storm the act of killing releases in the killer.
The hitch is that our sniper can't be sure which of the twenty-odd kids holed up in the Swiss Alpine convent is the right one. No matter; with his cumbersome but deadly infrared night scope he'll take them all out in pitch darkness. The development of this early infrared sight is a major plot thread, and is some of the most interesting reading of the book.
No kid, no inheritance, no fortune to be channelled to postwar Zionist causes. Even better,Himmler figures he'll appropriate the money for the SS and use it to help ex-SS men escape the Allies' Nuremberg noose: ODESSA gets a pay raise. A potentially interesting hook, but it falls flat here in Hunter's telling. His adversary is a downtrodden American OSS firearms expert, with a shot-up leg and a romance gone bad. I found it very hard to like or admire this Leets, alternating between lovesick puppy and man of steely resolve; and I failed to see how shooting the kid would really stop the Zionists' progress. Maybe my brain has been cooked in my skull by the glare and heat at poolside, but I never quite figured why the kid had to die so that the SS could get his inheritance. And I never grew fond enough of Leets to really care if he succeeded in stopping our Nazi. I found myself rooting for the sniper much of the time since he is the book's most exciting actor.
In summary, the book is filled with tight, tactile, multisensory prose but the storyline itself just didn't reel me in like those of Hunter's other works. If you start with "The Master Sniper", give Hunter another chance before you write him off your summer reading list. Better to start with "Point of Impact" and tag along with Bob Lee Swagger for a while. Lotsa shooting without all the angst.
Rating:
Summary: Above average thriller
Review: Tha Master Sniper is a solid book, however it is a little devoid of characters that you really care about. You spend a lot of time with the robot-like NAZI sniper who isn't that interesting. It is worth reading, but if you've read Point of Impact you may be disappointed.
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