.com After a literally explosive opening where sniper fire cuts through the chest of an unnamed victim (Swagger?), readers of Time to Hunt are plunged into the final years of the Vietnam War and the struggles of Marine Donny Fenn. Stationed in Washington, D.C., after recovering from a nearly mortal wound, Fenn is asked to spy on Marines who may have ties to the peace movement. What Donny quickly learns, however, is that his Navy superiors are more interested in framing somebody than they are in finding the truth. In this first section, readers waiting to discover the outcome of the assassination and glimpse Bob "The Nailer" Swagger will instead be swept away by Hunter's vivid painting of the divided loyalties and torn identities that plagued soldiers and citizens in the early 1970s. But all of this action is only a prelude to Donny's subsequent relationship with Swagger in Vietnam. Hunter fleshes out the mythology that he began to create in Point of Impact as readers watch Swagger add to his famed body count and confront his nemesis, Solaratov. Hunter moves deftly from the mind of Solaratov to Donny and back to Swagger, and in each character finds the core of the Vietnam experience--fear, coldness, sadness, horror, elation. The last two sections cut to contemporary events and find Swagger married to Donny's former love, Julie. Slowly, the events of the first half of the book begin to merge with Swagger's present history and stories that readers will recognize from Hunter's earlier novels. Swagger uncovers a deep connection between the Vietnam demonstrations of the 1970s, the predatory work of the CIA, and the killer who is after him and his family now. Nothing is as it first seems, and readers of Point of Impact and Black Light will have to revise all their expectations. --Patrick O'KelleyFrom Library JournalWhen a sniper shoots a man in the mountains of Idaho and wounds the woman who is with him, it is not an isolated incident but the deliberate culmination of events that began during the Vietnam War. Bob Lee Swagger, who was a Marine sniper in Vietnam known as "Bob for the Nailer" for his lethal shooting, at first believes that he was the gunman's intended target. The wounded woman is his wife and the widow of his wartime comrade, Donny Fenn. Donny had been killed by a Russian sniper assigned the task of neutralizing Bob, or so Bob had always believed. But now it seems possible that Donny might have been the main target all those years ago and that it is Donny's widow that the sniper has come to kill, not Bob. Both a gripping war novel and a complex thriller coiled around the convoluted intrigues of the supposedly concluded Cold War, this is page-turning entertainment that will delight action adventure readers.?Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, MACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus sBob Lee Swagger, master sniper, returns (Black Light, 1996; Point of Impact, 1993), which means testosterone at the boil, gore galore, and filled-up body bags row on row. A super-sniper (not the illustrious Swagger but his nemesis Solaratov) shakes off the Arizona morning chill, hunkers over (for those who care) a ``Remington 700, with H-S Precision fiberglass stock and Leupold 10X scope,'' and seconds later a ``man's chest explodes'' (snipers in this novel miss maybe once a decade). Flash back, then, to 1965. The war in Vietnam is winding down and, tragically, a young marine, Swagger's partner, is blown away the day before he would have finished his tour. Are the two super-sniper incidents connected? Though for years Swagger has believed that the bullet that killed his friend was meant for him, events in the present prove him wrong. Unwillingly, then, he has to face the terrible fact that the death of his friend in 1965 was just the first act in a violent melodrama that now threatens his wife who was once married to his long-dead comrade. The answer behind the decades-old conspiracy is as convoluted as it is nefarious, involving chicanery in the corridors of power. Swagger, however, has little time to fritter away on inductive reasoning, since it's time to hunt for that enemy sniper and take him out before harm can come to the innocent and helpless. ``You're a sacred killer,'' an admirer tells Swagger. ``Every society needs one.'' Whether that's true or not, the stage is set for a grim denouement, and Swagger drops from a helicopter--demigod ex machina--to frustrate evil. Hunter's prose doesn't get much above pedestrian, and the dialogue is particularly weak. But Swagger in battle--brandishing his wondrous rifle, Excalibur with a trigger--will hold most and enthrall some. (Author tour) -- Copyright 1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. how do i find the edition of a book Time to Hunt (Bob Lee Swagger)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. This is one of the best, if not the best of all his booksBy Mr. GlezThis is one of the best, if not the best of all his books. Even, if you are not from that era, you can see the imagery of the 60s, 70s, 80s, you can be there, and feel the humidity, and the torrential rain of a tropical weather, you will know what is to hold a 700 in your hands, look through the scope, see the mil-dots on the target, breath, hold and gently pull the trigger. What a rush of emotions the author takes you through as you turn the pages, and page after page you can see the full imagery that author conveys to you. The author conveys a lot of technical information richly blended with historical factoids that gives the book a sense of reality. And easy sense of reality, something that says, that could have had happened to me. This is a very good book; I wish someone would have the sense to turn into a movie.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Once a hunter always a hunterBy claudette valliereThis was one great read.Starts out in Idaho where Bob's wife and daughter are riding in the high country. One of their neighbors rides up and they stop to talk. The neighbor is blown out of his saddle and Julie and Nikki ride like hell for cover. Julie is shot in the collar bone and Nikki gets away.Bob Lee Swagger and the authorities find the nest the sniper used. A nest thats a decoy.Swagger finds the real nest quite a ways away. He realizes the guy made one hell of a shot to hit Julie. The neighbor, not so much as he was just sitting there on his horse. Julie was riding hell for leather to get away. The shooter is a pro.Swagger just knows the shooter was the Russian who had tagged him and killed Donnie Fenn in 1971. He was that kind of pro. A pro who has wounded Julie. A pro who is now on Swaggers hit list.So begins one great read. A read that goes back and forth from 1971 to the present. Of course 1971 takes Bob Lee Swagger and his spotter Donnie Fenn back to Nam. Back to a time when the two of them held off a battalion of VC and Cong on their way to Dodge City a us military base. On their way to destroy the camp using monsoon rains as cover. A time when Swagger was badly wounded and Fenn was killed on his last day in Nam.1971 also takes us back to a conspiracy. A conspiracy involving Fenn, his girlfriend, later his wife, Julie, Trig a charasmatic peace movement leader and deaths.Three deaths to be exact. One death was viewed as bad luck. Wrong place. Wrong time. One death was seen as a simple murder when the victim was discovered months later. One death was seen as a martyr for his cause. How wrong those suppositions turned out to be.Thirty years later Bob Lee Swagger finally figures it all out and exactes revenge. Revenge the Swagger way.Yup. One hell of a read and worth way more than five stars.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Intriguing plot and protagonist but "Too many notes, Mozart."By Domestic gnomeSwagger is a great character, strong, self-reliant, flawed - the American archetype from Hawkeye to Reacher. Hunter does a great job weaving together disparate threads to form a whole cloth that spans two decades from 1971 to the early 90s. Protestors, the Marines, the CIA, the KGB, GRU, FBI move in and out of Swagger's so-called life. It is a ripping tale and the attention to detail is great...well sort of great because Hunter needs a more forceful editor. Each physical or emotional (often both) action requires seemingly endless description and explication. The tension and action are milked from some great scenes because of over-long ruminations or detailed descriptions that serve only to boost the word total. So ironically, an action novel is drained of its most precious attribute - action. Think Jack Reacher written by Thomas Hardy.Too bad because Swagger is a great character surrounded by some great characters. The plot is original - with certain noteworthy exceptions e.g. we know exactly what will happen to Donny about a page after he is introduced. Hunter would do well to put down the Hardy read some Hemingway.Try "Point of Impact" first. Much tighter. Also, the film, "Shooter" with Mark Wahlberg is a well-made thriller that incorporates some elements of other Hunter Swagger books.