Action or romance?

This was pretty well written. But, if I heard "Oh Bud." From another female character to the "hero" one more time I was going to lose my cookies. Sheesh. But, the action although predictable was good and fast. lose the angst and romance and stick to the action. The book should have been about half as long still, I'd give it three and a half on the action and characters. Although, I really did didn't feel much attachment to any of them. ( )

Barely worthwhile. ( )

This was even better than [b:Point of Impact|127712|Point of Impact|Stephen Hunter|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171941562s/127712.jpg|3870]. Gritty and good. ( )

Lamar Pye, his mentally retarded cousin, Odell, and a thrid man escape from McAlester State Penn, a maximum security prison. Pye had just murdered another prisoner who tried to rape him in the prision showers. Now, with nothing to lose, the men go on a killing and robbery spree in Oklahoma and North Texas.

They stop at a ranch to see if they can find weapons. The ranch is owned by WWII vet Bill Stepford who lives there with his wife, Mary.

State police Sgt. Bud Pewtie and his young partner, Ted Pepper, happen to stop at a restaurant where the waitress asks them to check in on Stepford. He comes to that restaurant for breakfast every day and didn't show up. Since he's an older man, she is worried that something may have happened.

Not suspecting that they are approaching cold blooded killers, the troopers are ambushed. Pepper is killed and Pewtie wounded.

Stephen Hunter gives an excellent, well plotted story of the escape, the horrors inflicted by the fugitives and the relentless pursuit.

All of the major characters have flaws. Pewtie is a self-centered egotist who is having an affair with his partner's wife. His lieutenant is an alcoholic and Lemar Pye is so evil that the memory of his deeds will remain in the reader's mind for a long time.

An enjoyable reading experience. ( )

This was one of the worst books I have ever read! ( )

First, a bit of background about this series of novels. Stephen Hunter has two main characters: Earl Swagger, a veteran of WWII, a state trooper, tough, quiet, capable, tormented. Earl has a son, Bob Lee, who follows in his father's footsteps in most things. In Vietnam, Bob Lee (trained as a sniper) is known as Bob the Nailer. The first novel in the Bob Lee series starts twenty years later, when he is reluctantly drawn out of retirement.

Here's the challenge: Hunter jumps around in time, and back and forth between related storylines. My strong advice is to read the novels in the order you see here, although it will seem at first that Dirty White Boys doesn't belong where I've put it. It does. You won't see why until Black Light, and you won't appreciate Black Light unless you read Dirty White Boys first. Unfortunately there's almost no indication of this when you pick up on the books in a bookstore, and you might somehow miss what can only be called a near-classical tragedy if certain things don't happen in order. So I'm telling you. My suggestion would also be to read the Earl Swagger books before the Bob Lee books. But that's not strictly necessary.

Bob Lee Swagger
1. Point of Impact (1993)
2. Dirty White Boys (1994)
3. Black Light (1996)
4. Time to Hunt (1998)

Earl Swagger
1. Hot Springs (2000)
2. Pale Horse Coming (2001)
3. Havana (2003)

So you've got two interrelated series of books about a father and a son, jumping around in time. Why bother? Because when Hunter is on top of his game, these are fantastic stories. Bob Lee and Earl are both fascinating, frustrating, engaging, over the top and believable at the same time. Earl's difficult boyhood (which makes for some of the best reading in the series) shores up what might otherwise feel like Hunter's fraught characterization.

However. The novels are not all equal (and how could they be?) Dirty White Boys has one of the most provocative opening paragraphs I've ever run into. It's a great story, flawed by what I can only call a shallow characterization of a mentally disabled character and Hunter's (failed) attempt to portray his inner monologue.

3 escaped cons match wits with PI; frenzied action

1.96 ( )