Stephen Hunter's 'Front Sight' is a compilation of 3 separate novels about "The Shooter's" backstory. I really enjoyed Hunter's decision to give his readers some of the backstory to what made Bob Lee Swagger who he is. Beginning with Grandpa Swagger in Chicago's Meatpacking District to Dad Swagger in the days before Atlantic City was established, Stephen Hunter establishes Bob Lee Swaggers ideals and thought process.

Each of these novels would and could stand on their own. But by linking them together in Front Sight, the author prepares a foundation which makes all the other Swagger Thrillers make sense. In a time we need All - American Heroes, Hunter gives us a book we can use and give as a primer to learn values and ethics. Great job!

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

This is three great short stories that are full of action and suspense. I read this book in one setting, it was so good I couldn't put it down.
I received a complimentary copy from Atria Books via NetGalley and was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

An outstanding read! Stephen Hunter has did it again with his Swaggert stories. The three novellas are perfect stories for the three main characters. They are suspenseful and will keep your attention. I could not put this book down till I finished it! A great read for the Hunter fans.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Three novellas that feature three generations of Swaggers, the characters made famous by Stephen Hunter. If you have not read any Bob Lee Swagger books, you need to get started......you are way behind.

I love reading short stories. I keep a couple of short story books onhand to fill in the times I have between appointments or waiting for someone. The stories show the author's skills as they must give readers the feel of a full length novel within a few chapters. Readers must have their interest piqued quickly and held as the story races to the end. It takes an outstanding author to successfully wring that WOW out of a reader with a short story and Stephen Hunter manages it on a regular basis.

Advertisers love to promote bargains, especially when they can tell customers they’re getting two things for the price of one. Author Stephen Hunter goes them one better. In his latest book, “Front Sight,” readers get three novellas featuring three of Hunter’s best-known protagonists in one fast-paced work. Any one of the novellas could have been expanded into a first-rate thriller. Together, they make one excellent read for Hunter and crime fiction fans.

Hunter’s most famous character is Bob Lee Swagger, an ex-Vietnam master sniper whose exploits back in civilian life have spawned a dozen novels. As that series progressed, the author expanded it to include works featuring Swagger’s father, Earl, and his grandfather, Charles. All three are stars in their own novella in “Front Sight.” And all three stories are a brilliant mix of historical fiction, old-fashioned mystery, and shoot-’em-up action.

“City of Meat” is set in 1934 Chicago, where Charles Swagger is on an assignment with the agency that will become better known as the FBI. Charles took down John Dillinger a couple of months earlier, and the agency wants him available if they locate their next top target, Baby Face Nelson. As the novella begins, Charles chases down a false lead to Nelson in the Chicago Stockyards. Although he doesn’t find the infamous gangster, Charles stumbles across a new drug ring operating in Chicago’s black neighborhoods. Pushers with no known gang affiliation are selling what they call “night train,” a form of the deadly narcotic that will later become known as “yellow jackets.” Charles teams up with one of Chicago’s few black police officers to find the source of the drug and the people behind the drug ring.

As historical fiction, “City of Meat” is first rate. Readers learn about life and crime in Chicago of that era beyond the Al Capones and Elliot Nesses. And they learn about the assembly-line business of turning cattle into meat. That’s not pleasant reading, but the way Hunter describes it, the process, and the stockyard atmosphere become fascinating. Race relations are a significant factor in all three novellas in “Front Sight.” The overriding theme over 40 years is that as long as crime stays in black neighborhoods, white cops and politicians waste little time worrying over what goes on there. That’s true in “City of Meat,” where Charles surprises his black “partner,” Sylvester Washington, by being honest and genuinely interested in stopping the drug ring. There’s a major shootout near the end of the novella, and Charles becomes a Sherlock Holmes of sorts by deducing who the mastermind behind the drug ring is.

“Johnny Tuesday” is set in 1947 on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The title character is actually Earl Swagger, who is operating unofficially. (A local woman gave him the Johnny Tuesday name as a joke.) Earl wants to solve a two-year-old bank robbery in which a professional crew killed two people while stealing a prominent resident’s wife’s jewelry. Earl knows he won’t get cooperation from local law enforcement, so he befriends a black World War II veteran. That veteran has connections with the servants of the well-to-do and provides Earl with valuable intelligence. As Earl investigates, he earns the wrath of various underworld factions, as well as the thieves. The book has several exciting set pieces, including one in which Earl and a hired killer are in the same house on different floors, shooting at each other through the ceiling and floor.

“Johnny Tuesday” is the shortest and most straightforward of the novellas in “Front Sight.” It’s also the weakest, although I use the term “weakest” advisedly here. On its own, “Johnny Tuesday” is a fast-paced action thriller. But the explanation of what’s behind the robbery is a bit of a disappointment, perhaps because this story lacks the historical context the others have.

The last novella in “Front Sight” finally brings in Bob Lee Swagger. “Five Dolls for the Gut Hook” is set in Hot Springs, AR, in 1978. The town, long a den for all sorts of vice, wants to change its image to a family resort. That effort is threatened by a serial killer who likes to slice up young women and bury them. The local police are over-matched, but they don’t want to bring in state police or the FBI for fear of turning the killings into a media circus. So, they ask Bob, who lives nearby, to lead the investigation. Bob has no police training, but he has good investigative instincts. He also has a knack for making enemies, including the local mob, who want him out of the way once he finds the killer.

“Five Dolls for the Gut Hook” takes place at the dawn of the era of forensic profiling. Bob gets some advice from a Texas psychology professor and eventually puts together a profile of the killer. The eventual solution proves to be the most complex of the three novellas, but one that seems plausible under the circumstances. Those circumstances include another shootout between Bob and some of the local police and a well-armed set of bad guys who want to ambush them. There’s even a final drawdown between Bob and one particularly loathsome sleazeball. Further, unlike the two earlier stories in “Front Sight,” readers learn more about Bob and his psychological problems. He has PTSD and is in a constant battle with his cravings for alcohol. “Five Dolls for the Gut Hook” is the best story in the book.

Stephen Hunter is a former film critic; all three stories have a cinematic touch. Any of them could make a good movie. The author claims that “Johnny Tuesday” was designed as a tribute to film noir and “Five Dolls for the Gut Hook” as a Giallo, but the resemblance is a bit strained in both cases. What’s not strained is the degree of detail the author works into all three stories while still keeping the action moving. (A young Bill Clinton is a minor character in “Five Dolls.”) Since all three Swaggers are highly proficient with firearms, the author describes in great detail the weapons they and their criminal adversaries use in the various shootouts. I’m no gun buff, but I found the descriptions and anecdotes interesting. The theme of race relations is present in all three stories as well. The Swaggers aren’t liberal crusaders, but they are among the few white characters who treat blacks as hand-shaking equals. And that friendship proves helpful to the Swaggers over and over.

If I were rating the stories in “Front Sight” individually, I would give “Johnny Tuesday” four stars and the other two novellas five stars. That gives the book a solid five-star rating, and I highly recommend it. As I read the book, I was grateful the author divided it into three standalone stories. That allowed me to finish each one and get some sleep at night before starting on the next. “Front Sight” will appeal to mystery lovers, action fans, and historical fiction buffs. Readers should definitely set their sights on this one.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.
NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

Three generations of detectives must each solve a crime that others can not.

Many readers are familiar with Stephen Hunter’s books featuring sniper Bob Lee Swagger, who comes from a line of men known both for their skill with guns and their ability to find solutions to crimes that leave others baffled. In Front Sight, the reader gets to see several different Swaggers doing what they do best in three novellas. The first is “The Night Train”, featuring Bob Lee’s grandfather Charles Swagger. Charles is in Chicago, fresh off the successful capture of John Dillinger and tasked with hunting down Baby Faced Nelson. Following a tip that Nelson was seen in one of the local stockyards, Charles heads down to investigate. The tip proves to be worthless, but while there Charles is attacked by a man who is out of his mind. Charles survives due to his speed with a gun, while his attacker, a man of color, lies dead. Quick on the scene are two railroad “bulls”, who are less interested in a dead black man and more interested in getting money from Swagger in order to look the other way. A Chicago PD officer joins them, “Two Gun” Washington, and suggests that the two would=be extortionists hit the road. He reads the scene, agrees that Swagger was acting in self-defense, and suggests that it may be best to leave the crime unreported. The police aren’t going to care about another dead black man, but would love to complicate the job of a federal officer like Swagger. A little digging around leads Swagger and Washington to suspect that someone is distributing a new narcotic in the colored part of town, a drug that is driving some of its users insane to the point of murder, and they set about finding out who is behind it. What does the recent fire that destroyed six square blocks of the stockyards have to do with the case, if anything? And can these two oddly matched officers of the law cut through corruption, incompetence and politics to stop the spread of this poison?
In “Johnny Tuesday”, we get to see Earl Swagger (Bob Lee’s father, seen most recently in “The Bullet Garden”) as he rolls into Chesterfield City, Maryland, a small city that runs on money from the local tobacco growing industry. Years earlier a bank in Chesterfield City had been robbed in broad daylight, the thieves getting away with a bag of money and an expensive necklace belonging to the Tapscott family, the local tobacco barons, and leaving behind two dead bodies. The crime was never solved, and Swagger (for reasons unknown to the reader) is looking to bring the robbers to justice. He heads to the part of town knows as Libertyville where the people of color live, in search of a former soldier named Nick Jackson. Swagger is going to need the type of information that the colored citizens, who work for the wealthy families and can see and hear what goes on in those houses while remaining invisible to the inhabitants, can gather. Nick’s reputation for bravery in the war has led Swagger to seek him out as his conduit to the Libertyville community. There is plenty of corruption in this small Maryland city, as it turns out, with competing gangs and even the requisite femme fatale in the person of Mrs. Tapscott. There are also people who don’t want anyone poking into the city’s affairs in general or the bank robbery in particular, and Swagger will find his shooting skills essential to staying alive long enough to find out what happened in Chesterfield CIty.
In the third novella, “Five Dolls for the Gut Hook”, it is time for Bob Lee himself to look into a troubling situation. Bob Lee is not in a good place in his life; he like so many returned from serving his country in Vietnam having seen and done things he would like to forget but can’t. A steady stream of whiskey being ingested is the only thing he has found that can numb the pain, and he has been ingesting plenty. Then one day Bob Lee is visited by family friend and former county prosecutor Sam Vincent and the chief of police from nearby Hot Springs. Someone is killing young women in Hot Springs, butchering them really, and the locals are stumped. Since the powers=that-be in Hot Springs are trying to revamp the area’s image from a gangster town to a family-friendly resort, it is not in the town’s interest to have it be known that a killer is on the loose. They want Swagger to dry himself out a bit and prove that, like his father and grandfather before him, he is more than just a man talented with the gun….he can see patterns and arrive at solutions that most can not. Taking things one day at a time, Swagger arrives in Hot Springs and starts asking questions in all of the right, and some of the wrong, places. With the help of two detectives, veteran Bill Canton and young black Eddie Rollins, Swagger starts looking into the happenings at a local strip club known as the Mardi Gras where at least one of the victims had worked. He makes a quick enemy in Badger Grumley, the not-very-bright but well-connected bartender at the club, when he roughs him up in order to get some answers. He also finds an ally in Franny Wincombe, a cute young woman who works at the Mardi Gras even though she isn’t the type of girl who generally ends up there. Swagger uses the observational skills he honed as an Army sniper and the depths of his knowledge of life in Arkansas to start developing a picture of how the killer is ripping up his victims. The reason why the killer is doing it is not as apparent, nor is the site of the killing, but Swagger and his team will do their best to catch the killer before another victim is chosen.
Three great stories are loosely tied together by the familial relation of the three detectives and a weapon that is passed down from father to son, Each man is a product of his time….one working for the FBI chasing down gangsters, another working on his own in the style of a film noir PI, and the third in a 70’s horror film filled with strung out hippies and city fathers determined to paint over the unseemly parts of their community. They believe in right and wrong, don’t always follow the rules as strictly as their bosses might like, and are both the man you want on your side in a gunfight and the person who can sort the wheat from the chaff in a puzzling situation. In each of these stories, the Swagger men are fine working with people of color at their side, in times when that was not the case for many a white person; they care only about the quality of the person’s work and their character. If you have read earlier Swagger books, you will certainly enjoy this one; and if you haven’t, but enjoy a well=written detective story (James Lee Burke, C. J. Box and Lee Child are authors who spring to mind), then I recommend that you give this one a try. Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy of Front Sight.

Three different generations of Swagger men are featured in these three novellas. They are all written in a different style and my favorite was the one featuring Bob Lee - Five Dolls for the Gut. In general, I don't usually enjoy novellas, but I found that these were well-written, detailed stories with plenty of action, twists and justice at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

There's a book for each Swagger in Front Sight. The first tells us in great detail about meatpacking- so much information that I never wanted to know. But it does redeem itself a story. Stephen Hunter is too good a writer to do that.
The other two stories were good but nothing to knock my socks off. Fans of the Swaggers will no doubt be pleased.
Thanks NetGalley, for the ARC.

Front Sight is actually 3 novellas featuring the “stars” of the many Stephen Hunter books featuring three generations of the Swagger family. My 3 star rating is an average - City of Meat (Charles Swagger) gets 2 stars, Johnny Tuesday (Earl Swagger) gets 3 stars, and Five Dolls for the Gut Hook (Bob Lee) gets 4 stars.

The Night Train is set in the early 1930,a and features Bob Lee’s grandfather Charles Swagger, who recently helped capture John Dillinger and is now chasing Baby Face Nelson. He follows a tip to the Chicago stock yards where he discovers that a new narcotic is resulting in several deaths. In typical Hunter style, Charles uses both his intuitive nature as well as strong arm tactics to “solve” the case. This novella was the longest of the three and just seemed to drag on and on. And the fact that I am from Chicago and a lot of the geography seemed off didn’t help.

Johnny Tuesday features Bob Lee’s father, Earl Swagger. In 1945 in the small town of Chesterfield, Maryland in the heart of tobacco country, a bank robbery results in the death of two people and has yet to be solved. Earl comes to town (although I don’t think the reader is ever given a reason) and begins to investigate the unsolved crime. He is led on a meandering path through the town, its residents (corrupt politicians, gamblers, exploited working people, gangs, a hitman, and so on) bent on keeping him in the dark. He needs all his physical skills to bring those responsible for the crime to justice. The shortest of the three, this one moved along a good pace and kept me guessing as to what Earl would finally uncover.

The character I am most familiar with in the Hunter books, Bob Lee, is a thirty-two year old Vietnam veteran who is suffering from what we would now call PTSD. He has returned to Arkansa is drinking his way through life after his three tours when he is call to nearby Hot Springs to help solve the murder of a young girl. The town is trying to remake itself into a tourist destination and thus asking a sniper instead of a detective to investigate is an attempt to maintain the city’s new reputation. Using his sniper’s mind to think outside the normal police procedure as well as connecting to a couple of the detectives who have run into a brick wall on the case leads to an entertaining, fast-moving story with perhaps some clues to Bob Lee’s future.

My thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Perfect if you haven't been reading the Swagger novels because it's a wonderful introduction to the family but also perfect if you're a fan because you'll find new info about each of these dynamic men who solve crimes others have been unable to. Grandfather Charles, father Earl, and Bob Lee each find themselves with a topical and challenging case appropriate to their time frame. The stories are linked in subtle ways beyond the family situation and all are wonderfully atmospheric. As with a collection of short stories, I read these one at a time over a period of weeks, enjoying each for what it presented but other readers may choose to gulp them down all at once. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Great read.

Stephen Hunter's "Front Sight" is a gripping thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. Set against the backdrop of political intrigue and espionage, the novel follows the journey of master sniper Bob Lee Swagger as he navigates through a web of deceit and danger. Hunter's meticulous attention to detail and vivid storytelling make "Front Sight" a must-read for fans of the genre.
From the intricate character development to the heart-pounding action sequences, "Front Sight" offers a multifaceted narrative that will captivate readers of all interests.
I highly recommend this book.

A different type of story from Stephen Hunter - three novellas with three generations of Swaggers.

Charles Swagger is working for the early version of the FBI and looking for Baby Face Nelson. Earl Swagger is investigating a bank robbery. And Bob Lee Swagger is newly home from Vietnam - hitting the bourbon hard when he is asked to bring his sniper skills to help find a killer.

Charles and Earl Swagger are larger than life - always trying to find the answer and see justice at the same time.
The Bob Lee story gives us some of his back story and remined me a little of the Hunter book - I, Ripper. Bob Lee sees just how much his ability as a sniper can catch a killer.
There are a lot of great characters in all three stories, all reflecting the time and setting.

Hunter fans will love this new book full of the Swagger men.

I first discovered Stephen Hunter way back in 1973 when he published “Point of Impact” the first of the Bob Lee Swagger novels. In this book, I learned that a person can shoot a gun accurately at 1000 yards. I also found Swagger to be a fascinating character full of existential angst. Since that time I’ve read many more books by Hunter and found them full of interesting characters and a good sense of place. While I’m vehemently against our current gun culture the detailed gun descriptions throughout these books helped me to understand their allure.

Before writing novels Hunter wrote movie reviews. In “Front Sight” he has written three novellas each based on a different movie genre. The heroes of the novellas include Bob Lee Swagger, his father, and his grandfather. I particularly enjoyed “Johnny Tuesday” in which Hunter sets his noir-based story in Chesterfield, MD, a small town full of bad guys. Normally, I think noir is set in big cities like Los Angeles or Chicago, but the noir theme in this novella just jumps off the page. A good crime novel has a vivid sense of place and Hunter gets it just right.

Bob Lee shows up in “Hot Springs, Arkansas, 1978.” Hunter’s introduction to this novella says it is based on giallo the bloody Italian mystery-horror genre of the 1970s. I’m unfamiliar with this genre but the novella is most certainly bloody. Bob Lee is still full of existential angst and the sense of place is intense.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

A wonderful collection that fills in the history of Bob Lee Swagger, a 5-star home run for Stephen Hunter fans!

I'm a huge fan of the author's "Swagger" books. I've enjoyed them all. In this latest effort, Hunter has included all three of the Swagger men, Charles, Earl, and Bob Lee. A story about each of them. Yet pulling all three stories together so they are interconnected through time. I am left amazed at the talent Hunter has. Not content with simply building on the same tried and true formulas, this time he branches out and writes in a different style for each story.
The first story, featuring Charles, is a throwback to the 1930's genre of the "message picture". What he calls clever, quick-thinking pulse-readers. Showing the common man in his struggles, trying to overcome the system. He does this well. It reads like an old movie, showing the dirt, grit, determination, and violence many faced. It's great!
The second story, featuring Earl, utilizes the American "film noir" technique of the 1940's. With it's cynical attitudes and motivations. I think this was my favorite of the three.
The third story, featuring Bob Lee, was written in a style that I was completely unfamiliar with. Hunter calls it "Giallo" the genre of bloody Italian mystery-horror films of the seventies. And wow, did he ever! Perhaps this one is the horror we've never experienced in a Swagger novel. Bloody, gritty, raw. Psycho. Wanted to take a shower after reading it. But, it's also great.
I can't imagine how the author keeps coming up with new angles. His mind must never sleep. I hope he can continue it for many more years!

Front Sight

Well, the wait was certainly worth it.
A trifecta of Swagger novellas, each one building on the prior and even better than the prior one.

Their Arkansas blood through their generations. Their gun skills passed on to the next. Their pride and sense of right and wrong were constant.

You won’t go wrong with this one, or any of the prior Bob Lee Swagger novels. Read them all.
I want to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thanks to Stephen Hunter, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great addition to the Swagger canon. I appreciate that Charles, Earl, and Bob Lee all have their own stories and that the stories are related. I also appreciate background on early Bob Lee.

Each of the novellas revolves around one of the characters, goes through a satisfying bit of action and problem solving before wrapping up at a satisfying end. Recommended for fans of the Swaggers, action, and justice.

Posted to Goodreads manually due to link problems.

This is a collection of novellas featuring 3 generations of the Swagger family, Grand Father, Father and and Bob Lee. Each novella is on its own but they are connected thru family. It was interesting to see the history of the family as told by each generation. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

480 pages

4 stars

Stephen Hunter regales us with three great stories of the Swagger family.
First, we visit Earl Swagger during the era of stock yards and big name villains. It is 1933. Earl is sent to the Chicago stockyards to look for “Baby Face” Nelson. When he arrives, without backup of any kind, he discovers far more than he bargained for.

We move on to 1945. And Earl Swagger is investigating a bank robbery. The suspect, Johnny Tuesday, killed a man, and another was shot. He also stole a substantial amount of money from a bank in a small town in Maryland.

Unfortunately for Earl, he walks into a firestorm of racism, nasty politics, bad people and everyone has a gun and they are quick to use them. Can Earl get out of this one in one piece?

As an aside, I cannot praise Mr. Hunter’s last book about Bob Lee and his time in VietNam. It was a riveting and excellent read. In this short story, Bob Lee has returned, but mourns his friends that were lost for what he feels as nothing. He drowns himself in hard liquor.

Two men draw him into a case. While he is not a cop, let alone a detective, he takes on the case. Bob Lee struggles with the major question of who he is saving. Is he fighting for the young women he hopes to save from a terrible death? Or, is he fighting for his own salvation?

The theme that runs through these stories is a little disheartening. There is so much injustice and violence in this world. Mr. Hunter seems to want the reader to see that, given time, good will triumph. Sometimes it just takes a while.

The Swagger men are all heroes. They strive for fairness and are good men. We should all behave thusly.

I want to thank NetGalley and Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler for forwarding to me a copy of this very fine book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.