Bob Lee Swagger Series
Written by Stephen Hunter
Narrated by Eric G. Dove, R.C. Bray and Buck Schirner
3.5/5
()
About this series
Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Stephen Hunter returns with a taut, white-knuckled thriller featuring master sniper Bob Lee Swagger as he protects a group of political hostages during a perilous standoff and once again proves his title of “true American literary icon” (Mark Greaney, author of Mission Critical).
After his successful takedown of a dangerous terrorist, Bob Lee Swagger learns that no good deed goes unpunished. Summoned to court by the United States Congress, Swagger is accused of reckless endangerment by a hardheaded anti-gun congresswoman. But what begins as political posturing soon turns deadly when the auditorium where the committee is being held is attacked.
Swagger, the congresswoman, and numerous bystanders and reporters are taken hostage by a group of violent operatives. Soon, the very people who had accused him are depending on him to save their lives. Trapped in the auditorium and still struggling with injuries from his last assignment, Swagger must rely on his instincts, his shooting skills, and the help of a mysterious rogue sniper on the outside in order to ensure that everyone makes it out alive.
A heart-pounding and crackling action-packed novel, Targeted proves that Stephen Hunter is “a true master at the pinnacle of his craft. No one does it better” (Jack Carr, Former Navy SEAL Sniper and author of The Terminal List).
Titles in the series (12)
- I, Sniper
6
Four famed ’60s radicals are gunned down at long range by a sniper. Under enormous media scrutiny, the FBI quickly concludes that Marine war hero Carl Hitchcock, whose ninety-three kills were considered the leading body count tally among American marksman in Vietnam, was the shooter. But as the Bureau, led by Special Agent Nick Memphis, bears down, Hitchcock commits suicide. In closing out the investigation, Nick discovers a case made in heaven: everything fits, from timeline, ballistics, and forensics to motive, means, and opportunity. Maybe it’s a little too perfect. Nick asks his friend, the retired Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, to examine the data. Using a skill set no other man on earth possesses, Swagger soon discovers unseen anomalies and gradually begins to unravel a sophisticated conspiracy—one that would require the highest level of warcraft by the most superb special operations professionals.Swagger soon closes in, and those responsible will stop at nothing to take him out. But these heavily armed men make the mistake of thinking they are hunting Bob, when he is, in fact, hunting them. And when Swagger and the last of his antagonists finally face each other, reenacting a classic ritual of arms, it is clear that at times there’s nothing more necessary than a good man with a gun and the guts to use it.
- The 47th Samurai
4
Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers, two brave fighters on opposite sides, met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island. Only Earl Swagger survived. More than sixty years later, Yano comes to America to honor the legacy of his heroic father by recovering the sword he used in the battle. His search has led him to Crazy Horse, Idaho, where Bob Lee, ex-marine and Vietnam veteran, has settled into a restless retirement and immediately pledges himself to Yano’s quest. Bob Lee finds the sword and delivers it to Yano in Tokyo. On inspection, they discover that it is not a standard WWII blade, but a legendary shin-shinto katana, an artifact of the nation. It is priceless but worth killing for. Suddenly Bob is at the center of a series of terrible crimes he barely understands but vows to avenge. And to do so, he throws himself into the world of the samurai, Tokyo’s dark, criminal yakuza underworld, and the unwritten rules of Japanese culture. Swagger’s allies, hard-as-nails, American-born Susan Okada and the brave, cocaine-dealing tabloid journalist Nick Yamamoto, help him move through this strange, glittering, and ominous world from the shady bosses of the seamy Kabukicho district to officials in the highest echelons of the Japanese government, but in the end, he is on his own and will succeed only if he can learn that to survive samurai, you must become samurai. As the plot races and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that a ruthless conspiracy is in place, and the only thing that can be taken for granted is that money, power, and sex can drive men of all nationalities to gruesome extremes. If Swagger hopes to stop them, he must be willing not only to die but also to kill.
- Night of Thunder
5
New York Times bestselling author Stephen Hunter sends former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger deep into the heart of NASCAR country in this action-packed thriller. Talk about a ride! Woe unto he who crosses Bob Lee Swagger, especially when his daughter’s life is at stake. Forced off the road and into a crash that leaves her in a coma, clinging to life, reporter Nikki Swagger had begun to peel back the onion of a Southern-fried-conspiracy bubbling with all the angst, resentment, and dysfunction that Dixie gangsters can muster. An ancient, violent crime clan, a possibly corrupt law enforcement structure, gunmen of all stripes and shapes, and deranged evangelicals rear their ugly heads and will live to rue the day they targeted the wrong man’s daughter. It’s what you call your big-time bad career move. All of it is set against the backdrop of excitement and insanity that only a weeklong NASCAR event can bring to the backwoods of a town as seemingly sleepy as Bristol, Tennessee. A master at the top of his game, Hunter provides a host of thrilling new reasons to listen as fast as we can. When Swagger picks up peeling where his daughter left off, and his swift sword of justice is let loose, we find a true American hero in his most stunning action to date. And—in the form of Brother Richard, a self-decreed “Sinnerman” out of the old fire-and-brimstone tradition—Hunter offers up his most diabolical, engaging villain yet. A triumph of story, character, and style, Night of Thunder is Stephen Hunter at his very best.
- Dead Zero
7
From New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter comes a thriller that pits former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger against the only man who might be able to outshoot him. A marine sniper team on a mission in tribal territories on the Afghan-Pakistan border, Whiskey 2-2 is ambushed by professionals using the latest high-tech shooting gear. Badly wounded, the team's sole survivor, Gunnery Sergeant Ray Cruz, aka "the Cruise Missile," is determined to finish his job. He almost succeeds when a mystery blast terminates his enterprise, leaving a thirty-foot crater where a building used to be—and where Sergeant Cruz was meant to be hiding. Months pass. Ray's target, an Afghan warlord named Ibrahim Zarzi, sometimes called "The Beheader," becomes an American asset in the region and beyond, beloved by State, the Administration, and the Agency. He arrives in Washington for consecration as Our Man in Kabul. And that brings Ray Cruz out of hiding. Swagger, the legendary hero of seven of Hunter's novels from Point of Impact to last year's bestselling I, Sniper, is recruited by the FBI to stop the Cruise Missile from reaching his target. The problem is that the more Swagger learns about what happened in Zabol, the more he questions the US government's support of Zarzi and the more he identifies with Cruz as hunter instead of prey.
- Dead Zero
7
From New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter comes a thriller that pits former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger against the only man who might be able to outshoot him. A marine sniper team on a mission in tribal territories on the Afghan-Pakistan border, Whiskey 2-2 is ambushed by professionals using the latest high-tech shooting gear. Badly wounded, the team's sole survivor, Gunnery Sergeant Ray Cruz, aka "the Cruise Missile," is determined to finish his job. He almost succeeds when a mystery blast terminates his enterprise, leaving a thirty-foot crater where a building used to be—and where Sergeant Cruz was meant to be hiding. Months pass. Ray's target, an Afghan warlord named Ibrahim Zarzi, sometimes called "The Beheader," becomes an American asset in the region and beyond, beloved by State, the Administration, and the Agency. He arrives in Washington for consecration as Our Man in Kabul. And that brings Ray Cruz out of hiding. Swagger, the legendary hero of seven of Hunter's novels from Point of Impact to last year's bestselling I, Sniper, is recruited by the FBI to stop the Cruise Missile from reaching his target. The problem is that the more Swagger learns about what happened in Zabol, the more he questions the US government's support of Zarzi and the more he identifies with Cruz as hunter instead of prey.
- The Third Bullet
8
It’s not even a clue. It’s a whisper, a trace, a ghost echo, drifting down through the decades via chance connections so fragile that they would disintegrate in the puff of a breath. But it’s enough to get legendary former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger interested in the events of November 22, 1963, and the third bullet that so decisively ended the life of John F. Kennedy and set the stage for one of the most enduring controversies of our time. Swagger begins his slow night stalk through a much-traveled landscape. But he’s asking questions that few have asked before: Why did the third bullet explode? Why did Lee Harvey Oswald, about to become the most hunted man on earth, risk it all by returning to his rooming house to secure a pistol he easily could have brought with him? How could a conspiracy that went unpenetrated for fifty years have been thrown together in the two and a half days between the announcement of the president’s route and the assassination itself? As Bob investigates, another voice enters the narrative: knowing, ironic, almost familiar, that of a gifted, Yale-educated veteran of the CIA Plans Division. Hugh Meachum has secrets and the means and the will to keep them buried. When weighed against his own legacy, Swagger’s life is an insignificant expense — but to blunt the threat, he’ll first have to ambush the sniper. As each man hunts the other across today’s globe and through the thickets of history, The Third Bullet builds to an explosive climax that will finally prove what Bob Lee Swagger has always known: it’s never too late for justice.
- The Third Bullet
8
It’s not even a clue. It’s a whisper, a trace, a ghost echo, drifting down through the decades via chance connections so fragile that they would disintegrate in the puff of a breath. But it’s enough to get legendary former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger interested in the events of November 22, 1963, and the third bullet that so decisively ended the life of John F. Kennedy and set the stage for one of the most enduring controversies of our time. Swagger begins his slow night stalk through a much-traveled landscape. But he’s asking questions that few have asked before: Why did the third bullet explode? Why did Lee Harvey Oswald, about to become the most hunted man on earth, risk it all by returning to his rooming house to secure a pistol he easily could have brought with him? How could a conspiracy that went unpenetrated for fifty years have been thrown together in the two and a half days between the announcement of the president’s route and the assassination itself? As Bob investigates, another voice enters the narrative: knowing, ironic, almost familiar, that of a gifted, Yale-educated veteran of the CIA Plans Division. Hugh Meachum has secrets and the means and the will to keep them buried. When weighed against his own legacy, Swagger’s life is an insignificant expense — but to blunt the threat, he’ll first have to ambush the sniper. As each man hunts the other across today’s globe and through the thickets of history, The Third Bullet builds to an explosive climax that will finally prove what Bob Lee Swagger has always known: it’s never too late for justice.
- Sniper's Honor
9
In this tour de force—part historical thriller, part modern adventure—from the New York Times bestselling author of I, Sniper, Bob Lee Swagger uncovers why WWII’s greatest sniper was erased from history…and why her disappearance still matters today. Ludmilla “Mili” Petrova was once the most hunted woman on earth, having raised the fury of two of the most powerful leaders on either side of World War II: Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. But Kathy Reilly of The Washington Post doesn’t know any of that when she encounters a brief mention of Mili in an old Russian propaganda magazine, and becomes interested in the story of a legendary, beautiful female sniper who seems to have all but vanished from history. Reilly enlists her friend, former marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, to parse out the scarce details of Mili’s military service. The more Swagger learns about Mili’s last mission, the more he’s convinced her disappearance was no accident—but why would the Russian government go to such great lengths to erase the existence of one of their own decorated soldiers? And why, when Swagger joins Kathy Reilly on a research trip to the Carpathian Mountains, is someone trying to kill them before they can find out? As Bob Lee Swagger, “one of the finest series characters ever to grace the thriller genre, now and forever” (Providence Journal-Bulletin), races to put the pieces together, Sniper's Honor takes listeners across oceans and time in an action-packed, compulsive listen.
- Sniper's Honor
9
In this tour de force—part historical thriller, part modern adventure—from the New York Times bestselling author of I, Sniper, Bob Lee Swagger uncovers why WWII’s greatest sniper was erased from history…and why her disappearance still matters today. Ludmilla “Mili” Petrova was once the most hunted woman on earth, having raised the fury of two of the most powerful leaders on either side of World War II: Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. But Kathy Reilly of The Washington Post doesn’t know any of that when she encounters a brief mention of Mili in an old Russian propaganda magazine, and becomes interested in the story of a legendary, beautiful female sniper who seems to have all but vanished from history. Reilly enlists her friend, former marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, to parse out the scarce details of Mili’s military service. The more Swagger learns about Mili’s last mission, the more he’s convinced her disappearance was no accident—but why would the Russian government go to such great lengths to erase the existence of one of their own decorated soldiers? And why, when Swagger joins Kathy Reilly on a research trip to the Carpathian Mountains, is someone trying to kill them before they can find out? As Bob Lee Swagger, “one of the finest series characters ever to grace the thriller genre, now and forever” (Providence Journal-Bulletin), races to put the pieces together, Sniper's Honor takes listeners across oceans and time in an action-packed, compulsive listen.
- Targeted
12
Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Stephen Hunter returns with a taut, white-knuckled thriller featuring master sniper Bob Lee Swagger as he protects a group of political hostages during a perilous standoff and once again proves his title of “true American literary icon” (Mark Greaney, author of Mission Critical). After his successful takedown of a dangerous terrorist, Bob Lee Swagger learns that no good deed goes unpunished. Summoned to court by the United States Congress, Swagger is accused of reckless endangerment by a hardheaded anti-gun congresswoman. But what begins as political posturing soon turns deadly when the auditorium where the committee is being held is attacked. Swagger, the congresswoman, and numerous bystanders and reporters are taken hostage by a group of violent operatives. Soon, the very people who had accused him are depending on him to save their lives. Trapped in the auditorium and still struggling with injuries from his last assignment, Swagger must rely on his instincts, his shooting skills, and the help of a mysterious rogue sniper on the outside in order to ensure that everyone makes it out alive. A heart-pounding and crackling action-packed novel, Targeted proves that Stephen Hunter is “a true master at the pinnacle of his craft. No one does it better” (Jack Carr, Former Navy SEAL Sniper and author of The Terminal List).
- G-Man
10
"A roaring good read." —FORBES.com Master sniper Bob Lee Swagger returns in this riveting novel by bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Hunter. Ryan Philippe currently stars as Bob Lee Swagger on the hit USA Network series Shooter. The Great Depression was marked by an epidemic of bank robberies and Tommy-gun-toting outlaws who became household names. Hunting them down was the new U.S. Division of Investigation—soon to become the FBI—which was determined to nab the most dangerous gangster this country has ever produced: Baby Face Nelson. To stop him, the Bureau recruited talented gunman Charles Swagger, World War I hero and sheriff of Polk County, Arkansas. Eighty years later, Charles's grandson Bob Lee Swagger uncovers a strongbox containing an array of memorabilia dating back to 1934—a federal lawman's badge, a .45 automatic preserved in cosmoline, a mysterious gun part, and a cryptic diagram—all belonging to Charles Swagger. Bob becomes determined to find out what happened to his grandfather—and why his own father never spoke of Charles. But as he investigates, Bob learns that someone is following him—and shares his obsession. Told in alternating timeframes, G-Man is a thrilling addition to Stephen Hunter's bestselling Bob Lee Swagger series.
- Game of Snipers
11
"Bob Lee Swagger is a true American literary icon."--Mark Greaney, New York Times Bestselling Author of Mission Critical In this blazing new thriller from Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, master sniper Bob Lee Swagger takes on his biggest job to date...and confronts an assassin with skills that match his own. When Bob Lee Swagger is approached by a woman who lost a son to war and has spent the years since risking all that she has to find the sniper who pulled the trigger, he knows right away he'll do everything in his power to help her. But what begins as a favor becomes an obsession, and soon Swagger is back in the action, teaming up with the Mossad, the FBI, and local American law enforcement as he tracks a sniper who is his own equal...and attempts to decipher that assassin's ultimate target before it's too late. With all-too-real threats and a twisty, masterful storytelling, Game of Snipers is another gripping addition to a bestselling Bob Lee Swagger series.
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter has written over twenty novels. The retired chief film critic for The Washington Post, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, he has also published two collections of film criticism and a nonfiction work, American Gunfight. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
More audiobooks from Stephen Hunter
The Bullet Garden: An Earl Swagger Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Basil's War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dirty White Boys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I, Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master Sniper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tapestry of Spies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bibliomysteries Volume 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Second Saladin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Bob Lee Swagger Series
Related audiobooks
I, Sniper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Time in Rio: A Wolfgang Pierce Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5That Time in Moscow: A Wolfgang Pierce Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5That Time in Sydney: A Wolfgang Pierce Thriller Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPatriot Force (A Zack Force Action Thriller—Book 1): Digitally narrated using a synthesized voice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Presence of Evil Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Net Force: Eye of the Drone Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5White Lie: John Winter Book 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Time in Tokyo: A Wolfgang Pierce Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Storm Front Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lethal Horizon: A Thriller Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNight of the Cobra: A Sniper Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Shot: A Sniper Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running the Maze: A Sniper Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Time in Cairo: A Wolfgang Pierce Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death Cycle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5INVASION: FRONTLINE: A War & Military Action Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outlaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBurke's Samovar: Bob Burke Suspense Thriller #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGold Bay: An Adam Weldon Thriller Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClean Kill: A Sniper Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sundown Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Crosshairs: A Sniper Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Suspense For You
Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Housemaid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Teacher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfect Marriage: a completely gripping psychological suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guest List: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silent Patient Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Misery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mr. Mercedes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wrong Place Wrong Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Club: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terminal List: A Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fool Me Once Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Know You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bright Young Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billy Summers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Green Mile Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nigerwife: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Missing Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Turn of the Key Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Bob Lee Swagger Series
821 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This one was difficult given the heavy amount of left wing woke politics being arrayed against Bob Lee. I had to stop listening on occasion as the accurately defined politicians made me so angry.
The reader does a better job than on the previous Earl Swagger book and while it took some time for the two subplots to create some value they finally link up. In the end though I remain saddened that politics and mainstream media triumphs over reason.