Dirty White Boys

When I was younger, my reading M.O. was fairly simple: I'd find a writer I liked, and then read everything they ever wrote. This worked well for a while, as I worked my way through the offerings of such genre greats as Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison and Robert Bloch. Over the years, however, my tastes expanded to the point where I could no longer indulge myself that way ("So many books, so little time.") Before Stephen Hunter, I hadn't read three books in a row by the same author in fifteen years. A good friend of mine turned me on to Hunter, recommending POINT OF IMPACT, wherein the author introduces Bob Lee Swagger, a professional shooter known to his peers as "Bob the Nailer." In POINT, Swagger becomes involved in a conspiracy of massive proportions and has to fall back on the lethal skills he learned in Vietnam in order to extricate himself. The incredible action sequences and the swift pacing of POINT left me anxious for more. I moved on to DIRTY WHITE BOYS, which has one of the most memorable first lines you'll ever read. DWB tells the story of lawman Bud Pewtie and his encounter with an escaped convict, the savage and wily Lamar Pye. As Pewtie's son says later in BLACK LIGHT, "They were fated somehow, mixed together." Pewtie seems to have a strange affinity for Pye, tracking him against all odds until the two square off in an epic battle at book's end. By now I was well and truly hooked on Hunter. Imagine my glee when I heard that he had just published another book, the last leg of a loose knit trilogy involving POINT OF IMPACT and DIRTY WHITE BOYS. BLACK LIGHT tells the tale of Russ Pewtie, son of lawman Bud, who decides to write a book about Earl Swagger, Bob Lee's father. Russ is fascinated by Earl, who died in a bloody shootout with Jimmie Pye, Lamar's daddy. Pewtie enlists the reluctant Bob Lee's help, and together they travel back to west Arkansas to investigate the strange circumstances of Earl Swagger's death. Their arrival stirs up a world of trouble, and only Bob Lee's extraordinary talent for survival keeps the pair alive. These novels really cook. Hunter is a truly American phenomenon--his prose evokes Steinbeck (the parallels to OF MICE AND MEN in DIRTY WHITE BOYS really strike a chord) and Faulkner, and his obsession with the past reeks of Ross MacDonald. Don't get me wrong, though, this ain't no "lit'ry" book as Lamar Pye might say. These novels speed along like runaway freight trains--the action is intense, and the suspense Hunter generates is on the level of Forsythe's DAY OF THE JACKAL or David Morrell in TESTAMENT or BLOOD OATH. Hunter also has a sense of humor--if he doesn't leave you sweating, he'll leave you laughing. Hunter also displays great expertise in the field of weaponry; the pages of these books teem with gun lore and technical minutiae. Guns and rifles play an integral part in these tales, providing insight into the protagonists and the world they inhabit. Hunter may be entirely

One of Stephen Hunter's best books. Hunter creates a terrifying super-criminal. This guy is scary because, through Hunter's writing, he becomes real. Unusually for books of the genre, we get inside the mind of this murderer and understand his amorality and logic behind his actions. The other characters in the book are very well drawn as well. This is as real as you would want it to get.

"Dirty White Boys", technically the second novel in Stephen Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger epic, keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. Although reader's will not fully understand the novel without first enjoying Hunter's "Point of Impact", it is still a wonderfull storyline simply to read on it's own. Although extremely graphic and violent, the book kept me spellbound until reading the final page. One of the greatest aspects of Hunter's style is his outright refusal to make any of his villians completely morally bankrupt and his unwillingness to make any hero without faults. Lamar Pye is a complete criminal, perfectly psychotic and inherently violent. Still and all, you cannot bring yourself to condemn him completely, from the life he wishes he could lead to his loyalty and allegance to his band of killers. Also, the lawman Bud Pewtie is himself faulted, and is simply trying to do the right thing by bringing the escaped convicts to justice. I would recommend "Dirty White Boys" to any serious reader, but should first say you should start with "Point of Impact", read "Boys" and then finish with "Black Light". The novels are all masterfully interwoven, although each has their own characters to assist the plot and make the storylines all the more masterful. For a wonderful and wild ride, read all of these books. Stephen Hunter never dissapoints.