G-Man

Starred review from March 6, 2017
Hunter’s outstanding 10th Bob Lee Swagger novel (after 2014’s Sniper’s Honor) takes readers back to the gangster days of the 1930s. In the present, Swagger investigates the murky past of his grandfather, Charles, a hard, taciturn man who spent most of his life as the sheriff of Polk County, Ark. Flashbacks reveal that Charles was also a skilled marksman who took a leading role in the Justice Department’s 1934 manhunt for bank robbers John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and, most importantly, the frighteningly violent Les Gillis (aka Baby Face Nelson). The problem for Swagger is the lack of any record of Charles ever working as a G-man, though there’s ample rumor and hearsay that he was deeply immersed in the campaign to hunt down and kill the outlaws. Hunter’s skilled ear for dialogue and idiom has never been better, and some of the action scenes—especially a chapter describing the famous robbery of the Merchants National Bank in South Bend, Ind., on June 30, 1934—are as elegant as they are disturbing. Eight-city author tour. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

April 1, 2017
Hunter (I, Ripper, 2015, etc.) continues the Swagger family saga, with Bob Lee lured from retirement after a steel box secreted by his grandfather Charles is discovered on the family's old Arkansas homestead.In the box are a Colt .45 government-model pistol, an odd machined cylinder, an FBI Special Agent badge, a $1,000 bill, and a map. It will all trace back to 1934 and gangsters Homer Van Meter, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, and John Dillinger, who were robbing every bank in sight. Bob's enigmatic grandfather Charles, a World War I hero, left his duties as Polk County sheriff to serve the federal Division of Investigation, the FBI's forerunner, in Chicago, and the book alternates between his adventures in 1934 and his grandson's quest to figure out what happened. The action takes off as Charles, while sending more than one bad guy to the morgue, turns the division's lawyers and accountants into shoot-to-kill street agents. There are regular shifts to Baby Face with surprising insight into his personality and marriage. While wanting to know why Charles buried that box, Bob Lee also sets out to find out why his grandfather spent only a few months with the division--"Everything about this old bastard was thin"--leading to two startling revelations. Hunter's handling of a bank-robbery gun battle and later the bloody takedown of Baby Face are you-are-there choreographed. However, it's Charles' manipulating the mob, corrupt cops, and publicity hound Melvin Purvis while dodging Tommy guns, .45s, and the deadly Monitor that keeps the pages turning, letting Bob Lee's pursuit of Charles' history fade to a sideshow--at least until Bob deciphers the map and is confronted by the hillbilly Mafia. Fans of Hunter's Swagger family legend will be locked and loaded for more.

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Starred review from March 15, 2017
Just as Hunter brilliantly used parallel narratives in The 47th Samurai (2007) to follow master Vietnam sniper Bob Lee Swagger's investigation into how a revered samurai sword came to be in his father Earl's possession, so in the latest Swagger novel, he employs another found artifacta strongbox containing, among other things, a federal lawman's badgeto set Bob Lee on the trail of his long-dead grandfather Charles, about whom Bob Lee knows nothing. That federal badge leads Bob Lee to the revelation that Charles, in the thirties, had been a G-man in Chicago, engaged in the hunt for John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson, public enemies one through three. Jumping seamlessly between past and present, Hunter re-creates the fascinating Depression-era story of how bank robbers became populist heroes, offering in the process a truly compelling character in Charles, a man burdened not only by his inflexible sense of honor but also by a secret residing deep in his soul. And, of course, there's a modern story, too: Bob Lee is being tracked by a bizarre crew of crooks who know about the strongbox and think it's the key to a fortune. Lots going on here, but Hunter fits the parts as snugly as Bob Lee reassembling a rifle. Yes, we know Hunter writes gun violence as realistically and meticulously as anyone in the business, but what we forget is that he builds character with equal precision. This is an outstanding thriller on every level.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2017

In this latest in the New York Times best-selling series, Bob Lee Swagger has a secret family history to follow up after uncovering a box containing his never-mentioned grandfather's FBI badge, a .45 automatic, and a mysterious diagram.

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February 15, 2017

At 71, Bob Lee Swagger no longer has the physical skills that made him a sniper and expert shooter, so he turns to investigating the mystery of his grandfather Charles's life. In tearing down the family home in Arkansas, Bob finds a lockbox containing a .45 pistol and a crude map. Much research and finally a hidden memoir reveal that Charles had played a brief but major role in the nascent FBI's 1934 pursuit of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and especially the notorious killer, Baby Face Nelson. As in the earlier Sniper's Honor, Hunter alternates between 1934 and the present, carefully using historical events and people while inserting Charles, also a veteran sniper, to train the feds in the necessary shooting skills. The verisimilitude of his Thirties portrayal vividly shows the Depression-era appeal of bank robbers vs. the government. VERDICT In this ninth entry in the "Bob Lee Swagger" series, Hunter displays his trademark skills in character development, a fascination with firearms, pulp fiction dialog, and an action-packed plot. Fans of Lee Child or Tom Clancy may join the many Swagger followers in enjoying this tale of violence and moral anxiety. [See Prepub Alert, 11/21/16.]--Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

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