Dirty White Boys [Paperback]

Stephen Hunter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2003

Three convicts on the run with an arsenal of weaponry and only one rogue cop can stop them. Lamar Pye has escaped from Oklahoma State Penitentiary, accompanied by his idiot cousin and a vicious, but cowardly artist. To have stayed in prison was certain death, but his chances on the outside are not much greater: his excesses know no bounds - one killing follows another. But one murder brings his nemesis upon him: Bud Pewtie of the Highway of the Highway Patrol loses his partner in a blood-soaked shoot-out with Lamar, and from that moment on, nothing will stop him from getting even.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Often brilliant, and permeated by violence, Hunter's sixth thriller (after Point of Impact) details an escaped mad-dog killer's flight across the Southwest and a tortured state trooper's pursuit of him. Sadistic Lamar Pye is forced to break out of Oklahoma's McAlester State Penitentiary after he brutally murders a black inmate who tries to rape him. Pye takes with him his cousin, Odell, a retarded giant who obeys Pye's orders without question, and wimpy Richard Peed, an artist whose work has caught Pye's fancy. Pitted against this vicious trio and the slightly crazed woman who takes up with them is Sgt. Bud Pewtie of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, who suspects that his obsessive, troubled affair with the wife of his slain partner might have distracted him from an opportunity to end Pye's murderous spree early on. Pewtie mixes it up with the outlaws time and again until a final bloody face-off that threatens to tear his personal life apart. Throughout, Hunter cleverly humanizes Pye and his band in small ways that effectively counterpoint the horror of their actions, but these touches don't lessen the considerable tension he generates as his story clips through its twists and turns. Powerful and gripping, this could be Hunter's most popular novel yet. Movie rights to 20th Century Fox; Literary Guild selection.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

After killing a black inmate, the brutal Lamar Pye breaks out of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary along with his retarded cousin, Odell, and a hapless artist-turned-felon named Richard. They embark on a desperate run across Oklahoma and Texas, pursued by state troopers. The escapees hide out with a convict groupie who has lived alone since murdering her parents as an adolescent. In a parody of domesticity, Lamar embraces these losers as the family he never knew. Unlettered Lamar is a natural leader, more intelligent by far than his pursuers, but his gang screws up every time at a terrible cost in bloodshed. Hunter's (Point of Impact, LJ 2/1/93) portrayal of Lamar is unromantic but sympathetic. Lamar is a loser who never had a chance; he uses his short period of freedom to get his own back and to indulge in the mindless violence that is the only thing that truly satisfies and delights him. This seriocomic chase thriller packs a punch. For most popular collections.
David Keymer, California State Univ., Stanislaus
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Random House (March 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099453185
• ISBN-13: 978-0099453185
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,301,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Hunter won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism as well as the 1998 American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for Distinguished Writing in Criticism for his work as film critic at The Washington Post. He is the author of several bestselling novels, including Time to Hunt, Black Light, Point of Impact, and the New York Times bestsellers Havana, Pale Horse Coming, and Hot Springs. He lives in Baltimore.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great action story that avoids all the tired cliches., November 15, 2002

By 

T. King (Brooklyn, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dirty White Boys (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the first Stephen Hunter novel I read and it immediately made me go out and get as many of his other books as I could find. This is a riveting story that thrills and entertains without falling into the usual cliches so many other authors resort to.
There is a razor sharp line that divides the good guys from the bad guys. At times you don't know who to root for. If you are new to Stephen Hunter, I envy you. Although his books are good enough to read more than once, there is nothing quite like reading a great book for the first time.
Let me give you a bit of advice: some of Hunter's earlier works were very disappointing. I guess he was still trying to find his voice. Avoid TAPESTRY OF SPIES. THE SECOND SALADIN and THE MASTER SNIPER are good but don't compare to his later work. The DAY BEFORE MIDNIGHT was very good and I highly reccomend it. I suggest reading the following in this order: DIRTY WHITE BOYS, POINT OF IMPACT, BLACK LIGHT, A TIME TO HUNT. Enjoy!!

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Boys" keeps you on the edge of your seat!, June 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dirty White Boys (Mass Market Paperback)

"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.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Part of a winning literary trifecta, March 3, 2007

By 

Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dirty White Boys (Mass Market Paperback)

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 wrong on the details, but he writes with such authority I doubt that's the case. I'm not a big gun fan, but I found the level of detail fascinating.

Hunter is a powerful, violent, unsettling, entertaining and informative writer. I ended my streak at three straight, but I continue to eagerly snap up any title with Hunter's name on the cover.