Point of Impact [Import] [Hardcover]

Stephen Hunter (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; aFirst Edition First Printing edition (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0246134321
• ISBN-13: 978-0246134325
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (230 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,254,155 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

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best In a While, January 2, 2003

By 

Russell Diederich (Littleton, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Point of Impact (Mass Market Paperback)

"Point of Impact" is the best book that I've read in quite a while. I purchased Stephen Hunter's book on a whim, and hope that it would be entertaining. It was more than just entertaining, it was good. The book is about an ex-Marine sniper, named Bob Lee Swagger, who spent three tours in Viet Nam. For the last twenty years, he's been holed up in the Ouachitians mountains living with his dog Mike and his rifles. The soft-spoken marksman is approached to help out a government branch in tracking down an assassin. Nick Memphis, a down on his luck FBI agent, is investigating a gruesome murder of an informant that was trying to reach him. As the informant dies, he writes the words, ROM DO on the floor with his own blood. The two stories quickly become entwined in a turbulent plot full of double cross, ballistic charts, and 1,400 yard shots.

Hunter does a great job of telling just enough of the story to let you think you know where he is going. Then he turns the story on you leaving you surprised. He does this throughout the book. Only once was I able to guess where he was going. All the times that I thought I had him, Hunter was laughing at me from in front of his typewriter. He does it from the very beginning as we open up on Swagger in a deer blind waiting for Ole Tim, the largest buck in the forest. Swagger's character grows on you, even though he appears tough and rough around the edges.

Hunter is a master of the false-direction. He sets everything up so perfectly that once he changes the tables on you, you can see how he set you up. It all makes sense. It's the literary version of magic. Some authors are good at it, for others you can see the wires. Hunter is very good at it. If you like action/adventure, good writing, and an author that's good a deception, check this one out. I'll definitely read more of Hunter.

57 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible!, July 21, 2000

By 

Robert A. Hans "wyzardd" (Arvada, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Point of Impact (Mass Market Paperback)

Wow, this book is amazing! Well written and technically pretty good. Bob "the Nailer" is not one of those annoyingly perfect good guys that don't really exist. He has his share of problems, which are explained in the book but not dwelled on for long.

There are some pretty good reviews here that sum up the story pretty well, so I'm going to skip that. I will say that I normally read only sci-fi/fantasy and had long ago grown weary of these type of books. But the way Hunter combines the convoluted plot twists that Ludlum loves so much with the attention to detail that Clancy is so known for and then adds his own ability to tell a story in an interesting way really hooked me.

You just may find yourself shopping for a Winchester mdl 70 or a Remington 700 (in .308, of course) before the end of this one!

"One shot, one kill"

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The lone gunman--except now, you're rooting for him!, June 26, 2004

By 

DanD - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Point of Impact (Mass Market Paperback)

Bob Lee Swagger is not a man to mess around with. He was a military sniper, with the second highest number of kills in Vietnam. Then he came home to a country that shunned sniping, and he went into seclusion in the Arkansas mountains.

Now he's been called out. A shady government conspiracy wants to use him in an assassination--as the fallguy. And when Swagger does indeed fall for it, lured into a trap, he promises his tormentors will pay...with their blood...

Helping him is FBI agent Nick Memphis, who's just recieved his third strike. An odd pair, but together, they must unravel a far-reaching conspiracy...and bring vengence upon those who deserve it.

"Point of Impact" was the first Stephen Hunter novel I read. It got me hooked on his writing, though few other novels lived up to it ("Dirty White Boys" was pretty good, if I recall correctly). This novel is a thriller of the highest caliber (no pun intended). It's about a proud Southern gunman pushed to the limits...the one spot where you DON'T want him to be! This is a terrific, suspenseful book, and if you are a fan of thrillers and haven't read it yet, then you absolutely must.