Customer Reviews

Point of Impact

5 star:		(184)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"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.

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"

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.

I am an Ex-Special Operations veteran and an avid shooter. Mr. Hunter has done his homework! I highly recommend this great book to all service members, rifle shooters, snipers, and members of the law enforcement community. The following "Bob Lee Swagger Series", books are equally exceptional.

Stephen Hunter must have been a gun in a previous life. He knows shooting. I was hooked after the first couple of pages, and couldn't put this one down. I have since read the book 3 times. If you like guns in any small way, or just plain like a good thriller, it doesn't get any better than this. Hunter builds the main character in a way that you can see every hard line of his face, the way he walks, and the sound of his voice. If I were casting a movie of this book, I'd put Ed Harris in the role. The story is full of interesting and unpredictable plot twists, gun lore, action and revenge. It won't let you down. Hunter's sequels to this book don't hold up as well; Dirty White Boys is a bit too harsh, and Black Light moves too slowly. But Point of Impact is a stroke of genius.

This book was my intro to the world of Stephen Hunter, and made me an instant fan. I purchased "Point of Impact" and read it in 2 days while on vacation. Couldn't wait to get the other three novels in the Bob Lee Swagger "universe". Hunter's characters read like real people. His heroes suffer from alcoholism, adultry, and other real life problems that only the "bad guys" in writers like Tom Clancy's works have to deal with. They all have a sense of "duty" that doesn't necessarily run through their whole lives. They usually are dedicated to their their jobs, but have problems fulfilling their duties at home, though they love their families dearly. This is very realistic in my experience. I recommend this novel and its companions to anyone who likes a good read.

I agree with most of the reviewers. This is my third Hunter novel (Havana, Hot Springs, Point of Impact), and each is better than the last!

The pacing on this book is incredible! Most books that follow the style of cutting between storylines take too long, or don't provide enough of a payoff before switching...Hunter finds the ideal balance. I found that I rarely wanted to skip over one storyline to get back to another.

The Swagger character is made for movies. He's the classic Stoic man, with enough depth to make him interesting, but not too much that adapting it to film would prove difficult.

As long as someone doesn't pull a "Sahara", it would translate well. Hmm...who would play the leads?

Absolutely Outstanding. I read Stephen Hunter's Point of Impact many years ago just as this type of genre was beginning to introduce itself. The lone, quiet Vietnam hero just trying to make it while caught up in the materialistic, overly complex, anything-goes-as-long-as-I-get-mine world of lies, deceit, and treachery. I kept the book in my "keeper" library and when the movie "Shooter" was due for release I decided it was time to once again visit Bob Lee Swagger of Blue Eye, Arkansas. All I can say is it was just as good if not better the second time around.

This is without a doubt so far the best of Mr. Hunter's novels. The plot is quick paced, tight, and filled with just enough techno-geewhiz that you can't put it down. At a healthy 569 pages it took me 3 days to follow the wonderful story. Character development was superb and lends itself to future Swagger books. The 4th is due sometime next year. Although there were numerous characters, Mr. Hunter did a masterful job of introducing and developing them as the plot moved along. Excellent use of action but no gratuitous violence or sex. Some graphic violence was a must to make the plot realistic but Mr. Hunter did what was required and no more. Some coarse language but again it was to make the story real.

All in all Hunter's best so far. A must read, especially for that long overdue vacation. I am very curious to see how the book fares in the movie. Somehow I just can't see how a 2 hour movie can do it justice.

I would really like to see Bob Lee Swagger meet up with Jack Reacher; I think they would really like each other!

There simply are not enough superlatives to describe Point of Impact. This was a phenomenal book, clearly among my personal top-five list. In Point of Impact, Hunter presents Bob Lee Swagger (AKA "Bob the Nailer" due to his reputation as a Marine sniper during the Vietnam War) in a fast-paced conspiracy thriller. Hunter hooks you in the first few pages of the book as Swagger is hunting on his property in Arkansas. As the story unfolds, Swagger demonstrates the physical and mental toughness, decisiveness, patience, perseverance, and survival instincts that made him the best at what he does. Throughout the book, one comes to know and further appreciate the intricacies, both positive and negative, of being "Bob the Nailer." Action sequences and character development are interwoven and provide a complementary blend throughout the book. From start to finish, this book is impossible to put down.

Stephen Hunter wrote 3 Bob Lee Swagger novels. Point of Impact is the first of the series and the first of Hunter's books I read on a long flight to the west coast. I sat up until I finished the story, all 560+ pages. There is no higher praise than lost sleep.

Bob 'the nailer' is a former Viet Nam sniper who gets set-up by a shadowy quasi govenment/milatary group to take the fall for an assassination. Instead, the supposedly dead Bob 'the nailer' goes after the puppet masters. Hunter's attention to detail and remarkably adept weaving of mutiple story lines are impressive. Perhaps the best part is Hunter's endings. Just when you think it's done, another one comes along. To quote a character "..I've never met anyone who could outsly a sly old country boy." And Bob Lee Swagger is one sly country boy. Absolutely wonderful.

Do read all three books and consider the prequels featuring Bob Lee's father, Earl Swagger.