A Stepp Too Far

03-06-2009 to 03-28-2009

Time To Hunt by Stephen Hunter

The fourth of the Bob Lee Swagger novels written by Hunter, Time to Hunt so far is not as good as the previous three.  Don’t get me wrong, it is a good read and the events happen at a fairly rapid pace but it doesn’t seem to be as well thought out.

If you have seen the movie Shooter then you are somewhat familiar with at least the film version of Bob Lee Swagger, master Marine sniper.  As with most movies, Shooter pales in comparison to the book but is still a good action film.  I have watched it a couple of times since it came out on video.

The first half of Time takes place with Swagger and his spotter, Donny Fenn, in Vietnam.  So far the remainder of the book centers on a present day Swagger trying to track down another sniper who is after him for events that transpired during Vietnam.  More on this one after I finish.

Now that I’ve finished this one I have to say that it really picked up quite a bit in the second half.  One other thing I noticed with Hunter’s writing that tends to stick in my craw are the leaps of logic the protagonist, Swagger, makes throughout the story.  He seems able to guess with unerring accuracy what his enemies are going to do and beat them to the punch.

Aside from these sporadic intuitive leaps Time to Hunt, just like the previous Swagger-related books, is a good read.  If you like a good action story then I would definitely recommend this one.