New York Times bestselling author Stephen Hunter sends former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger deep into the heart of NASCAR country in this action-packed thriller.
Talk about a ride!
Woe unto he who crosses Bob Lee Swagger, especially when his daughter’s life is at stake. Forced off the road and into a crash that leaves her in a coma, clinging to life, reporter Nikki Swagger had begun to peel back the onion of a Southern-fried-conspiracy bubbling with all the angst, resentment, and dysfunction that Dixie gangsters can muster. An ancient, violent crime clan, a possibly corrupt law enforcement structure, gunmen of all stripes and shapes, and deranged evangelicals rear their ugly heads and will live to rue the day they targeted the wrong man’s daughter. It’s what you call your big-time bad career move. All of it is set against the backdrop of excitement and insanity that only a weeklong NASCAR event can bring to the backwoods of a town as seemingly sleepy as Bristol, Tennessee.
A master at the top of his game, Hunter provides a host of thrilling new reasons to listen as fast as we can. When Swagger picks up peeling where his daughter left off, and his swift sword of justice is let loose, we find a true American hero in his most stunning action to date. And—in the form of Brother Richard, a self-decreed “Sinnerman” out of the old fire-and-brimstone tradition—Hunter offers up his most diabolical, engaging villain yet. A triumph of story, character, and style, Night of Thunder is Stephen Hunter at his very best.
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"According to my colleague, I'm not allowed to use the term "dicklit" anymore and instead must use the more prosaic "manfiction" to describe the type of book that has big boys with big cars with big engines and big guns with really big explosions. Bob Lee Swagger's daughter is a reporter hot on the trail of a meth ring, when she is forced off the road in a murder attempt and ends up in a coma. Swagger is an ex marine sniper and all-around badass who is not going to take this lying down. So he rolls into Tennessee to unravel a web of phony Baptist preachers, clan warfare, and drug runners in the requisite hail of gunfire. This is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. In real life I am a pacifist who abhors violence, but it is so satisfying to read a cheesy story about rednecks shooting each other and blowing each other up. There is also a significant and somewhat disturbing "firearms porn" angle here as Hunter describes in loving detail the phallic nature of all of the ordinance and ammunition used in the novel. Despite all of the criticism I have levied, this was a good "turn your brain off" story which is kept moving at a breakneck pace throughout. Fans of Clive Cussler and Lee Child will find a lot to enjoy here."
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Tim (4 out of 5 stars)