This book is an exciting, but thoughtful thrill ride into the world of seventy-two year old Bob Lee Swagger. Bob is getting into his twilight years and likes to sit in his porch at his home in Idaho and contemplate life. When unexpectedly a woman walks into his life.

Her son was killed by a sniper while serving in the military overseas. She has spent years, a great deal of money and at a terrific personal sacrifice to track down the man who killed her son. She has him in her sights, knows where he is and would like Swagger's help in bringing him down.

He wants to help, but not by tracking the sniper himself; he feels he is too old – and perhaps too slow – to take on that kind of mission any longer. He enlists the assistance of friends in Mossad. The operation takes on a life of its own as the agents involved learn that the man is wanted – and badly – for several killings around the world. In come the FBI and some local police officers to assist in capturing the man. (They believe that they can capture him! Hmmm...)

The book contains some detailed information about sniper rifles and ammunition (like all Swagger novels), and I found this interesting. My husband is a gunsmith (and nut), and I kept asking him, “Is that right?” There are twists and turns in the plot that kept this reader interested and very much engaged in the story.

Of all the authors I follow, Stephen Hunter is the one I wait for most. Bob Lee Swagger is an incredible and indelible character and Hunters stories are always meticulously plotted with this new book being no exception. I thought his last, G-Man, was about as good as writing could get but this is as good as if not better. I do wish he had a grandson to take his place since he is getting older.

How often is the hero of an action thriller in his 70's?!? Stephen Hunter continues his series (begun in 1993) starring BobLee Swagger, and BobLee comes out of retirement to save the day! I was entertained by the story, amused by the scenarios, bewildered at times by the technical references, and glad I read Game of Snipers. I havent read the other books in the series, and having only seen the movies and television shows, I havent got a wide frame of reference. I thought Game of Snipers was fast paced, compelling and I would like to read more from Stephen Hunter. 3.5
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

I enjoyed this book and i'm glad I read it, however if this is your first Stephen Hunter book, read "point of impact" first and any of the earlier Bob Lee Swagger books. I'm such a big Steven Hunter fan that my gaming name is "Bob The Nailer" :) . It was a good story and kept me interested,but it didn't keep me up at night wanting to read it. I'm having a hard time with an old Bob Lee Swagger. Maybe Stephen Hunter will go back to the young Swagger during his Vietnam days.

Free copy given to me by NETGALLEY

A sniper without a sniper rifle seems odd to some but not fans of BLS. Every book I have enjoyed and I bet you will too. So open it up and "rounds away" reading for all!!

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on July 30, 2019

This is the fourth novel that Stephen Hunter has written with the word Sniper in the title, although I suspect that all of the eleven Bob Lee Swagger novels remind the reader that Swagger was a Marine sniper and is still handy with a gun. As obsessions go, being obsessed with snipers is more concerning that most, making Swagger novels a sort of guilty pleasure for those of us who do not think Craig Harrison deserves the veneration that Hunter and other sniper fans give him because he managed to kill Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan from a distance of 1.5 miles.

Swagger is thinking about guns and snipers (I’m not sure he ever thinks about anything else) when he is visited by the mother of an American sniper who was killed by a sniper in Baghdad. The mother wants revenge for her son’s death in 2003 because she believes that when America invades a country, the enemy isn’t supposed to fight back. It is admitttedly unsettling for the enemy to make disgusting YouTube videos, as Juba the Sniper is credited with doing, and it is apparentnly Juba's fame that motivates the mother to ask the 72-year-old Swagger to find Jubba and take him out. At least she’s not ageist.

The mother has rather improbably traced the sniper to Syria. Swagger sensibly declines to do the deed but he agrees to ask a contact in Mossad for an assist. After Mossad is satisfied that Swagger is a legitimate gun nut, Mossad assigns Swagger to track down Juba — which should be no problem for a 72-year-old white guy in Syria. Why does Mossad think an old American from Arkansas is more skilled than Mossad at finding terrorists in Syria? You just have to roll with it if you want to enjoy the novel.

A reader will need to accept other unlikely events, including IDF’s willingness to bring Swagger along (and to arm him, no less) when they raid a location where the sniper might be practicing. That’s fine with Swagger, because as he admits, he loves war and really loves shooting people. Swagger is probably not a good candidate for a nursing home.

Of course, when Swagger uncovers evidence that Juba plans to shoot a high value target in the US, the FBI welcomes not only a Mossad agent but Swagger to help them catch the sniper. At various other points, the police are happy to bring this septuagenarian civilian along on raids and to loan him weapons to boot. In what world would that happen?

To prove what an awful terrorist he is, we are told that Juba once shot a bunch of children on a bus in Israel while telling himself Praise Be to Allah. Being a terrorist isn’t bad enough; the guy has to be a demonically evil terrorist or sniper fans who admire “hard men” might come to like him as much as they like Swagger.

Other red meat dishes are on a menu that is meant for a particular kind of reader. A strong woman is described as having “butch aggression.” A Mossad guy frets that Americans are not sufficient committed to fighting terror because we don’t torture suspects and insist on legal niceties like trials. Law enforcement characters complain that restrictions on FISA warrants are based on “a party game called Don’t Make Anybody Mad” as opposed to a rational fear that giving law enforcement the unlimited right to spy on Americans is the recipe for a police state. Stephen Hunter compares the “busy beauty of Christian religious ambience” to the “severity and simplicity of Islam,” apparently having never seen the busy beauty of the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul or the stark simplicity of most monasteries. Marines are worshipped because “they are shooters” just as Mossad is worshipped for its ruthlessness. For good measure, a character opines that a Mexican cartel leader is responsible for all of America’s drug woes because drug cartels are part of a diabolical plot to undermine white America. That’s why “Mexicans, they make their living in tunnels” (apparently there are no doctors or farmers in Mexico, although there are plenty of puta and to care about their deaths is “gringo madness”). My eyes began to tire from rolling so often.

At the same time, characters occasionally recognize that the adoration of guns is a path to craziness. I particularly enjoyed the comparison of gun cultists who buy accessories for their weapons to little girls who obsessively collect Pretty Ponies. A few characters also understand that “fake news” doesn’t come from mainstream media outlets, but from bloggers and fringe media outlets that present fiction as fact to further their agenda.

The plot? Well, the terrorist sniper prepares to shoot his target, kills some other people, and manages to stay a step ahead of our heroes while Swagger does his own heroic thing. The reader is asked to guess at the target and, like the characters, will probably be surprised. The terrorist’s motivation is plausible, given that most enemies of America these days, like the president, see their job as making Americans even more divided. The action ending is wild, but plausibility is not the key to enjoying an action hero story, particularly when the action hero is a senior citizen.

Game of Snipers is just outlandish enough to be entertaining, in part because of Hunter’s skill at making the outlandish seem real. His eloquence in describing the mechanics of sniping and the comparative advantage of various rifles, scopes, bullets, and loaders keeps the lengthy descriptions from becoming tedious (although describing a well-crafted bullet as “sublime” is a bit over the top). Devotees of gun porn will love it. But while most gun porn contents itself with listing the model numbers and specifications associated with favorite weapons, Hunter actually takes time to explain the factors that might influence a sniper’s decision to use a particular gun, ammunition, and associated paraphernalia. This is, at least, educational gun porn.

A good many people hold red meat opinions that are similar to those expressed by characters in Game of Sniper. I don’t hold it against a writer for portraying characters who might live in the real world, even if I disagree with them, provided the writer does not propagandize in favor of a repulsive worldview. Hunter occasionally comes close to crossing that line but I am willing to cut him some slack and to recommend Game of Snipers because the novel delivers the excitement that an action thriller should.

RECOMMENDED

Wowser - another great Swagger tale

I have been a fan of author Stephen Hunter since POINT OF IMPACT. That particular book changed my mind about reading. I would have never thought I would appreciate a book about a sniper. But that book is one of my top ten of all time.

I've read most of Hunter's books since that time and loved the beginning ones. But, to me, there was a huge slump over the last few books. Hunter is back in fine form.

I missed the actual detail-oriented shooting books and I missed Bob Lee Swagger as a shooter. He is back in this book, 72 years old, and living in Idaho, rocking on his front porch. One day a woman, a mother, shows up to request his help. For years she has singlehandedly been trying to find the sniper who killed her son in 2003 in Baghdad. She now requests Swagger's help in making the sniper pay for that death.

I'm not going to give any more details other than there's a lot of sniper info on weapons, ammo, and all the minutiae that go into making a long distance shot.

I loved the book and I highly recommend it to those fans, especially the ones who loved the early Swagger books.

I received this book from Putnam Books in the hopes that I would read/review it and leave an unbiased review.

Game of Snipers by Stephen Hunter, another great read. Swagger is back, but age has caught up to him and maybe he isn't as good as he once was. A lady comes to see him, presents him with a story that intrigues him and he takes it to the people he knows...

Reading the new Bob Lee Swagger novel, Game of Snipers is like putting on a favorite pair of pants. You know the characters and what Swagger stands for - it's so comfortable to ease into the story.
"Swagger gets a visit from a mom who's deployed son was killed by sniper fire. She wants someone to find the sniper. Swagger gets his old friend, FBI Agent Nick Memphis, involved when he realizes that the sniper has something big planned. And now they must figure out what and where and when. And hope that Swagger still has some of his sniper magic."

Swagger is now 72 and running lay barns for horses. He shows some mortality in this book. And the reader is never sure if Swagger is going to make it all the way through. Hunter gets technical in the descriptions of what is needed for a long range shot (more than a mile) and sometimes it feels like that slows the story down a bit. But it still comes down to Bob and team looking at the evidence and shooting setups to find a sniper.

Bob's wife is conspicuously absent a couple of times, but you have to assume that Hunter felt like her part would not matter to the story.

Bob Lee Swagger has been around since 1993 (Point of Impact) It's nice to see him age and grow and become less of a super hero and a little more human. If you haven't read Stephen Hunter before, you can still read this as a stand-alone. Game of Snipers is a great addition to the Swagger story. If you like some action, you'll definitely want to add to your summer reading list.

4 and 1 / 2 stars

This book is an exciting, but thoughtful thrill ride into the world of seventy-two year old Bob Lee Swagger. Bob is getting into his twilight years and likes to sit in his porch at his home in Idaho and contemplate life. When unexpectedly a woman walks into his life.

Her son was killed by a sniper while serving in the military overseas. She has spent years, a great deal of money and at a terrific personal sacrifice to track down the man who killed her son. She has him in her sights, knows where he is and would like Swagger's help in bringing him down.

He wants to help, but not by tracking the sniper himself; he feels he is too old – and perhaps too slow – to take on that kind of mission any longer. He enlists the assistance of friends in Mossad. The operation takes on a life of its own as the agents involved learn that the man is wanted – and badly – for several killings around the world. In come the FBI and some local police officers to assist in capturing the man. (They believe that they can capture him! Hmmm...)

The book contains some detailed information about sniper rifles and ammunition (like all Swagger novels), and I found this interesting. My husband is a gunsmith (and nut), and I kept asking him, “Is that right?” There are twists and turns in the plot that kept this reader interested and very much engaged in the story.

Stephen Hunter is a superb writer and I could find no flaws in the book regarding typos and grammatical errors. The plot moves along smoothly and the book reads quickly. The transitions are flawless. In addition to Swagger's heroism, this reader takes her hat off to the woman in the story. She was a picture of determination (obsession?), and strength. I like the way the story illustrated this as well. I've always enjoyed Mr. Hunters's writing and this book is no exception.

I want to thank NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons for forwarding to me a copy of this absolutely great book for me to read, enjoy and review.

Point of Impact was the first Bobby Lee Swagger book I read and I loved it so much I remember calling my husband after I finished it to read him the ending. There have been others read over the years, but I had lost touch with Mr. Swagger....until this one.

If you are into guns, especially sniper rifles, you will love this book. If you love guns and action you will be in heaven! What a story line and what an ending that will keep you on the edge of you seat (I love books like that), and begging for more. If I have one criticism it was the detail Mr. Hunter goes into describing the weapons. You can tell the writer knows what he is talking about but I tend to get bogged down in too much technical detail. But don't let that stop you. This is an excellent read!

Stephen Hunter is one of my favorite authors. In this novel, I tried not to give him five stars but he is so remarkable as an author, that I was unable to give him a lower rating. He brought his A game , and the book was terrific.I do believe that some people will find it difficult to appreciate the intricacy that surrounds the preparation for his rifle shots. However, it’s just part of what makes the book a fine one.

Bob Lee is on the chase for a deadly sniper on a secret mission to make a mile shot at a unknown target. Game of Snipers is a terrific addition to Stephen Hunters long time Bob the Nailer series. Highly recommended.

Swagger is approached by a woman who lost her son. She has spent years trying to track down the killer of her son. Now Swagger finds himself tracking one of the deadliest snipers. Local law, FBI and the Mossad are all pulled in.

This wasn’t my favorite Swaggert novel. There was way too much detail about the weapons which I found boring, I skipped over it. I liked it well enuf to want to see how it ended. Tank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.