This book was not as realistic and I would have liked. I found it surprising that the Congress committee came to Boise, Idaho instead of making Bob Lee Swagger come to them. Swagger is asked to provide protection from the same folks who were out to ruin him. The plans of the enemy forces could have been developed more thoroughly. Swagger becomes a super man type character with over-inflated shooting skills. The rogue shooter and his support was always timely.

Stephen Hunter is a master thriller writer. Bob Lee is a iconic character. The saga continues and the writing is crisp, precise and page turning. Hunter is gifted at not letting off the gas peddle and does so here again. Must read.

Bob Lee Swagger was on the mend and trying to stay out of the public eye. However, Congresswoman Venable sees him as the perfect example to make the public aware of potential loose cannons in society. Congresswoman Venable utilizes a high school auditorium in Boise, Idaho as her venue for the assail on firearms. A number of congressional cronies are enlisted to help in the crusade.

Uncle Vakha’s nephews were not the brightest but what they lacked in brainpower they made up for in loyalty and tenacity. Uncle Vakha and his nephews escaped from a maximum-security prison. They want to get back to their homeland and feel that taking hostages will accomplish that goal. The team brought into the meeting to be chastised by the Congresswoman and her cohorts suddenly find themselves in the position of saving the situation.

The author looks for a way to equate Swagger to a genetic predisposition for heroics. Can the ability to work under great emotional stress be genetically traced? The idea is laudable and fun to contemplate. I suggest anyone who is familiar with Seals, Delta Force, and black ops will enjoy this book. 4.5 stars - C.E. Williams

I’ve been a Swagger fan for years but have fallen behind on the expanding sage of the generations. As such, I’m a bit lost, much like the thread of this story. Way to much all over the place with too broad a focus. The writing is good, but the story is slow and plodding. I won’t give up on future novels, but I do hope they tighten up and stay focused.

And the interludes to 1870? Absolutely and completely boring. It brings the story to a screeching halt. Mind-numbingly dull.

Bob Lee Swagger has returned! I can't help but love this series. And I am dreading the end of it, as Bob Lee is now an old man. I don't think he has much left in the tank.
In this round, Swagger finds himself brought before a dog-and-pony political grandstand show. With all the usual caricatures of the liberal side of the political aisle. I found that to be tiring and worn out. It's just too easy and convenient, and the author has shown that he can do so much better.
The story itself is just okay. Notice I said okay. Not great, like the normal Swagger book. I found the "bad guys" terrorists back story to be confusing. The prison scenes were completely unrealistic. The "lone gunman" operator totally lost me. Who was he working for, what was he doing, and why did he end up where he did? And who, ultimately, were the people behind the scenes that used the truck in the first place?
Too many holes, it feels like Hunter rushed this book to publication before it was finished. If it is the last Bob Lee book, it's a total disservice to the character.

Another Hunter novel with Swagger getting older. Swagger goes against the bad guys and a new character emerges. I did not like the political characterizations. That took away for the story.

Pretty average Hunter fare with an aging Bob fortunately helped by the "apparently" " bad guy" who morphed into a character deserving of his own book. Cynical politics, gun culture and the usual " Hooyah" stuff but the undertone lost some of it's shine in the wake of yet more US mass shootings as I was finishing it...

This book was good in parts but there were other parts that I skimmed over. I understand why they had chapters going back to Swaggerts ancestors but I found it distracting. It was part of the story line, but seemed to take away from the action. Just when things would get interesting they would flash back to the past and the story lost momentum. I do like how the author has allowed the character to age. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Targeted is the 12th Bob Lee Swagger book from Stephen Hunter.

"Swagger is recovering at his Idaho ranch from his latest good deed - saving a former president from a sniper's bullet. Some in Congress want to make an example of the violence of his heroism and demand that he appear before a Congressional committee in Boise. Nearby events send criminals to the hearing where they hold the senators and Swagger hostage. Now Swagger must use the very skills he's being questioned about to save the lives of everyone."

I like that Hunter has allowed Swagger to age. He is now 74 and living his best life on his ranch - but still with the skills learned years ago growing up in rural Arkansas. There are three stories here that all meet at the end. The hearing is a way to debate the use of force. The British records give some interesting detail to Swagger's backstory. And the hostage takers are scary - willing to die to make a point.

Swagger is Swagger and the last act is explosive and wild. Another great Swagger story from Hunter.

This is a decent new book in the author's long running series. It is not my least favorite but I had hoped to enjoy it more than I did. Bob Lee is great. I continue to love that the author has allowed him to age. Where this novel fell short for me were the political characters. The chairwoman of a House Committee (sometimes described as a senator but I bet that gets fixed before publication) was nearly a great character and in other real world circumstances may have been but the current polarization of the country between patriots and Republicans made it a hard sell to me. And though my comment is meant as a joke it is joking on the square as they say. And I imagine the fact I made that joke shows the difficulty for any author writing political characters in the current day.

I do recommend this book. Mr. Hunter is a very good writer.

In Stephen Hunter's new Bob Lee Swagger book, we find the sniper in a Congressional hearing after his actions stopped a terrorist. It's a dog and pony show designed to discredit the hero and force change to use-of-force guidelines through policy and public opinion. When terrorists hold the congregational delegation hostage, their best hope of staying alive is the 74-year old Swagger they've been besmirching.

I've read almost everything Hunter has written-and enjoyed them- but Targeted missed the mark for me. I just couldn't get into it. His writing style seemed off compared to his other works. He added interludes to 1780 to tell of Swagger's ancestry to give guidance to why Swagger was so remarkable. His ancestry was then used against him in the congregational hearing. I understand why he added the interludes but they could have been placed better. They seemed to be added in places where the story was picking up steam which killed the momentum of the story.

As usual, Hunter created characters which were interesting and complex. The members of Congress were awful people who didn't care about anything but their own ambitions and personal gain. The terrorists are a little harder to pigeon hole. They spoke horrible English and their leader was uncharacteristically hilarious. In fact, I liked the leader more than any of the members of Congress. One bad guy seemed to be Ivan Drago from Rocky or The Hulk: just killing people with one punch. By far the best character was the mysterious Delta, a "security specialist" for the Russian mob. I wanted to know more about him and what happened to him but was disappointed when it didn't occur. My hope is we find out more about Delta in future books. It is easy to invision Delta becoming a recurring character.

Although I didn't love it, I did enjoy it and would recommend it. It was fun reading a 74-year old man with a bad hip could still be an ass-kicker.

Many thanks to Stephen Hunter, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of Targeted.

A wounded Bob Lee Swagger is hauled before a Congressional committee trying to demonstrate that people like him are an anachronism in today's world. The Committee then learns the hard way that this might not be true. I enjoyed this continuing tale of an American hero whose ability hardly seems diminished despite his injuries and advancing age. The author, Stephen Hunter, includes a side story about a Swagger ancestor from whom Swagger might have inherited his skills, but that story left me cold and I ended up skimming those sections. Congresspeople and journalists do not fare well in Targeted.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the privilege of reading an ARC.

Mixing partisan politics into this new novel, we find Bob Lee Swagger being grilled by a Congressional committee when all “heck” breaks loose. Liberals who bemoan the activities of our hero sniper suddenly find themselves relying on his ‘genetic’ skills when escaped prisoners hold them captive. With flashbacks to 1780 we learn more about the Swagger clan in this fast-paced novel.