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    Point of Impact: Bob Lee Swagger, Book 1
    Unavailable
    Point of Impact: Bob Lee Swagger, Book 1
    Unavailable
    Point of Impact: Bob Lee Swagger, Book 1
    Audiobook (abridged)3 hours

    Point of Impact: Bob Lee Swagger, Book 1

    Written by Stephen Hunter

    Narrated by Beau Bridges

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The inspiration for the USA Network series Shooter – “… A harsh, visceral, novel of conspiracy and betrayal by veteran author Stephen Hunter… a distrubing mix that plays on our sense of history while at the same time it appeals to our darkest fantasies of rough justice.” – Chicago Tribune

    He was one the best Marine snipers in Vietnam. Today, twenty years later, disgruntled hero of an unheroic war, all Bob Lee Swagger wants to be left alone and to leave the killing behind.

    But with consummate psychological skill, a shadowy military organization seduces Bob into leaving his beloved Arkansas hills for one last mission for his country, unaware until too late that the game is rigged.

    The assassination plot is executed to perfection -- until Bob Lee Swagger, alleged lone gunman, comes out of the operation alive, the target of a nationwide manhunt, his only allies a woman he just met and a discredited FBI agent.

    Now Bob Lee Swagger is on the run, using his lethal skills once more -- but this time to track down the men who set him up and to break a dark conspiracy aimed at the very heart of America.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 30, 2007
    ISBN9780739354476
    Unavailable
    Point of Impact: Bob Lee Swagger, Book 1
    Author

    Stephen Hunter

    Stephen Hunter has written over twenty novels. The retired chief film critic for The Washington Post, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, he has also published two collections of film criticism and a nonfiction work, American Gunfight. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

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    Reviews for Point of Impact

    4/5

    337 ratings21 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The main character, Bob Lee Swagger, is retired from the Armed Forces. He was a top-notch sniper who is now a loner. Our government calls on him because they need the best sniper they can find. Swagger reluctantly accepts. This begins a series of betrayals and turns and twists that lead to an unpredictable ending. This an exciting, well-written book.The book had made into a film starring Mark Wahlberg, the title changed to "Shooter." It covers about one-fifth of the book's story. My paperback has 569 pages. Even if you've seen the film, read the book and it will captivate you.
    • 5/5
      Great book. Great series. Bob lee swagger rocks.must read Yahoo
    • 5/5
      Bob Lee Swagger makes his daddy proud I'd say. Best yet.
    • 5/5
      Excellent suspense one of my top 10 books of all time
    • 4/5
      This one never gets old. Good story told well. Enjoy.
    • 5/5
      Not my usual cup of tea but I was convinced to read this thriller (too much gun and war stuff) and am I ever glad I was. Really good story.
    • 1/5
      This audiobook is way too shortened - only 3 hours instead of 10 - 15 hours which would be normal. So it's more like a film script not a book. Avoid!
    • 3/5
      Comic book style thriller---leisure time reading for when you want to entertained, not intellectually challenged.
    • 5/5
      Point of Impact is about Bob Lee Swagger being a Marine snipers in Vietnam. Bob Lee Swagger just wants to be left alone and to leave the killing behind. But with consummate psychological skills, a military organization seduces Bob into leaving his beloved Arkansas hills for one last mission for his country, unaware until too late that the game is rigged. The assassination plot is executed to perfection until Bob Lee Swagger comes out of the operation alive. The target of a nationwide manhunt, his only allies a woman he just met and a discredited FBI agent. Now Bob Lee Swagger is on the run, using his lethal skills once more, but this time to track down the men who set him up and to break a dark conspiracy aimed at the very heart of America. Point of Impact was a very interesting book to read. I liked how the story was and also how the plot went. I also liked how the plot when with the story line. It was so good that I didnt want to put the book down. It kept me very interseted in the book. The book had a lot of action as well. If you like an entertaining books I would highly recomemd it to absolutly anyone.
    • 5/5
      I haven't read the Swagger books in order and still have several to polish off. This is my favorite so far. I have not seen the movie based on this book but plan to. Now I see where Nick Memphis fits in and things are a lot clearer. Great book.
    • 4/5
      It's quite fast paced - lots of activity going on. The scene moves from one character to another and back again several times in a chapter; I guess this is to increase the suspense level. In some ways it is quite suspenseful because it is so detailed and complex that you can't really figure out how Bob is going to get out of it, but, of course, you know he must.The violence is pretty "distant" since much/most of the killing is done by gun, and done at long distances so you don't get much up-close-and-personal butt kicking, though there is a bit of that. The story covers a long-ish time frame (months I guess) but doesn't feel like it. A lot happens, and the story requires that you accept there are secret government conspiracies that cause/hide atrocities. Oh, and that you at least are not anti-gun because there's a lot of gun detail here.I will read more in the series, though (or maybe because) I can't see where the author can go with Bob Lee Swagger after how this one ended.
    • 4/5
      I haven't seen the movie. The book was a great read. Lots of details about guns and distances and what's possible. It never got boring, and the use of terms and details that I don't understand were brief and I got the point. The characters were interesting, from the young FBI agent, the psychiatrist, the few women. I liked the way the lead character was able to predict and know what his adversaries were going to do. The psychiatrist and the frame-up team were able to figure out how to play Bob to get him where they wanted him. I think it's about as likely that he was able to predict what they would try. We see him demonstrate that in the effort he puts in to identify the possible assassination options leading up to the frame-up.Lots of details, investigations that actually lead to some information that people understand and follow, plus a few men who know how to stop and think like someone else to figure out their actions. I liked the intricate details as each side tried to figure out, plan for, and outwit the other side. An exciting read that I hated to put down.
    • 2/5
      This is the book that the movie Shooter was based upon. The book is DRASTICALLY different than the movie. The book is set earlier, like after the Viet Nam War. I had a difficult time getting through this book. It is okay and if you liked the movie, do not read this book. It will just confuse you when you see the movie again.
    • 5/5
      Thought it was a great book myself. Very different from the movie. Which I thought was a great movie. I see the story line in both but one Swagger in the book fought in Nam and was older. Swagger in the movie was younger and in the Middle East. Hunter has to be one of my favorite authors.
    • 5/5
      Point of Impact is a great read. It is a fast moving story that kept me reading for hours.
    • 4/5
      I was intrigued after watching the (lame) film Shooter, which is based on this book, to see just how badly Hollywood screwed it up. My hunch was that the damage was extensive as the film was poorly done, but the story idea was a good one. Knowing Stephen Hunter is a damn fine writer I figured I had nothing to loose. My hunch was correct, Point of Impact is a taut thriller with great characters and deeply researched back up information to move the story along. In short, read the book; skip the movie.
    • 4/5
      Bob Lee Swagger is a tough, unforgettable character. The action, settings & plot are all plausible. If you like conspiracy theories, guns & snipers, it's a great read. Well written & thought out.The biggest surprise to me was that when I tried to re-read the books maybe 5 years later, I couldn't get back into it. I didn't think of it as a read-once book. It's better than that. Maybe a little too good & I remembered it too well to make a re-read worth it. Usually my memory is worse than that.
    • 4/5
      Let's just say if you've got a member of a gun control group on your Christmas list, this book would be the worst possible gift! Stephen Hunter's Point of Impact is a lovingly-crafted mash note to precision firearms, and it's excellent. Bob Lee Swagger was the creme de la creme of Vietnam snipers, but he's at loose ends back in civilian life. So he's eager to take up a sniping-analysis job that's a perfect exercise of his unique skills. Could it be too good to be true? And how!Although Bob Lee is not the world's most realistic character, as other reviewers have noted, he's not really the point here. It's the guns that are the real focus of point of impact, and they're handled with consummate skill worthy of Bob Lee himself. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Having seen the movie first I was quickly surprised by its deviation from the book. While the general plot twists were held in place, it was still a page turner from front to back. While Swagger's omniscience made for excellent plot twists, it felt over done. His seeming inability to do anything wrong made the outcome of the story known from early on; the details simply needed to be filled in. Despite the inevitable outcome it is still worth picking up, and makes for an excellent action thriller.
    • 4/5
      This was a fun read and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a typical techno-thriller. On the positive side, the book moves quickly, with lots of twists and turns to the plot, the action is fairly relentless, and the view into the technical side of the sniper profession is very interesting.On the negative side, the hero is just a bit too much of a superman. This isn't in reference to his shooting ability—there are documented cases of Viet Nam and Middle East snipers doing the same things. No, Swagger's superpowers were in his ability to completely predict everything his adversaries were going to do, right down to the second. It disturbed the flow of the book at times. It wasn't unduly unsettling; I just tend to prefer my characters to be slightly more believable.I had seen the movie based upon this book..."Shooter"...before reading the novel and, even though I knew some of the plot twists, I still enjoyed it enough to read it in a single sitting. Give it a try if you like the genre.As a side note, reading reviews of the sequel, The 47th Samurai, I understand that Swagger's superabilities extend to becoming a world-class master of the samurai sword with about a week's practice, so I think I'll just stop here. Those kinds of things should be left for Dirk Pitt or other protagonists whose authors have their tongues firmly in their cheeks.
    • 5/5
      Vietnam-vet and Master sniper Bob Lee gets pulled into one last job. It’s a set-up and all of a sudden he is the most hunted man in the US of A. And now he is pissed off and out for revenge. Great read, I could not put it down and was comatose all week, because I kept reading till 2am a couple of nights in a row. If you like Tom Clancy, try this! It is fast, has a lot of suspense, doesn’t take itself too serious and is fun to read.