1996 – Black Light
The second Bob Lee Swagger book, and last book published by Bantam. From the hardcover dustjacket:
Bob Lee Swagger has seen — and delivered — dozens of deaths. As a United States Marine sniper in Vietnam, his astonishing accuracy with a rifle earned him the nickname “Bob the Nailer;” twenty years later he was forced to kill again to unravel a brutal conspiracy. Now happily secluded with his wife and young daughter in the Arizona desert, Bob believes all the killing is behind him. Until a young writer, Russ Pewtie, arrives at his door with troubling questions about the past.Forty years earlier, Swagger’s father, a dedicated state trooper, was gunned down by two robbers in a sensational shoot-out just outside of Blue Eye, Arkansas. Faced with Russ’ persistence and a desire to make peace with a father he never really knew, Swagger decides to discover what really happened that night long ago in Arkansas. But as soon becomes clear, powerful people don’t want the truth uncovered — and Swagger must use all his combat skills and ruthless cunning to survive.
Like the infrared “black light” that exposes a sniper’s target in the dead of night, Swagger homes in on the shadowy figures desperate to keep the secret of his father’s murder buried. And with the relentless you-must-turn-the-page pace that is Stephen Hunter’s trademark, Black Light accelerates to its exhilarating climax — an explosion of gunfire that blasts open the secrets of two generations.
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August 8th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
A must read if you want to understand the Swaggers. I truly enjoyed this novel and am thrilled to have it in my collection
January 18th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I guess I’ve read more of Mr. Hunter than I thought. This one was a great read too!
February 20th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
The more I read by Hunter, the more I like his writing. While I’m a big fan of the type of protagonist he has created in Swagger, I have come to really appreciate the depth of emotions he includes in his books. This one has one of the greatest lines dealing with booze and whiskey memories and pain. This was a really top notch read.
March 30th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
A fantastic sequel to Point of Impact and Dirty White Boys. Hunter really pulls his charachters together in this one. This is an absolute must-read!
March 26th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I just re-read “Black Light” for the 5th time…a close 2nd to my favorite, “Point of Impact.” I have now begun to re-read the Swagger series yet again. I started “Pale Horse Coming” but took a break to read “I, Sniper”. I love Earl Swagger and always thought Stephen Hunter would write about Earl’s daddy, Charles.
July 17th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Since a good part of my family if from Fort Smith:
It’s Garrison Avenue not Street
It’s Midland Boulevard
It’s Rogers Avenue and
It’s Free Ferry Road
Sad to see what some of those thoroughfares have become…
August 10th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
It’s been some time since I read this book, but I’m pretty sure that it’s where my Swagger/ Hunter addiction began. Poignant, exciting, funny, haunting and thrilling, a brilliant pairing of the Swaggers. It might be a bit pretentious to compare the way that the father and son interact over the years, separated, yet entwined, to the two Don Corleones in Godfather Part II, but Hunter manages to achieve such a chemistry.
I just wish there could be a ‘Frequency’ type ending, where Bob Lee is able to send a message back through time and save poor Earl’s life.