Sue Recommends Dead Zero by Stephen Hunter

My first encounter with Stephen Hunter's character Bob Lee Swagger was watching Shooter, a popular feature film with Mark Wahlberg. The film was based on Hunter's first book in the series entitled Point of Impact. Shortly after I saw a review of a new novel in the series and it had great reviews. That began my quest to read Hunter's books.

Dead Zero is the newest and seventh entry in the Bob Lee Swagger series. Swagger is a former Marine sniper who is known for his shooting skills but also his ability to assess situations and outwit the enemy. He was retired with a medical disability but the U.S. government hires him as a special consultant to assist them in solving conspiracies and preventing assassinations.

With the newest title in the series, Hunter joins the bevy of titles based on global terrorism. Dead Zero begins in Afghanistan and brings the terror to our own shores. A Marine sniper, Ray Cruz, is sent to assassinate a cruel Afghan politician, Ibrahim Zarzi, but finds himself being hunted by a group of Americans. He wants to find out who in the U.S. government is the traitor responsible for the death of his spotter and the failure of his mission. Swagger is brought in to help find Cruz and prevent him from completing his assassination mission on U.S. soil as the U.S government now supports Zarzi. As Swagger performs his role in stopping Cruz, he discovers that he has a personal stake in this quest.

If you enjoy adventure, plot twists, and a smart, likable, down-to-earth character, Bob Lee Swagger novels are for you.

SH