11 March 2008
Stephen Hunter – Point of Impact
Posted by Dirk under: books .
Partway into this book I realized I had recently watched the movie based on it (The Shooter, with Mark Wahlberg) and that sort of spoiled it for me, but I kept on reading.
Basically the story of a Vietnam veteran sniper called Bob Lee Swagger who is approached by some shady characters that want his help finding a potential assassin. Turns out they are actually setting Bob Lee up to be the fall guy.
There plan goes awry though because they didn’t count on old Bob Lee Swagger being the supreme bad ass that he is.
Lots of action. Bob Lee is a super soldier. At one point he takes on about 125 elite troops and beats them. That kind of stuff 🙂
I liked it. It was an easy read. I liked it better than the movie. Wahlberg was a poor choice to play Bob Lee, I think. But it is the written equivalent to that type of escapist action movie. Fun if you like that sort of thing.
2 Comments so far...
Arcanum Says:
12 March 2008 at 9:01 am.
I’ve read this book a couple of times, the last time about ten years ago. I liked the book (I must have liked it enough to read it more than once). Bob Lee Swagger is a recurring character in several of Hunter’s novels. The others weren’t as memorable as “Point of Impact”.
I agree with the “easy read” opinion. This isn’t serious literature, but it is fun. The movie adaptation wasn’t bad, but it was only loosely based on the book. I seem to remember Bob Lee being quite a bit older, roughly 20 years removed from service in Vietnam. Nick Memphis was a bumbling rookie in the movie. He was a competent sniper with a few years service in the book, although with a troubled history with the FBI. I could be wrong, but the sniper connection between Memphis and Swagger was part of what enabled them to form their partnership, if not friendship. The movie versions of the characters didn’t seem to have anything in common.
You may want to check out “The Day Before Midnight” for another good Hunter novel. It’s an end-of-Cold-War era novel that is a fast read.
Dirk Says:
12 March 2008 at 9:09 am.
Yah, you’re right about the differences between the book and the movie. I think the age difference was part of why I didn’t like Wahlberg for the part.