The Washington Times
published my review of Stephen Hunter’s G-Man.
“Don’t shoot, G-Man,” Machine
Gun Kelly cried out to the federal agents who were moving in to arrest him in
1933. The term later came to be synonymous with FBI special agents.
As Bryan Burrough noted in
his excellent true crime book “Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave
and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34,” J. Edgar Hoover publicly mandated that all
agents have a law degree, but he quietly, and wisely, also hired Southwestern
lawmen to compliment his lawyer-agents. These “Cowboys,” as they were known,
were knowledgeable about firearms and had considerable experience with
gunfights against armed and desperate criminals. As the federal agents were
going up against violent bank robbers such as Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face
Nelson and John Dillinger, the Cowboys were needed to back up the inexperienced
agents with law degrees.
In Stephen Hunter’s thriller
“G-Man” Charles Swagger, a World War I hero and sheriff of Polk County, Arkansas,
is one of the Cowboys. The Justice Department’s Division of Investigation,
later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation, needed men in like Charles
Swagger to go toe-to-toe with the violent bank robbers and gunmen of the 1930s.
In Mr. Hunter’s series of
thrillers about the fictional Swagger family, Charles Swagger is the
grandfather of Bob Lee Swagger, a former Vietnam War Marine sniper, and father
of Earl Swagger, a former World War II Marine Medal of Honor winner and
Arkansas state trooper. All of the Swaggers are gunmen and Mr. Hunter, a gun
enthusiast, writes knowledgeably about guns.
“G-Man,” the 10th in the
series, alternates between Charles Swagger’s story in 1934 and Bob Lee
Swagger’s present day story. Bob Lee Swagger is an elderly, tall, and lanky
man, looking more like Clint Eastwood than Mark Wahlberg, who portrayed the
former sniper in the film “Shooter,” or Ryan Phillippe, who plays Bob Lee
Swagger in the TV series “Shooter.”
… All of the infamous
criminals and famous lawmen from the Depression-era make an appearance in the
novel and Mr. Hunter places Charles Swagger at the center of every famous
gunfight.
You can read the rest of the
review via the below link:
Tim,
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Paul