Stephen Hunter Books In Order

Publication Order of Bob Lee Swagger Books

Publication Order of Earl Swagger Books

Chronological Order of Earl Swagger Books

Publication Order of Earl Swagger Collections

Publication Order of Ray Cruz Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Bibliomysteries Books

Chronological Order of Bibliomysteries Books

Publication Order of Mysterious Profiles Books

Stephen Hunter Books In Order:

Many authors have a background that includes an inspiring story about how they suddenly discovered they had a passion for writing. It was no surprise at all when Stephen Hunter emerged as an author, as his mother, Virginia Ricker Hunter, was an author of books for children and his father, Charles Francis Hunter, was a professor for Northwestern University who taught speech, television production, and film. Although it is clear that the careers of his parents have a big influence on what Hunter would become, his relationship with his father was very strained. Charles Francis Hunter, being upstanding as a college professor, was frequently physically abusive to his wife and kids. He was an alcoholic who drank to cope with his hidden pangs of being gay. The issue with the sexuality of Hunter’s father was not something that became apparent until the man’s death, as he was pushed out of a window by two gay men. As a child, Stephen Hunter’s parents always renounced guns in their home, but he loved to draw them. Reflecting back, it is now said that his fascination with guns was part of his desire to be protected from his father’s abusive blows. Stephen Hunter grew up in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, although Kansas City, Missouri is where he had been born. In 1968, Hunter Graduated with a degree in Journalism from Medill School at Northwestern. He then did military service, becoming one of the guards honored at Arlington National Cemetery. Then, in 1971, using his journalism degree, Hunter became a writer at the Baltimore Sun.

Working at the Sun, Hunter became the paper’s first film critic by 1982. He had worked at the newspaper’s copy desk for over a decade and this new position would remain with him throughout his career, even when he left the Sun to work for Washington Post in 1997. Having found his true niche, Hunter became very successful as a film critic, winning a Pulitzer Prize for his movie criticism and a Distinguished Writing Award with ASNE.

It is not clear if Hunter’s role as a movie critic affected his style of writing as an author or whether he takes his views as a critic to craft his very popular titles, but Hunter has seen much success as a novelist, although he continues his role in film criticism. His book writing career started off with The Master Sniper in 1980. In 1993, he started a book series called Bob Lee Swagger, which contains eight titles. Hunter started another series of books in 2000 called Earl Swagger, which features three titles. He also has written two books about Ray Cruz, along with several earlier novels. In addition to his fiction novels, Hunter has also authored several non-fiction pieces, including compellations of essays that he wrote for the Sun and The Washington Post.

Stephen Hunter’s Career as a Writer:

The passion that Stephen Hunter has for guns shows through in the genre of writing he often chooses. The majority of his work as an author covers tales of war and action thrillers. Fictional titles he has written, such as Point of Impact, Master Sniper, Soft Target, The 47th Samurai, and most of his other works are stories of gun slingers. His character, Bob Swagger, that is the star of Hunter’s trilogy, is a veteran of the infamous war that took place in Vietnam. The collections of essays that Hunter released which came from his work at the Sun and Washington Post are also highly related to violent action such as his coverage on the assassination of President Truman and his articles on the conflicts in Afghanistan. He even related his movie critic career to gun assault in one of his nonfiction books, titling it Violent Screen.

Jumping Into the World of Stephen Hunter:

Hunter fans love the excitement they get from his action thrillers. In the book, Point of Impact, Hunter’s trilogy about the Vietnam veteran begins. The story is about Bob Lee Swagger, who is also called ‘The Nailer’. The character is based lightly on Carlos Hathcock, a legend of the US Marines. Bob gets caught up in a scheme crafted by corrupt officials of the US government, who uses him for the benefit of their own crooked plans and later tries to murder him several times. Instead of being captured by these dirty officials, Bob hides out in deep in Arkansas where he abides in a trailer and passes his time with his firearm hobby. Apparently, Bob does not run far enough away, because another crooked government representative tracks him down and offers him a job. After taking the position, Bob gets framed for attempted assassination and is once again forced to be on the run. With a plot that is tightly interwoven with the first novel, Black Light, the second book in the trilogy is about Bob Swagger’s father Earl. Readers get taken five years post Point of Impact to the present. Bob is now married and has a very young daughter. He lives in Arizona with is family and still working to avoid all the trouble that arose in Point of Impact. Yet again, Bob is approached by someone with a proposition accept, this time, it is a young man, Russ, who is only interested in writing the story about Bob’s father’s death. The more Russ digs into the details of the event the more startling revelations surface. It gives readers a closer look at the life of the main character, Bob Swagger.

Movies Based on Stephen Hunter Books:

Although Hunter himself is a very well-respected movie critic, only one of Stephen Hunter’s books managed to be transformed to film. In March of 2007, the movie Shooter hit the market, with Paramount Pictures as the distributor. With a budget of $88 million, the film raised about $95 million at the box office. The movie is the film adaptation of Hunter’s Point of Impact, which was the first novel in his Bob Lee Swagger Trilogy. Although the movie is only the first part of a story, no plans have been made to continue the tale through releasing movies based on the rest of the books in Hunter’s trilogy.

One Response to “Stephen Hunter”

1. Greg Constantino: 2 years ago

   Just read and loved Targeted. Any chance there will be another book with Delta and Niner as the characters?

   Reply