Stephen Hunter has been bringing us thrillers featuring Bob Lee Swagger for decades. In fact, the character is so popular that he has been played by Mark Wahlberg in the film Shooter and Ryan Phillippe in the TV series of the same name.

With the release of Hunter’s latest novel, readers are treated to a Swagger story that is unlike anything he has written to date. For longtime readers of this intense series featuring the expert sniper, their prayers have been answered as THE BULLET GARDEN is the eagerly awaited prequel set during WWII and starring Bob Lee’s father, Earl Swagger. The apple does not fall far from the tree as Earl is as tough as they come and is tapped to take on a top-secret mission that will go a long way towards assuring an Allied victory.

"There are not many authors out there who can handle the subject matter of THE BULLET GARDEN like Stephen Hunter, which reinforces why he has earned a reputation for injecting intense, no-nonsense military thrills into his Swagger novels."

We already have seen the successful storming of the beaches of Normandy, but the U.S. troops and their allies have no time to celebrate as the Nazi Germany threat is a mighty one and features one of the toughest armies ever created. It seems that some highly skilled German snipers have been picking off key U.S targets with ease and unfortunate regularity. It is almost as if someone was sharing the location of the American GIs who have been victimized by these bullets.

Thus we have the emergence of Earl Swagger, who must infiltrate the German military forces behind enemy lines to locate whoever is behind these attacks and put an end to them in violent and abrupt fashion. Swagger accepts this responsibility without thinking twice and brings the skill set he honed as a hero in the Pacific theater to try to counter the deadly SS mission that seeks to obliterate the Allied threat in Europe.

Swagger is a gunnery sergeant, not a sniper, and was injured during his heroic feats in the Pacific. Still, General Eisenhower is confident that he is the right man for this job. Swagger is able to put together a top-notch group of snipers, two of whom will be extremely familiar to fans of the series. Yet, as he travels from England to France, he finds there are not many people he can fully trust. He and his small team may indeed be on their own to see this mission through to the very end --- even if it costs them their lives.

There are not many authors out there who can handle the subject matter of THE BULLET GARDEN like Stephen Hunter, which reinforces why he has earned a reputation for injecting intense, no-nonsense military thrills into his Swagger novels. This story does not disappoint, and makes for an engaging and exciting read from cover to cover.