Written by: Stephen Hunter
Submitted By: David Coates
The first book in a series starring Earl Swagger, ex-USMC and taciturn warrior. Earl Swagger is Richard Sharpe's US equivalent in the 20th Century.
We first meet Swagger in the final act in his long Marine career collecting the Medal of Honour (sorry, 'Honor') for his actions on Iwo Jima, At this stage, Earl is a suicidal drunk who feels that he has no place in the modern post-WW2 world.
He is saved by an offer to 'ramrod' a team of young cops tasked with cleaning up the gangster-run Arkansas town of Hot Springs.
Fans of Bernard Cornwell will love Earl's character, and Hunter's attention to detail, as well as his basing many of his novels on actual events. The more 'hardware-minded' amongst us will appreciate his accurate descriptions of the many guns which populate his novels.
Other Earl Swagger novels include 'Pale Horse Coming' and 'Havana', with a further series of books about Swagger's son, Bobby Lee.
