Judging by the reader comments from the last of his books I reviewed, “I, Sniper,” Stephen Hunter has lots of fans here. They’ll be happy to know that another in his Bob the Nailer series is coming out.

“Dead Zero” will be available in hardcover or in Kindle format, more or less just in time for Christmas, a phrase that probably bears some explaining. Announced release date is December 28.  However, Amazon is taking advanced orders, and I’m sure your bookstore will take your money and reserve one for you or your favorite giftee.

With favorite authors, fans accept IOUs.

Rifle folks and those in the training community will recognize some of the adapted characters and organizations. While the .50 Browning Machine Gun ammo used by some of the bad guys hits with more inertia than any I’ve seen, it’s the book’s inertia that fans will be looking for, and a pace that keeps the reader turning pages is a signature of Hunter’s considerable writing talent.

For those who’ve followed the Swagger saga, from WWII veteran Earl to his Vietnam era son Bob Lee Swagger, there’s a third generation introduced in this novel. That’s about all the “spoiler” I should probably divulge.

I found “Dead Zero” an enjoyable read, and we’ll have some other gift book suggestions for gunnies in this space shortly

Dead Zero

1 COMMENT

  1. Mas. I found out about Stephen Hunter and his ‘Bob the Nailer’ books from you. Since then I’ve read them all and am anxiously waiting for ‘Dead Zero’ to come out.

    My retirement income won’t allow for me to buy my own copies so I depend on my local library. I’m number 7 on the queue for ‘I, Sniper’ and since they are ordering 9 copies I will be one of the first to read it.

    The library didn’t list an actual availability date (just 12/10), so I was glad to read that you said it will be out on 28 December.

    Keep us posted on any interesting firearms related books that you come across.

  2. Steven Hunter ‘lost’ me as a reader when he had uber sniper Swagger using a Mini-14 to hold off a platoon of narco-soldiers. 🙂 Don’t get me wrong. I own one and like it, for what it is worth. But it wouldn’t be my first choice for holding down the fort.

  3. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I went to see if I Sniper was available on my iPad, and it is along with Dead Zero as well right now. No need to wait until the 28th 😉

  4. Oooops, I jumped the gun. It’s actually just like amazon, Dead Zero is available for pre-order and releases on the 28th.

  5. I just finished Pale Horse Coming, and it was a riot reading Earl Swagger team up with Elmer Keith, Ed McGivern and others (with very thin pseudonyms) for a gunfight. While perhaps sustained accuracy in a Mini-14 stretches believability, he’s the only author out there who “gets” shooting. You won’t find any of his characters “flicking off the safety on a Glock” here.

  6. Outstanding! I knew that Mr. Hunter was working on another novel, but I didn’t know it was to be released so soon. I’ve read all the Swagger novels, and have enjoyed them all. I’ll be picking this one up on it’s release date.

    And guys, give Mr. Hunter a break! He gets the gun stuff right anout 99.5% of the time…for a novelist, that’s pretty freakin’ good! And he spins a heck of a good yarn. It’s gotten to the point that Hunter, Vince Flynn and Joe Waumbaugh are the only authors I read anymore.

  7. Blue Barrel – “flicking off the safety on a Glock” is a bugbear of mine too. I recall Karen Slaughter, who in one of her books had a college skeet team using Reminton 870*rifles* fixing this error in later editions, still having the cops of the fictional Gant County flicking safety catches off on their Glocks!

    However I subsequently found out that a Glock can actually have a safety catch.

    I first read about this after market accessory in an article by a chap called Massad Ayoob in “Combat Handguns” magazine.

    http://www.tarnhelm.com/GlockSafety.html

    And according to Wikipedia Glock manufactured small numbers of the safety catch equipped model 17S.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glock

    That said I suspect that 99.9% of authors who have characters “flicking off the safety on a Glock,” but it’s not impossible to do so e.g. maybe the bean-counters of Gant County felt that their cops issue sidearms should have safety catches.

  8. Ooops!!! That last paragraph should read:

    “That said I suspect that 99.9% of authors who have characters “flicking off the safety on a Glock,” have just plain got it wrong, but it’s not impossible to do so e.g. maybe the bean-counters of Gant County felt that their cops issue sidearms should have safety catches.”

    Sorry.