Game of Snipers

Early in bestseller Hunter’s stellar 12th Bob Lee Swagger novel (after 2017’s G-Man), a stranger, Janet McDowell, shows up at Bob’s Idaho ranch and asks him for help tracking down the sniper who fatally shot her Marine son, Lance Cpl. Thomas McDowell, in Baghdad in 2003. Janet has spent the past 15 years following the trail of the man she knows killed Tom, a mercenary known as Juba the Sniper. After accepting the mission, Bob consults the Israelis, who tell him that the Syrian-born Juba “is a cold brute, utterly committed and sublimely talented.” After the Mossad learns that Juba is headed for America with plans to shoot a “high value target from a long way away,” Bob goes to the FBI, and a co-FBI/Mossad task force is assembled. A riveting chase ensues in which Juba manages to stay one step ahead of Bob and his team with multiple hairbreadth escapes. Some readers may find the gun lore too intensive, but Hunter can make even a lengthy discourse on a single round of ammunition fascinating. Put this one on the shelf next to The Day of the Jackal. It’s that good. [em]Author tour. Agent: Esther Newberg, Curtis Brown. (July) [/em]