Bob Lee Swagger
Bob Lee Swagger | |
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First appearance | Point of Impact |
Created by | Stephen Hunter |
Portrayed by |
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In-universe information | |
Alias | Tyler Lee Young |
Nickname | Bob the Nailer |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | Former Gunnery Sergeant Scout Sniper |
Family |
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Spouse |
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Children |
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Nationality | American |
Bob Lee "the Nailer" Swagger is a fictional character created by Stephen Hunter. He is the protagonist of a series of 12 novels (as of 2022) that relate his life during and after the Vietnam War, starting with Point of Impact (1993) up to the most recent Targeted (2022). Swagger is the protagonist of the 2007 film and the 2016 TV series Shooter, each based on Point of Impact. Hunter has said that Swagger is loosely based on Carlos Hathcock, a U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper.[1][2]
Fictional character biography
Bob Lee Swagger is a retired
Swagger joins the Marines, forging a successful career as a
In Vietnam, Swagger was shot in the hip from 1,400 meters away by T. Solaratov, a Soviet sniper who killed Fenn soon after with a shot to the chest.
Swagger was retired by the Marine Corps in 1975, suffering from a permanent disability due to the hip wound. He became an alcoholic to numb his depression, which resulted in the break-up of his second marriage to Susan, and he retreated to a hermitic existence on family land near Blue Eye.
The events of
He goes on to marry Julie Fenn, the widow of his spotter, and they have a daughter, Nikki Swagger. In Black Light, Swagger unravels a conspiracy behind the murder of his father.
In Time to Hunt, Swagger solves the mystery of his spotter's death, which culminates in a duel with Solaratov. This novel also depicts a portion of his service in the Vietnam War.
The fourth Bob Lee Swagger novel, The 47th Samurai, was published on September 11, 2007. In this novel, Swagger travels to Japan to return a samurai sword recovered by his father in World War II to its rightful owner, but quickly finds himself wrapped up in yet another deadly plot. This novel reveals the story of Earl's tour of duty on Iwo Jima.
The fifth novel,
The sixth novel, I, Sniper, was published in 2009. In this novel, the FBI enlists Swagger's help in investigating the murders of several prominent 1960s Vietnam War protesters. Although the evidence initially points to former Marine sniper Carl Hitchcock (based on Carlos Hathcock), Bob Lee quickly discovers that Hitchcock was framed for the murders and sets out to find the real killer. His investigation takes him into the world of modern military sniper warfare, which technology has altered greatly since his days in Vietnam.
The seventh Bob Lee Swagger novel, Dead Zero, released December 28, 2010, and is set in the current Global War on Terrorism. A Marine sniper named Ray Cruz, on an assassination mission, is betrayed, and in the time after, the target, Ibrahim Zarzi, also known as "the beheader", becomes a prospective Afghan presidential candidate. Zarzi professes loyalty to the U.S. after attempts on his life, but Cruz resurfaces to complete the mission. Bob Lee Swagger is brought in as a consultant by request of Assistant Director Nick Memphis, friendly with Swagger since the events of Point of Impact, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Susan Okada, of The 47th Samurai. Swagger is asked to help find Cruz, but along the way becomes sympathetic of Cruz and doubts his guilt. Later it is revealed that Cruz is Swagger's son, byproduct of a previously unknown marriage to a Vietnamese woman who was killed during the Tet Offensive. The loss of his wife and disappearance of the baby, it is theorized, motivated Swagger to take a third tour of duty, this time as a sniper, and establishing his legend.
In Dead Zero, Swagger moves from action hero to detective and strategist. Other elements in Dead Zero new to the Bob Lee Swagger novels are the inclusion of private security contractors and their presence in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. One of the plot elements is a three-man team referred to as "unidentified contractor team". They use the
In The Third Bullet, the eighth Bob Swagger novel, Bob Lee attempts to unravel the mystery behind the Kennedy assassination from a sniper's point of view and utilizes his unique skill-set to question several actual details from the Warren Commission, etc.
In Sniper's Honor, the ninth Bob Swagger novel, Bob Lee teams with a newspaper reporter to uncover the fate of a World War II female
G Man, released in 2017, is the tenth novel in the series. It concerns a 71 year old Swagger attempting to uncover the history of his grandfather Charles Fitzgerald Swagger. Charles was a veteran of both the Canadian and U.S. armies during World War I retiring as a United States Army Major and returned to become the Sheriff of Polk County Arkansas. Bob and Nick Memphis uncover his secret work as an FBI agent during which he was involved in hunting down several famous bank robbers in the year 1934 as well as his downfall from success.
Other books in the Bob Lee Swagger series:
Game of Snipers-2019
Targeted-2021
Books related to Bob Lee Swagger Series
The Bullet Garden: An Earl Swagger Novel
Shooter (adaptations)
Point of Impact is the basis for the movie Shooter, starring Mark Wahlberg as Swagger. The film takes place in present day, with many of the circumstances updated to a contemporary setting.
A TV adaptation also entitled Shooter aired for three seasons, from 2016 to 2018. Ryan Phillippe stars as Swagger.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-1-4391-3865-6.
- ISBN 978-0-316-03193-6.