Lessons Learned: How to get the readers FULL attention in the first sentence!

However you define this book or Stephen Hunter's writing, all anyone needs to know is Dirty White Boys is storytelling at its' best. Stephen Hunter has been in the game for a number of years, but I hadn't heard of the author until he was recently recommended to me by a friend. And I fell in love.I adore face-paced thrillers where every loose end is nicely tied by the end, and that's exactly what I got. On the surface, Dirty White Boys sounds like a macho read, full of testerone. And it is, but a...

I would have to agree with other posters. Dirty White Boys, is a pulp fiction crime novel. A throwback to the tough, two fisted "mens" action novels of the 50's and 60's. Well almost. It's better written then many of those old novels and not so formulaic. It has several nicely staged gunfights in it and the dialogue is right out of a short story in Argosy magazine circa 1955. The criminals are bad and the cop is flawed, but heroic. Despite his flaws he pushes on and does his job. I suspect that

If you read much in this genre at all, then this novel deserves a place on your reading stack.

“You watch, Trooper. I’m gonna cut a path across this state nobody won’t never forget. A hunnert years from now, daddies’ll scare their young kids to sleep with tales of mean old Lamar Pye, the he-lion of Oklahoma."Stephen Hunter's DIRTY WHITE BOYS is hard, heavy, high-blooded and hot as an Oklahoma haymow in high summer. It rips and snorts and hoots and screams across the Sooner State like a deranged demolition derby, leaving a sun-blasted swamp of blood and bullet casings in its smoking wake.

My friend Katie asked me to review this book to explain why I'm always raving about it. The problem is, the appeal of this book is very hard to define. On the one hand, it's a repulsive stew of all the worst features of redneck culture and toxic masculinity. This is an author who revels in hatred of blacks, fear of women, worship of guns and all forms of violence. When Stephen Hunter writes about guns you can actually picture him fondling them while he writes, like Hugh Hefner pawing Playmates a...

Talk about a high-speed train ride through the minds of madness. I've never really gotten into crime novels or cop dramas, but I've been a big fan of Stephen Hunter for many years and finally got around to reading this one. Wow. Aside from some of the dialogue now and then, it was a strangely realistic view from every side; whether it was the hardass cop with his own personal drama spiraling out of control, Lamar's criminally intelligent rampaging, or Richard's pseudo-psychotic constant fear, th...

This story is great. Three guys escape from prison, one reluctantly, and go on a rampage. One cop ends up tracking them down. The characters were engaging the action was intense and the story not entirely predictable. Not a story for the faint of heart, but I loved it. A friend at work recomended it and I will be reading everything that he has written. I discovered that he wrote another of my favorite books, American Gun Fight: The Plot to Kill President Truman and the Shoot-ou That Stopped It.

I usually like reading a longer book than this one, but I really liked the story. I'm an author as well as an artist and this story really struck a chord in me. I listened to it on audio book and will definitely be listening to it again...

This is solid, "manly" fiction. It's cops and robbers with lots of vulgarity, violence, and sex. The story might drag a bit in the middle, and get a bit melodramatic, but the characters are fresh, dynamic, and interesting.There is plenty of action in this tale of a prison escapee and the aging cop out to catch him. The last third moves at a fast pace and pays off well.Be warned, however: this book is not for anyone easily offended by bad words, cruel thoughts, and bloodshed.

"There is a paradox at the core of penology, and from it derives the thousand ills and afflictions of the prison system. It is that not only the worst of the young are sent to prison, but the best—that is, the proudest, the bravest, the most daring, the most enterprising and the most undefeated of the poor. There starts the horror. —Norman Mailer’s introduction to In the Belly of the Beast by Jack Henry Abbott No one knows what it’s like to be the bad man.” Lamar Pye carries a big stick arou

Dirty White Boys (1994) is a stand-alone novel by Stephen Hunter, who has fifteen novels about the lives, tribulations, and triumphs of Arkansas’ Swagger family: the first in the excellent (though variable) Swagger series was Point of Impact (1993). Even including the Swagger books, this is one of Hunter’s strongest novels. It is powerful and well-paced, its characters are despicable but very interesting, and each page grabs your attention.This is a very gritty tale about prison life, escape and...

May be the best crime book I ever read from certainly the best writer of this genre. My palms were literally sweating and my heart racing at certain points.I haven't found anyone better, nor as good and am willing to settle for someone almost as good as Stephen Hunter. I wouldn't read this one first if you decide to delve into the master, Hunter. Probably best to go back to the earlier Earl Swagger books, not necessarily published in chronilogical order. You won't believe what a pleasure you wil...

Tough, nasty tale of some very bad-ass rednecks escaping from prison and causing tons of havoc. I passed this around the cell-block and it was quite a hit with the convicts.

Just as fun as the first time I read it. This guy does great characters, dialog, and story lines. If you like 1980's and 1990's action movies by guys like Walter Hill you'll love this guy's books.

This book is in my top five of cop versus bad dude. Pure pulp. Super violence. Warning: NOT FOR THE SENSITIVE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter is a dark, gritty, and at times very intense piece of modern day pulp. It’s not for the easily offended or squeamish! It contains violence, crude and rude dialogue, racial slurs, an abundance of cursing, and a lot of devious and abhorrent behavior that will not endear it to polite society. You’ll know from the very first sentence whether this is something you will want to read or not...and from that very first sentence the story is off and running. For what it

Pure pulp. Ultra-violent. One hell of a crime novel. Hunter is that rare breed of writer that is both highly literate and a fan of the genre.

First, a bit of background about this series of novels. Stephen Hunter has two main characters: Earl Swagger, a veteran of WWII, a state trooper, tough, quiet, capable, tormented. Earl has a son, Bob Lee, who follows in his father's footsteps in most things. In Vietnam, Bob Lee (trained as a sniper) is known as Bob the Nailer. The first novel in the Bob Lee series starts twenty years later, when he is reluctantly drawn out of retirement.Here's the challenge: Hunter jumps around in time, and back...