Bob Lee watches the days go by from his front porch in the
Idaho mountains. Back in the wilds with his wife, dog, two new hips, and his
personal nightmares from a life of the gun. He’s in the money from having sold to developers the
Arkansas land that’d been in the Swagger family since the Civil War. When the
land is being cleared, an old cabin foundation is dug up and along with it, an
old-fashioned strongbox. The developers take it to the lawyer who brokered the
deal who calls Bob Lee. The contents give Bob Lee what he now needs — a
mission. The contents offer obscure clues about a grandfather he never knew. Charles,
father of Earl.
Grandfather, son, grandson all cut from a mold of Duty. Men of Honor. Men
of the gun. Scared of a fight, but not enough to back down, and so skilled with
the gun to walk away every time. Charles was the Carroll County sheriff after
serving with distinction in WWI. A man willing to pull a trigger when drawing
on a crook in need of being killed. Part of the posse the infamous Frank Hamer
assembled to take down Bonnie and Clyde.
1934. April. Little Bohemia, Wisconsin. A shootout at a hunting
lodge leaves 4 or 5 agents dead and not a single bad guy touched.
1934 July. A recruiter for a fledgling division within the
Department of Justice offers him a job to teach their lawyer-agents how to
survive and win in a gunfight. Come to Chicago. Ground zero for post-depression
gangsters.
1934. Summer. Bank robbers are idolized like film stars.
Capone went away with a whimper on a tax charge. Bonnie and Clyde dead in an
avalanche of bullets. The newest stars roll off the tongue like honey.
Dillinger. Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the craziest of the bunch, Lester
Gillis.
Charles teaches the lawyers about the gun. About gunfighting.
But these guys are government. Work the streets. Cultivate informants. Squeeze informants
for more. Meet. Plan. Execute. A plan is hatched to get Dillinger. After the
movie, Dillinger does something unexpected. Plan is now shot. Charles grabs the
two closest agents and schemes on the spot, taking out Dillinger with nary a
civilian casualty.
One by one, gangsters fall from Charles’ skill and ability
to improvise. And gangsters are getting nervous. That tall guy in the suit,
fedora, and dead eyes. Nearly put one in Lester’s forehead from nearly 100 yards
with a damn .45 Colt.
1934. November. Lester Gillis is clever and pissed. He’s
figured out who in the Italian mob is a rat to the Division. But his plan
almost gets him killed when he pulls up to a safe house near Lake Geneva only
to surprise Charles on the porch. The car chase is on as Lester heads back to
Chicago. Two Feds try to block his return (and fail in a Barrington gunfight ). Thinking he’s beat the feds, the now injured Lester (with wife Helen and
best friend JP) heads to a Wilmette hideout. But Charles knows where he’s
headed. In the darkness, Charles runs them off the road. JP wants no part of
the fight but Lester is fueled by rage to avenge the deaths of his friends, Johnny,
Pretty Boy, and the rest. He and Charles face down in the 1934 version of an
old west gunfight, only this fight is being contested using
Thompson submachine guns. As good as Lester is, and that means really good, he
was no match for a man of the gun. Charles gut shot Lester and allowed him to
die in the arms of his wife. With every cop within 100 miles bearing down on
the scene, Charles tells Helen to tell the cops that Lester was shot in the
Barrington gunfight and finally died here. She was never to mention Charles’ presence
or involvement or he'd hunt her down. Same with JP. Charles then tells a reporter friend the same story. That Sam Cowley
put 6 slugs into Lester in Barrington. The papers then printed in stunning detail
the last hours of Baby Face Nelson.
Charles refused offers by the Division to move up to Washington,
maddening his boss who expunged the historical records of one Charles F.
Swagger ever having anything to do with the Division of what the Division would become.
Charles went back to Arkansas to his wife and his sons Earl and the simple Bobby
Lee.
Lest you think this review is one big spoiler alert, you’d
be dead wrong. Hunter keeps the reader on a string by telling two tales. One about Charles, obviously. The other is about Bob Lee’s mission to learn as much
as he could about his grandfather. What was it about him that made son Earl
what he became (CMH winner, Arkansas State Police hero, flawed father to Bob
Lee) and then how Bob Lee became Bob Lee. Not to mention what in the world does that strongbox hold and how does it lead Bob Lee on his modern day mission? Dozens of secondary Chicago plots
roll underneath the hunt for all those Public Enemies. So it really doesn’t
matter that the reader knows the gangsters will fall (hey, everyone knew the Titanic sunk, but that didn't stop the ticket sales). It’s what leads up to
each confrontation that slams you firmly in your seat.
Bottom line? No one weaves a tighter story than Hunter. Bob
Lee is my hero. Has been since I first read iSniper. Absolutely can’t go wrong
with Stephen Hunter. One of my Top 5 authors. A permanent fixture in my power
rotation.
Apologies for being under the radar for so long. No
explanation. Reading? Yes. Reviewing? Not so much. Just have to get back in the
habit. There are a few big time winners that deserve attention and I’ll get at
it. Promise.
East Coast Don
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