The 47th Samurai

Thriller.

In The 47th Samurai, Bob Lee Swagger, the gritty hero of Stephen Hunter's bestselling novels Point of Impact and Time to Hunt, returns in this intense and exotic thriller. Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers, two brave fighters on opposite sides, met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island. Only Earl Swagger survived. More than sixty years later, Yano comes to America to honor the legacy of his heroic father by recovering the sword he used in the battle. His search has led him to Crazy Horse, Idaho, where Bob Lee, ex-marine and Vietnam veteran, has settled into a restless retirement and immediately pledges himself to Yano's quest. Bob Lee finds the sword and delivers it to Yano in Tokyo. On inspection, they discover that it is not a standard WWII blade, but a legendary shin-shinto katana, an artifact of the nation. It is priceless but worth killing for. Suddenly Bob is at the center of a series of terrible crimes he barely understands but vows to avenge. And to do so, he throws himself into the world of the samurai, Tokyo's dark, criminal yakuza underworld, and the unwritten rules of Japanese culture. Swagger's allies, hard-as-nails, American-born Susan Okada and the brave, cocaine-dealing tabloid journalist Nick Yamamoto, help him move through this strange, glittering, and ominous world from the shady bosses of the seamy Kabukicho district to officials in the highest echelons of the Japanese government, but in the end, he is on his own and will succeed only if he can learn that to survive samurai, you must become samurai. As the plot races and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that a ruthless conspiracy is in place, and the only thing that can be taken for granted is that money, power, and sex can drive men of all nationalities to gruesome extremes. If Swagger hopes to stop them, he must be willing not only to die but also to kill.

Masterless, but not without duty. Homeless, but not without family. Stripped of their positions and privilege, but not without honor. Spied upon and betrayed, but not without a secret. Before they die as Samurai, they must fight as Ronin.

A classic tale that will captivate lovers of Japan, history, and epic adventure alike. Japan's most celebrated tale of chivalry, loyalty and revenge--and the basis for a Hollywood feature film starring Keanu Reaves--47 Ronin is the epic tale of a heroic band of Samurai warriors who defy the Japanese Emperor to avenge the honor of their fallen master. The story begins in 1701 when the noble Lord Asano attacks an official at court. His punishment is swift and harsh--the Emperor orders Lord Asano to commit ritual suicide (harikiri). His lands are confiscated, his family exiled, and his Samurai warrior brigade is disbanded--becoming Ronin or masterless, wandering renegades. While appearing to follow the Emperor's instructions, the 47 Ronin plot in secret for many years, biding their time until the moment to strike is right. Like the story of the Knights of the Round Table, the Ronin's deeds became legendary, iconic examples of courage, cunning and loyalty in an age when the Samurai were true heroes and honor was something worth dying for. John Allyn's vivid retelling, with a foreword by scholar and film advisor, Stephen Turnbull, presents this epic of Japanese literature in its correct historical context.

A fourteen-year-old serving boy finds himself surrounded by suspicion and betrayal as his master gathers a group of samurai to avenge Lord Asano's death.

The explosive New York Times bestseller by Stephen Hunter that sends ex-Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger into the thick of an FBI investigation and features some of the greatest gunfights ever to grace the page. It takes a seasoned killer… Four famed ‘60s radicals are gunned down at long range by a sniper. All the evidence—timeline, ballistics, forensics, motive, means, and opportunity—points to Marine war hero Carl Hitchcock. Even his suicide. The case is almost too perfect. …to hunt one. Recruited by the FBI to examine the data, retired Marine sharpshooter Bob Lee Swagger penetrates the new technology of the secretive sniper world to unravel a sophisticated conspiracy run by his most ruthless adversary yet—a marksman whose keen intellect and pinpoint accuracy rival his own. But when the enemy and his deadly henchmen mistake Bob for the hunted, it’s clear that some situations call for a good man with a gun…and the guts to use it.

“Stephen Hunter is in a class by himself. Time to Hunt is as vivid and haunting as a moving target in the crosshairs of a sniper scope.”—Nelson Demille, author of Mayday He is the most dangerous man alive. He only wants to live in peace with his family, and forget the war that nearly killed him. . . . It's not going to happen. Stephen Hunter's epic national bestsellers, Point of Impact and Black Light, introduced millions of readers to Bob Lee Swagger, called “Bob the Nailer,” a heroic but flawed Vietnam War veteran forced twice to use his skills as a master sniper to defend his life and his honor. Now, in his grandest, most intensely thrilling adventure yet, Bob the Nailer must face his deadliest foe from Vietnam—and his own demons—to save his wife and daughter. During the latter days of the Vietnam War, deep in-country, a young idealistic Marine named Donny Fenn was cut down by a sniper's bullet as he set out on patrol with Swagger, who himself received a grievous wound. Years later Swagger married Donny's widow, Julie, and together they raise their daughter, Nikki, on a ranch in the isolated Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. Although he struggles with the painful legacy of Vietnam, Swagger's greatest wish—to leave his violent past behind and live quietly with his family—seems to have come true. Then one idyllic day, a man, a woman, and a girl set out from the ranch on horseback. High on a ridge above a mountain pass, a thousand yards distant, a calm, cold-eyed shooter, one of the world's greatest marksmen, peers through a telescopic sight at the three approaching figures. Out of his tortured past, a mortal enemy has once again found Bob the Nailer. Time to Hunt proves anew why so many consider Stephen Hunter to be our best living thriller writer. With a plot that sweeps from the killing fields of Vietnam to the corridors of power in Washington to the shadowy plots of the new world order, Hunter delivers all the complex, stay-up-all-night action his fans demand in a masterful tale of family heartbreak and international intrigue—and shows why, for Bob Lee Swagger, it's once again time to hunt. Praise for Time to Hunt “Stephen Hunter is simply the best writer of action fiction in the world and Time to Hunt proves it.”—Phillip Margolin, author of The Burning Man “The best straight-up thriller writer at work today.”—Rocky Mountain News

Bob Lee Swagger, former Marine Corps sniper, is back. And this time, it's personal. Forced off the road and into a crash that leaves her in a coma, barely clinging onto life, journalist Nikki Swagger had been investigating reports of a crystal meth superlab in sleepy Tennessee, when she found herself inadvertently peeling back the layers on a huge conspiracy. Bob Lee Swagger is worried. As a former Marine Corps sniper, he's picked up more than his fair share of enemies hell-bent on revenge and he senses that something isn't right. Unconvinced by the Sheriff's conclusion that Nikki's crash was caused by a local kid high on Meth, Bob picks up the investigation where his daughter left off. As Swagger digs deeper, a violent crime clan, gunmen of all stripes and shapes, and deranged evangelicals all rear their ugly heads, but they will live to rue the day they targeted the wrong man's daughter. What people are saying about Bob Lee Swagger thrillers: ‘Stephen Hunter's I, Sniper brings back one of the great characters in modern thrillerdom, Bob Lee Swagger, everyone's favourite lethal, dour Southerner. I kind of want Swagger to meet up with Lee Child's Jack Reacher one day, in a contest to see who could say the least while doing the most damage.’ Malcolm Gladwell ‘The tension never lets up’ New York Times ‘Stephen Hunter is an Elmore Leonard on steroids’ John Sandford ‘As all Bob Lee fans know, it comes down to 'straight killing time.' And so it does, in a ramped-up, high-tech High Noon finale. As always, Hunter makes it work with precise, detail-rich prose that strips the faux glamour from gun fighting and leaves only the skills of the combatants set against the horrors they wreak.’ Booklist ‘Hunter is back at the top of his game.’ Publisher’s Weekly ‘In his guns-a-poppin' latest, Hunter pits his series hero against a nest of sharp-shooting vipers. Dust off the OK Corral. Even the somewhat squeamish, and even certifiable gun-dummies, may once again find chivalric, heroic Bob Lee just about irresistible.’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Hunter's thrillers are always taut, exciting, and well written, and his latest is no exception. There's also a lot of gun and tech talk as Swagger uses decades' worth of skills to stay a step or three ahead of the baddies. Swagger fans will not be disappointed.’ Library Journal 'Hunter has a unique writing style that thrills and captivates from the opening scene to deliver an exciting whodunit' The Sun ‘Stories of passion, guilt and redemption that jump right off the page and smack the reader clean between the eyes’ Independent on Sunday ‘American hardboiled at its very best, full of taciturn and stoical characters and plotting in explosive overdrive’ The Times ‘Hunter choreographs the violence in steely prose and Swagger ... remains one of crime fiction’s most engaging heroes’ Irish Independent