Stephen Hunter books

Bob Lee Swagger Reading Order

Earl Swagger Reading Order

Non-Fiction

Ray Cruz Reading Order

Short Stories/Novellas

Standalone Novels

Swagger Collections

Swaggerverse Reading Order

Stephen Hunter was born in 1946 in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. He graduated from Northwestern University with a journalism degree in 1968 and was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving in the 3rd Infantry Regiment in Washington, D.C. After his service, he joined The Baltimore Sun in 1971 and spent decades as a journalist before becoming the chief film critic at The Washington Post, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism.

Hunter published his first novel, The Master Sniper, in 1980. His best-known creation is Bob Lee Swagger, a Vietnam veteran and expert marksman who first appeared in Point of Impact (1993). That novel was adapted into the 2007 film Shooter starring Mark Wahlberg and later a USA Network television series. The Swagger novels combine detailed knowledge of firearms and ballistics with tightly plotted thriller narratives. Hunter has also written standalone novels, historical thrillers, and nonfiction books about film and American history.