Dirty White Boys Abridged

Rating:
Summary: A let-down after Point Of Impact
Review: I have to admit that I was one of those fanatics who actually had an order placed for this book before it was released, due to my impressions of Hunter's Point Of Impact. I was convinced that it HAD to be at least as good. But although the first page turned me off with its graphic and gratuitous sexuality, I finished the book. It was like Hunter had a good thing going, and then took some steroids or opiates before writing Dirty White Boys. It was just too much violence and not enough character development. I wound up hating most of the characters, or just feeling bad for them. At least Bob Lee Swagger was someone to cheer for in the previous book. But... I still wouldn't discourage Stephen Hunter fans from reading it, because it fills in some blanks pursuant to his next book, Black Light. Again, my appraisal of Black Light is also not as glowing as with Point Of Impact. I would like to see Hunter do more action novels and not try too hard on the twisted violence.

Rating:
Summary: Dirty White Boys, indeed!
Review: This novel was the first I read by this author. I most certainly will read more. From the first paragraph to the last, it kept me spellbound. Sorry for all the murder and mayhem -- but what the hell. When you have literary license I guess you can do most anything. One thing I know for sure, I'm staying away from those Oklahoma prisons, and them Dirty White Boys.

Rating:
Summary: BLOOD,GORE AND EXTREME VIOLENCE
Review: THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK IN THE BOB LEE SWAGGER TRILOGY AND THIS ONE HIS THE WORST.THIS IS A GOOD BOOK FILLED WITH ACTION AND REALLY MEAN GUYS. BUT IT DOES'NT HAVE THE EMOTIONSL DEPTH OF THE OTHER ONE'S. GREAT SIDE PLOTS LIKE MARRIAGE,ADULTERY,ABUSE,DETECTIVE WORK AND FATHERING. THE BEST BAD GUY I'VE SEEN IN YEARS. LAMAR PYE IS A MEAN SON OF A GUN THAT'S FOR SURE. IT WOULD BE A REALLY GOOD MOVIE.

Rating:
Summary: Bad guys---bad facts
Review: A book to stay up with---I enjoyed the hard action, the reality of life with vicious animal mentalities. The problem with the book?
A serious lack of research and inaccuracies. I am a veteran Oklahoma Trooper, stationed in the book's locale. There were many disappointing factual mistakes which marred what would otherwise have been an excellent novel

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT Book--Well Done
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I am a woman. I just say that because women should not be off put about the violence. It has plenty violence, love interest, marriage issues, parenting, detective work, etc. I especially enjoyed how the detective worked out in his mind how to track the convicts. Also, how the convict worked out in his mind how to pull robberies and avoid capture. Very clever. A book you don't put down until you are done. Well written. I am going to check out other books this author has written

Rating:
Summary: Good thriller about some mean okies.
Review: These boys are nothing but bad and when they get out of the Oklahoma slammer they go on a last rampage. The are street smart and prison smart but should never be on the loose. A smart cop finds them the hard way after they have done some hard damage to the Oklahoma population. The author has a couple of good twists on criminal motivation. The excitement stays through the end of the story. Overall it is quick reading, entertaining and doesn't require a lot of concentration

Rating:
Summary: Blood, guts and testosterone aplenty in this atrocity-fest!
Review: Bud Pewtie is the veteran Oklahoma state trooper chasing mean, bloody Lamar Pye, a vicious convict. A veritable clash of morals and mayhem, as Pewtie sleeps with the wife of his freshly murdered partner. Lamar's own brutish psychopathy provides a setting for society as jungle and man as animal. Look for death, desire, and derring-do in this hormone-drenched tour-de-force

Rating:
Summary: Hunter writes with authority
Review: This novel is placed in Oklahoma and Texas. It is the story of a vicious convict, Lamar Pye, incarcerated in McAlester Penitentiary, just outside of Oklahoma City, his mentally defective cousin, Odell, and an ineffectual individual named Richard, whom they include in their prison break and the ensuing violent terrorization of the area in their two-state crime spree.

The book is very well-written, and will hold you in its grip until you finish the last page. Guaranteed.

This is not the first Stephen Hunter novel I've been caught up in. He often uses characters from his earlier novels in his later ones, for example Bob Lee Swagger. I note that that particular surname, Swagger, is the name of one of Hunter's friends and resources. What that has to do with anything, I don't know.

Hunter obviously knows a great deal about much of his subject matter, which is probably one reason why he writes with such authority. He certainly writes knowledgeably about firearms.
After twenty years of experience working in Oregon prisons, however, I can only say that, if his description of Oklahoma's system is remotely accurate, it must be one of the most poorly run systems in the country. I suspect that, rather than that, it is due to the author's overactive imagination. Such violence and lack of control over the inmate population certainly would not be tolerated in Oregon's system.

However, this should not be construed as a criticism of Mr. Hunter's writing. This is, after all, a work of fiction, and generally the research is excellent.

The language used, and the graphic descriptions of violence the book despicts makes it unsuitable reading for immature, sqeamish or sensitive minds. In fact, in prison I forbade the convicts under my supervision to use some of the words and phrases used in this book. But, if you are inured to coarse, gutter language, it gets the point across. These days, it's no worse than you hear routinely on cable television.

Stephen Hunter is, apparently, one of the more popular writers in this genre. He writes very well.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

Rating:
Summary: This guy knows how to write. GREAT READ!!!
Review: I love Prison Break movies and books and this one did not disappoint.

Fast paced, full of guns, crime, adultery, tatoo... just what a grown boy needs from a thriller fiction. Hollywood should make a movie out of this book. It's that good.

One thing for sure, when you mix Southerners with guns and shooting, you have a good formula for a wonderful read.

Rating:
Summary: Great insight into the criminal mind
Review: One of Stephen Hunter's best books. Hunter creates a terrifying super-criminal. This guy is scary because, through Hunter's writing, he becomes real. Unusually for books of the genre, we get inside the mind of this murderer and understand his amorality and logic behind his actions. The other characters in the book are very well drawn as well.

This is as real as you would want it to get.