This collection of three interconnected novellas follows each generation of the iconic Swagger family--grandfather Charles father Earl and fan favorite hero Bob Lee--from New York Times bestselling author Pulitzer Prize winner and true master at the pinnacle of his craft (Jack Carr #1 New York Times bestselling author) Stephen Hunter.In The Night Train Charles Swagger is on the hunt for notorious bank robber Baby Face Nelson when he traces a tip to the Chicago stock yards. While there hes brutally assaulted and discovers that the madman who attacked him is involved in a nearby narcotics ring with plans to spread its new drug to the residents of the disenfranchised 7th District of Chicago. Worse this is no ordinary drug--it makes some users happy drives others insane and kills many of the rest. Will Charles be able to stop the ring before its too late? Or is he in over his head among the dark streets of Chicago? Earl Swagger investigates a violent bank robbery in Johnny Tuesday that left two dead and a fortune missing in small-town Maryland. At every turn however hes met with silence and hostility from the townsfolk which makes sense when he uncovers municipal corruption working-class exploitation gang politics jaded aristocrats scheming gamblers a hitman a femme fatale. And a whole bunch of men with guns. Luckily Earl has brought his own guns in this unputdownable noir mystery. Finally in Five Dolls for the Gut Hook a thirty-two-year-old Bob Lee Swagger is back from Vietnam nearly broken over good men lost for nothing. Hes turned hard down that whiskey road to hell. But one afternoon hes wakened from his nightmares by two men with a problem. As nearby Hot Springs tries to retool its image from gambling paradise to family resort a butcher has begun to prey on the citys young women a figure straight out of a horror movie. Hot Springs Homicide is baffled. Im a sniper says Bob not a detective. But comes the reply you are the son and grandson of two of the greatest detectives this state has ever produced. On that premise alone Bob takes up the hunt for a killer who not only kills but desecrates. Using his snipers mind Swagger is able to see things others have missed drawing ever closer to a showdown. But equally we understand Bob Lee Swagger is hunting his own redemption.
