Dirty White Boys
by Stephen Hunter
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Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:They busted out of McAlester State Penitentiary—three escaped convicts going to ground in a world unprepared for anything like them....Lamar Pye is prince of the Dirty White Boys. With a lion in his soul, he roars—for he is the meanest, deadliest animal on the loose....
Odell is Lamar's cousin, a hulking manchild with unfeeling eyes. He lives for daddy Lamar. Surely he will die for him....
Richard's survival hangs on a sketch: a crude show more drawing of a lion and a half-naked woman. For this Lamar has let Richard live...
Armed to the teeth, Lamar and his boys have cut a path of terror across the Southwest, and pushed one good cop into a crisis of honor and conscience. Trooper Bud Pewtie should have died once at Lamar's hands. Now they're about to meet again. And this time, only one of them will walk away.... show less
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Lamar Pye, his mentally retarded cousin, Odell, and a thrid man escape from McAlester State Penn, a maximum security prison. Pye had just murdered another prisoner who tried to rape him in the prision showers. Now, with nothing to lose, the men go on a killing and robbery spree in Oklahoma and North Texas.
They stop at a ranch to see if they can find weapons. The ranch is owned by WWII vet Bill Stepford who lives there with his wife, Mary.
State police Sgt. Bud Pewtie and his young partner, Ted Pepper, happen to stop at a restaurant where the waitress asks them to check in on Stepford. He comes to that restaurant for breakfast every day and didn't show up. Since he's an older man, she is worried that something may have happened.
Not show more suspecting that they are approaching cold blooded killers, the troopers are ambushed. Pepper is killed and Pewtie wounded.
Stephen Hunter gives an excellent, well plotted story of the escape, the horrors inflicted by the fugitives and the relentless pursuit.
All of the major characters have flaws. Pewtie is a self-centered egotist who is having an affair with his partner's wife. His lieutenant is an alcoholic and Lemar Pye is so evil that the memory of his deeds will remain in the reader's mind for a long time.
An enjoyable reading experience. show less
They stop at a ranch to see if they can find weapons. The ranch is owned by WWII vet Bill Stepford who lives there with his wife, Mary.
State police Sgt. Bud Pewtie and his young partner, Ted Pepper, happen to stop at a restaurant where the waitress asks them to check in on Stepford. He comes to that restaurant for breakfast every day and didn't show up. Since he's an older man, she is worried that something may have happened.
Not show more suspecting that they are approaching cold blooded killers, the troopers are ambushed. Pepper is killed and Pewtie wounded.
Stephen Hunter gives an excellent, well plotted story of the escape, the horrors inflicted by the fugitives and the relentless pursuit.
All of the major characters have flaws. Pewtie is a self-centered egotist who is having an affair with his partner's wife. His lieutenant is an alcoholic and Lemar Pye is so evil that the memory of his deeds will remain in the reader's mind for a long time.
An enjoyable reading experience. show less
Action or romance?
This was pretty well written. But, if I heard "Oh Bud." From another female character to the "hero" one more time I was going to lose my cookies. Sheesh. But, the action although predictable was good and fast. lose the angst and romance and stick to the action. The book should have been about half as long still, I'd give it three and a half on the action and characters. Although, I really did didn't feel much attachment to any of them.
This was pretty well written. But, if I heard "Oh Bud." From another female character to the "hero" one more time I was going to lose my cookies. Sheesh. But, the action although predictable was good and fast. lose the angst and romance and stick to the action. The book should have been about half as long still, I'd give it three and a half on the action and characters. Although, I really did didn't feel much attachment to any of them.
First, a bit of background about this series of novels. Stephen Hunter has two main characters: Earl Swagger, a veteran of WWII, a state trooper, tough, quiet, capable, tormented. Earl has a son, Bob Lee, who follows in his father's footsteps in most things. In Vietnam, Bob Lee (trained as a sniper) is known as Bob the Nailer. The first novel in the Bob Lee series starts twenty years later, when he is reluctantly drawn out of retirement.
Here's the challenge: Hunter jumps around in time, and back and forth between related storylines. My strong advice is to read the novels in the order you see here, although it will seem at first that Dirty White Boys doesn't belong where I've put it. It does. You won't see why until Black Light, and you show more won't appreciate Black Light unless you read Dirty White Boys first. Unfortunately there's almost no indication of this when you pick up on the books in a bookstore, and you might somehow miss what can only be called a near-classical tragedy if certain things don't happen in order. So I'm telling you. My suggestion would also be to read the Earl Swagger books before the Bob Lee books. But that's not strictly necessary.
Bob Lee Swagger
1. Point of Impact (1993)
2. Dirty White Boys (1994)
3. Black Light (1996)
4. Time to Hunt (1998)
Earl Swagger
1. Hot Springs (2000)
2. Pale Horse Coming (2001)
3. Havana (2003)
So you've got two interrelated series of books about a father and a son, jumping around in time. Why bother? Because when Hunter is on top of his game, these are fantastic stories. Bob Lee and Earl are both fascinating, frustrating, engaging, over the top and believable at the same time. Earl's difficult boyhood (which makes for some of the best reading in the series) shores up what might otherwise feel like Hunter's fraught characterization.
However. The novels are not all equal (and how could they be?) Dirty White Boys has one of the most provocative opening paragraphs I've ever run into. It's a great story, flawed by what I can only call a shallow characterization of a mentally disabled character and Hunter's (failed) attempt to portray his inner monologue. show less
Here's the challenge: Hunter jumps around in time, and back and forth between related storylines. My strong advice is to read the novels in the order you see here, although it will seem at first that Dirty White Boys doesn't belong where I've put it. It does. You won't see why until Black Light, and you show more won't appreciate Black Light unless you read Dirty White Boys first. Unfortunately there's almost no indication of this when you pick up on the books in a bookstore, and you might somehow miss what can only be called a near-classical tragedy if certain things don't happen in order. So I'm telling you. My suggestion would also be to read the Earl Swagger books before the Bob Lee books. But that's not strictly necessary.
Bob Lee Swagger
1. Point of Impact (1993)
2. Dirty White Boys (1994)
3. Black Light (1996)
4. Time to Hunt (1998)
Earl Swagger
1. Hot Springs (2000)
2. Pale Horse Coming (2001)
3. Havana (2003)
So you've got two interrelated series of books about a father and a son, jumping around in time. Why bother? Because when Hunter is on top of his game, these are fantastic stories. Bob Lee and Earl are both fascinating, frustrating, engaging, over the top and believable at the same time. Earl's difficult boyhood (which makes for some of the best reading in the series) shores up what might otherwise feel like Hunter's fraught characterization.
However. The novels are not all equal (and how could they be?) Dirty White Boys has one of the most provocative opening paragraphs I've ever run into. It's a great story, flawed by what I can only call a shallow characterization of a mentally disabled character and Hunter's (failed) attempt to portray his inner monologue. show less
This was one of the worst books I have ever read!
Barely worthwhile.
This was even better than [b:Point of Impact|127712|Point of Impact|Stephen Hunter|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171941562s/127712.jpg|3870]. Gritty and good.
3 escaped cons match wits with PI; frenzied action
1.96
1.96
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Author Information
39+ Works 12,466 Members
Stephen Hunter was born on March 25, 1946, in Kansas City, Missouri. He received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1968. He spent two years in the United States Army as a ceremonial soldier in Washington, D.C., and later wrote for a military paper, the Pentagon News. In 1971, he joined The Baltimore Sun as a copy show more editor and he became its film critic in 1982. He won the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award in the criticism category in 1998 and the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2003. He is the author of several books including The Master Sniper, The Second Saladin, Dirty White Boys, and Soft Target. He is also the author of the Bob Lee Swagger series and the Earl Swagger series. He has written non-fiction books including Violent Screen: A Critic's 13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem, American Gunfight, and Now Playing at the Valencia. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Work Relationships
Is a (non-series) prequel to
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1994
- People/Characters
- Lamar Pye (fictitious); Odell Pye (fictitious); Bud Pewtie (fictitious); Bill Stepford Jr.; Ted Pepper; Harry Flint (show all 31); Junior Jefferson; Rodney Smalls; Dr. Benteen; Russ; Capt. Tim James; Bill Stepford, Sr.; Mary Stepford; C.D. Henderson; Carlo; Willard Jones; Col. W.D.Supenski; Donna James; Ruta Beth; Uncle Jack; Sgt. Earl Lee Swagger; Pusateri; Webb Fellows; Rhonda McCoy; Capt. Tippahoe; Col McClutcheon; Miss Edna; Sonny Red Bear; Bonnie and Clyde; Mrs. Ryan; Jimmy Ky
- Important places
- Lawton, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Ratliff City, Oklahoma, USA; McAlister State Prison; Ratliff City, Oklahoma; Wichita Falls, Texas, USA (show all 8); Nicks Driving Range; Lawton Senior High
- Important events
- Lamar Pye, his cousin Odell and Richard Peed escape from McAlester State Penn (fictitious); Lemar Pye and his cousin Odell ambush Bud Pewtie and Tedd Pepper. (fictitious)
- Dedication
- Dedicated to the five friends who helped me the best when I needed it the most:
Mike Hill
Bob Lopez
Lenne Miller
Weyman Swagger
Steven Wigler - First words
- Three men at McAlester State Penitentiary had larger penises than Lemar Pye, but all were black and therefore, by Lemar's own figuring, hardly human at all."
- Quotations
- "...the old man had more grit than you find on the average yard, and Richard didn't have the stuff to get it out of him, even though he kicked him a batch of times as he lay curled on the floor in front of his weeping wife."
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Ah: lions."
- Blurbers
- Sandford, John
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- Reviews
- 9
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- Dutch, English, French, German
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
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- ASINs
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