The Gun Man Jackson Swagger: A Western

Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter, "a true master at the pinnacle of his craft" (Jack Carr), returns with a classic Western--gunfights, horses, saloons, and looming above, the ominous presence of the railroad--about a Civil War veteran investigating the dark reality of a prosperous ranch.

In the frying pan of a drought-scorched 1890s Southwest, an old man shows up at the region's only prosperous spread, the Callahan ranch, seeking work. Jack is flinty, shrewd, tough, and a natural with a gun. As an incentive to be taken on at his age, he shows the foreman an uncanny skill with one of Mr. Winchester's latest models. He knows a sharpshooter would be valuable to Colonel Callahan and head gun man Tom Voth.

But he has his own mission. Aware that a young cowboy on the ranch has died mysteriously, Jack begins to investigate. He soon realizes that the death and the source of the Callahan wealth are dangerously entwined and that many of the dark forces of the American West are at play on the ranch. Soon enough, it's the season of the six-gun and its fastest shootist.

Author: Stephen Hunter
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 10/14/2025
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.51lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.23d
ISBN: 9781668030394


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/04/2025
Library Journal 08/15/2025 pg. 1

About the Author
Stephen Hunter is creator of the Bob Lee Swagger novels as well as many others. The retired chief film critic for The Washington Post, where he won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, he has also published two collections of film criticism and a nonfiction work, American Gunfight. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.