Targeted by Stephen Hunter

Published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books on January 18, 2022

Targeted is a novel of extremist paranoia, a work of propaganda that pushes all the far-right buttons, from “they’re coming to take away our guns” to “fake news” invented by mainstream media reporters (one of whom is described as “vagina-faced”). After reading Game of Snipers, a decent thriller with a minimal injection of politics, I expected better from Stephen Hunter. My expectations weren’t worth the paper the book was printed on, particularly the paperless digital edition.

A congressional subcommittee made up of “leftists” in Washington is investigating Bob Lee Swagger because they don’t have anything more important to investigate. Maybe Hunter wrote this novel before January 6, 2021; maybe he means to distract from it. Ruled by an evil leader who is clearly a stand-in for Nancy Pelosi (variously referred to as “the crazy lady,” “dragon bitch,” and “Mother Death”), the “leftists” (including a Democrat identified as “the mewling baby man”) are out to get Bob Lee Swagger, not because of his silly name, but because he is a true American hero who loves guns and isn’t afraid to use them. Sigh.

The novel’s tired premise is that the left hates heroes who use guns and wants to hamper the efforts of patriotic cops who are just trying to protect American citizens from suspicious people with dark skin. What better strategy could the “leftists” concoct than to investigate Swagger and have him prosecuted with the expectation that police officers will be crippled by the fear of similar consequences and will never again use force to protect white people from the criminals who terrorize them? The investigation is supposedly based on Swagger’s use of “unauthorized ammunition” (Swagger’s special recipe), a charge that will hardly dissuade the police from using conventional ammunition. Sorry Hunter, but nobody on the left would be stupid enough to think this investigation makes sense. Prosecuting Swagger would make him the poster boy for the next Blue Lives Matter campaign. Who needs that?

In the real world, the Justice Department isn’t going to indict the man who (in the previous novel) saved Obama’s life (and was prepared to save Trump’s) from a terrorist sniper because he did so by using “unauthorized ammunition.” Nor would Democrats vote to investigate a war hero in a wheelchair. Nor would a judge allow the case to go forward, since shooting a killer with “unauthorized ammunition” as the killer is lining up a shot to take out an ex-president doesn’t remotely constitute wanton endangerment, which (at least as described here) isn’t even a federal crime. The idiotic concept of Targeted is jaw-dropping. It’s also ridiculous to think that cops would care whether Swagger is prosecuted for using ammunition that they don’t use, given that the prosecution of Derek Chauvin didn’t deter other cops from kneeling on the necks of unarmed suspects.

Swagger is insufferably self-righteous as he feigns humility. His philosophy is simple, to match his simple mind: liberals weak, rough man strong. Hunter portrays everyone on the left as ignorant because, unlike the virtuous Swagger, they couldn’t possibly understand the crucial distinction between a bullet and a cartridge. At several points, the novel suggests that education is useless unless it relates to guns and killing. Swagger’s poor grammar is apparently intended to convey that “book learning” don’t mean nothing compared to knowledge of firearms. Oddly, Swagger likes to read histories of war but his reading ain’t improved his grammar none. When he isn’t crafting Swagger’s dialog, Hunter at least manages to construct sentences with pain-free grammar. Gosh, did Hunter acquire a dangerous education somewhere?

The point of this novel is not to tell a realistic story. The point is to push the intended audience’s propaganda buttons by demonstrating how, consistent with the fevered imaginations of conservative extremists, “leftists” hate cops and guns. This isn’t a fair-minded discussion of whether cops should be screened for racism and sadism or whether guns should be regulated. It’s a full course red meat dinner for readers on the far right who live in a fact-free echo chamber, readers who believe that “rough men” who use violence to protect us all must be free from criticism when they turn their violence against people who are armed with nothing but dark skin. Swagger gives a tedious speech about the long line of “rough men” in his family who preceded him and how we all love them when we need them. Dull stretches of this dull novel even follow one of his ancestors in 1780, apparently to make the point that “rough men” have always been vital to American life. And perhaps to suggest that a facility with guns is hereditary.

This nuttiness takes up the first half of a slow-moving story. Hunter tries to pick up the pace in the second half by introducing Chechen prisoners who steal a prison bus and perform the miraculous task of crashing into an otherwise impregnable high school auditorium where the congressional subcommittee is holding a hearing on Swagger. Why are members of Congress convening in a high school auditorium in Boise? Well, they thought it would be wise to meet Swagger on his home turf rather than Washington. Seriously? The real reason is that prisoners can’t easily drive a stolen bus into the Capitol — only insurrectionists on foot can manage that invasion.

The Chechens terrorize the “soft” liberals and guess who comes riding to the rescue? Hint: he’s riding a wheelchair. In fact, he’s zip tied to the wheelchair and (spoiler alert) has apparently been stabbed to death, but that doesn’t stop him from fighting armed terrorists because righteous tough guys always prevail. Unlike all the rough men wannabes who regularly threaten Nancy Pelosi from their parents’ basements, the true patriot knows that his job is to protect women, even the ones for whom he feels contempt. Mind you, Swagger makes clear that he wouldn’t mind if Pelosi were killed, but he’s willing to sacrifice himself to “make a point,” which apparently has something to do with the moral superiority of rough men with guns.

Unfortunately, every time the novel seems to be moving forward, Hunter takes a break to give us another diatribe, in one instance imagining a New York Times reporter dictating policy to the government’s hostage team, insisting that they use no violence because “the day of the heroes is over” and lamenting that Swagger might ruin the story by doing something heroic. The Times reporter, of course, doesn’t know the difference between Utah and Idaho. At other times, Hunter pauses the action to show us how bureaucrats, unlike rough men with guns, can’t get anything done. Hunter even takes a shot at Stephen Colbert, mistaking the comedian for a “political analyst,” likely because Hunter has no sense of humor.

The simple-minded mentality of Targeted comes down to the superiority of Men With Guns to Men Without Guns — not just superiority at shooting guns and killing people (although those are the only things that really matter to the celebrated Rough Men), but superiority at all things: making policy, raising kids, teaching history to white children. They probably bake better brownies; you can’t go wrong with Men With Guns. Put them behind keyboards, however, and you can’t count on them to produce compelling fiction, unless you need loving descriptions of guns to make your day.

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