The Third Bullet A Bob Lee Swagger Novel [Paperback]

Former marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger investigates one of the most enduring controversies of our time—the JFK assassination—in thisNew York Timesbestselling “terrific thriller” (Booklist, starred review).

Bestselling author Stephen Hunter takes on one of the most shocking crimes in American history when his celebrated hero ex-Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger follows the smallest hint of a lead to its staggering conclusion—about the fateful third bullet that ended the life of President John F. Kennedy. . . .  
 

A Conversation with Stephen Hunter 

Q:The Third Bullethas some roots in the very first Bob Lee Swagger novel you wrote twenty years ago calledPoint of Impact. Tell us a little about the relationship between the two books.

A:Point of Impactwas a very tough book to write—one problem was that it was inspired by and set to be about the JFK assassination. When I started it everyone believed in conspiracy. Halfway through I read Case Closed by Gerald Posner and I immediately ceased believing in conspiracy. Thus I was halfway through a novel whose whole intellectual premise had just been destroyed. So I patched and changed, and abridged and diddled, and in the end separatedPoint of Impactfrom the JFK assassination. But I am sloppy and I missed stuff, lots of stuff. Twenty years passed, new ideas came to me about this and that, and suddenly I saw an opportunity to do the JFK book of my dreams. I had a researcher go back and document all the connections to JFK that remained in Point of Impact, and I used those as a foundation forThe Third Bullet.

Q: How did you connect the two plots?

A: The main problem I had withPoint of Impactwas the villain; he was too broad, encompassing both Special Forces experience and Washington intelligence culture smarts. I couldn't get it to work. (I had obviolc"