Sniper porn: A bullet in the right place

I'm a massive pacifist, thanks largely to the comics of Pat Mills, and think that all violence is abhorrent, and that the first to resort to it instantly loses any argument, and that war is a dirty and terrible thing that should never be accepted, condoned or glamorised. But I still love a bit of sniper porn.

I go through a lot of books and movies about snipers, both fictional and non fictional. I love it every time Garth Ennis does another comic about snipers, and I read every single novel Stephen Hunter puts out. There is something about the dedication, professionalism and competence of a great sniper that is always, always interesting.

I don't agree with a lot of Hunter's politics, and the movie reviews he used to write were almost completely diametrically opposite to my own views, but I snap up every single one of his books about the Swagger family and their violent delights.

There's just something about the way the multiple generations of hardcore snipers in Hunter's books go about their business. Like the books themselves, these warriors are efficient and pragmatic, with a notable lack of any kind of bullshit. They don't go in with guns blazing, or set off big explosions for effect, they just put the right bullet in the right place at the right time.

 
Hunter's books have been adapted for various screens a couple of times, and they never quite work, largely because the simplicity of people like Bob Lee Swagger are overwhelmed by the star power drafted in to play him. But as long as Hunter keeps regularly putting out these books with absolute precision, I'll be reading them. Because war might be hell, but a bullet in the right place can still change the world.