Films are in a strange place.
It seems like every week we’re seeing another heavily-promoted star vehicle fall flat. Even the digital wizardry behind the “Supermans” and “Fantastic Fours” of the world are losing stock with audiences. They’re growing bored with sanitized stories and cartoon graphics with embarrassing price tags.
Simply put: Hollywood just ain’t lighting up a room like it used to.
If you love a good yarn, you’ve got to find it somewhere. Despite a world where most reading is done on social media, the book world is robust with content far more exciting than what Hollywood studios are dumping on us.
Case in point: “The Gun Man Jackson Swagger” by Stephen Hunter.
The Gun Man Jackson Swagger is the best Sam Peckinpah-directed Clint Eastwood western never filmed. All red meat with a killer third act. Stephen Hunter remains the GOAT pic.twitter.com/mXo7sRJ9UD
— Zachary Leeman (@WritingLeeman) October 21, 2025
The book is Hunter’s latest in the Swagger family saga that extends all the way back to 1993’s “Point of Impact” (adapted into the 2007 Mark Wahlberg actioner “Shooter”).
Our protagonist in this chapter is Jackson Swagger, an ancestor of Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger (Wahlberg’s “Shooter” character), who comes equipped with an Eastwood-style poncho and highway of a face. He also has the same quick proficiency with firearms that Hunter readers have seen passed from generation to generation of Swaggers.
Jackson Swagger is a figure in the 1890s who lands at the prosperous Callahan Ranch following the mysterious death of a young rancher. The ranch is led by the colorful Col. Callahan, one of a number of men whose ambitions are tied to the youthfulness of the country and the expansion of railroads and other measures making the land more “civilized.”
It’s a world Jackson Swagger seems more comfortable avoiding, preferring solitude and the stars. Swagger introduces himself as a simple gun hand while he peels back the layers of this new world he’s entered. He quickly earns the trust of fellow war veterans and the ire of young, untested men.
Giving too much of the plot away feels unfair as this really is a top-shelf dime novel that could be read in a couple of sittings. The way the plot builds and twists is part of the charm (remember when Hollywood used to be good at surprising you?).
Hunter names 1962’s “Harakiri,” directed by Masaki Kobayashi, as a direct inspiration for the book, so for those in the know on that cinematic masterpiece, take from that what you will. Let’s just say the ranch is just a piece of the game we see Jackson Swagger playing, as his motivations become clearer through his interactions and manipulations of various characters in his investigation of the rancher’s death.
“As I have always said, when you steal, steal from the very best,” Hunter writes about the connection to the film.
“The Gun Man Jackson Swagger” is a tight 300-page yarn that wastes little time. It’s all red meat that culminates in a twist that will have longtime Hunter readers grinning. Actually, the entire third act should have any Western fan cackling.
Hunter and the Western is a marriage that feels like it should have happened a long time ago. Yours truly was introduced to classics like “The Searchers,” “High Noon” and “The Wild Bunch” in my younger years through the writing of Hunter for The Washington Post (where he would take home the Pulitzer Prize in 2003).
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Speaking of “The Wild Bunch” and director Sam Peckinpah’s love for carnage and chaos, Hunter introduces an early version of the Maxim machine gun into the story and it becomes perhaps the best character next to Jackson Swagger.
Hunter has always had a knack for writing about guns without getting too bogged down in impenetrable textbook boredom (ahem, Tom Clancy). Here there is a special kind of poetry because these are weapons of a different time and place.
Swagger at one point takes on mastering the Maxim himself and then is literally teaching entitled Ivy League kids how to use it and prep it and cool it. It’s the kind of writing not being done anywhere else.
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For fans of Hunter’s work, “The Gun Man Jackson Swagger” is one of his most fun novels and it builds on the Swagger family lore in some clever and significant ways (how a streamer or studio has not picked up on Hunter’s gold mine of franchise material is one of life’s mysteries, like how to evenly cook a Hot Pocket or taxes).
For those just looking for a great yarn that’s not mired in today’s beige storytelling culture, then get a copy of this book.
“The Gun Man Jackson Swagger” is like a long lost script for a Clint Eastwood western that was supposed to be directed by madman Peckinpah, but it somehow got lost over time and has now been dusted off and polished by an expert craftsman.
What red, white and blue-blooded American wouldn’t be ready to nuke the entire MCU for that?
“The Gun Man Jackson Swagger” is available now.
Zachary Leeman is the author of the novel “Nigh” from publisher Gilded Masque and has covered politics and culture for LifeZette, Mediaite and others.