Hunter's action-packed new thriller puts his protagonist, Bob Lee Swagger, on the case and introduces a shockingly plausible alternative to the Lee Harvey Oswald "lone gunman" explanation.

Hunter's theory involves a conspiracy of just three people, a sharpshooter hidden in the neighbouring Dal-Tex Building and an "exploding" bullet that leaves no forensic trace.

is Hunter's eighth book about Swagger, a man's man, a throwback to a more rugged time: he's part John Wayne, part Ted Williams, part Audie Murphy. In Vietnam, he earned the nickname "Bob the Nailer" because of his prowess with a rifle.

If anyone is capable of walking through Dealey Plaza in Dallas nearly 50 years after the shooting of president John F. Kennedy and seeing possibilities that no one else even considered, it's Bob.

Hunter, who visited the Dallas landmarks, including the Dal-Tex Building, from which a "second shooter" could have theoretically fired the fatal bullet, is hardly a rookie and he maintains he is one of the first people to bring that kind of knowledge to this historic mystery.

Hunter also vetted the ballistics issues with experts, which is more than most conspiracy theorists do. casts serious doubts about Oswald, a ne'er-do-well, and whether he was capable of succeeding as the shooter.

For example, when Swagger wonders why Oswald didn't take the shot when Kennedy was closest to the Texas School Book Depository and a barely moving target, only to take three rushed shots as the motorcade pulled away, the reader will wonder the same thing.

But then is a thriller, so it's possible not only for Swagger to raise interesting questions, but also to solve the mystery and even mete out justice 50 years after the assassination.