Depression-era outlaws blaze their way back to life in Stephen Hunter's latest thriller

"MAN, I bet that bad boy has a story to tell," a man says after a demolition crew finds a pristine .45 automatic under an old house.

Indeed, that .45 has a mean story to tell, as do other guns, guns and more guns in Stephen Hunter's ambling saga, G-Man.

Hunter follows the story behind the pistol along two tracks. In the first, set in the present day, Vietnam War veteran Bob Lee Swagger feels "too old and too tired to start anything new".