Hard-thresholding-based algorithms have seen various advantages for sparse optimization in controlling the sparsity and allowing for fast computation. Recent research shows that when techniques of the Newton-type methods are integrated, their numerical performance can be improved surprisingly. This paper develops a gradient projection Newton pursuit algorithm that mainly adopts the hard-thresholding operator and employs the Newton pursuit only when certain conditions are satisfied. The proposed algorithm is capable of converging globally and quadratically under the standard assumptions. When it comes to compressive sensing problems, the imposed assumptions are much weaker than those for many state-of-the-art algorithms. Moreover, extensive numerical experiments have demonstrated its high performance in comparison with the other leading solvers.