Official Review: The Hunting by Max Bolt

[L_Therese]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Hunting" by Max Bolt.]

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When I finished The Hunting by Max Bolt, I finally let out my breath. The prevailing thought in my mind was only Wow. This book is intense, fast-paced, and thrilling. Max Bolt has created a survival adventure enmeshed in a horrific crime thriller. The characters are relatable, accessible, and possessive of layers, depth, and both unexpected strength together with vulnerability. The plot is complex yet still understandable. The action is vivid, and the tension is unceasing.

Stu is a drug dealer of apparently moderate success who wants nothing more than to leave his world of crime forever, escape with his girlfriend, and start over. However, even as he thinks he is about to get his chance, he participates in a heist that is bigger than he knows, and as a result, he finds himself on the wrong side of a powerful crime lord. By way of vengeance, Stu and his cohorts are dropped deep in the Australian outback and must survive not only the harsh elements but also a sick and brutal hunting party and growing madness as they attempt to escape and rescue Stu’s luckless girlfriend.

But Mr. Bolt doesn’t leave the story here. Subplots complicate matters as side-schemes interweave throughout competing criminal empires and turn the hunters into the hunted. In the end, who is loyal to whom? And more importantly, will anyone survive? I won’t ruin the end for all the rest of the readers, but know that this book will not disappoint thrill seekers.

Let all be warned, though. This book is definitely brutal. Mr. Bolt does not shy away from graphic and sickening cruelty. It fits with the book, and arguments could be made that it adds realism and urgency to the plot line. If you can’t (or don’t want to) handle violence against women, torture, death, and, obviously, the heartless hunting of human beings, don’t read this book. If your stomach is strong enough (and you haven’t a proclivity to nightmares), this book will surely deliver on promised thrills, seizing the imagination and capturing the reader into the morass of the characters’ plight.

This is not usually my chosen genre, but my experience here in trying new things has assuredly rewarded me. I read the whole book in one night, unable to put it aside, regardless of an early morning soon to come. I whole-heartedly give this book four out of four stars. My only caveat on recommendation is expressed in my warning in the paragraph above.

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