Manhattan Hunt Club

Rating:
Summary: Creepy,Un-PC tale of Vigilante "Justice"
Review: Jeff Converse is a college student whose life is turned upside down when he is falsely convicted of a heinous crime. Thrown into 'the system,' Jeff soon finds himself about to be sent to Riker's Island. When Jeff manages escape, he finds himself the victim of a nefarious group called the "Manhattan Hunt Club." The club uses the tunnels below NYC to hunt convicts as 'game.'

I enjoyed The Manhattan Hunt Club immensely, with the exception of the evil "Jagger" character and Jeff himself. Jagger creeped me out and his crimes were so gruesome I really didn't want to listen to the parts where his back-story was being dealt with. Jeff himself was way too idealistic to be real. His Christ-like forbearance (especially after his trial), seemed so unrealistic. I know of no modern 20 something who wouldn't be railing at the injustice of being falsely accused in such a manner, but Jeff's reaction was so bland. Too good to be real.

My favorite character of all was Eve, although I felt they went a bit over-the-top with her character and some of the others towards the end. I also thought the 'trophy' taking was a bit silly. This was a fast-paced audiobook which would probably make an excellent movie.

Rating:
Summary: Great story - highly reccomend!
Review: Many years ago I read Sleepwalk by John Saul and wasn't overly impressed. After that expereince I decided to cut JS out of my "need to read" category and focused on other authors.

However, a while back while shopping at a discount store w/ my wife, I stumbled on this book and thought it looked interesting enough to shell out a couple bucks for it. I'm glad I did! Although I probably won't run out and read all of Saul's work, I was pleasantly surprised by my enjoyment of this book. From the first couple pages, I was hooked.

The story is very nicely woven together for an enjoyable ride. He did a good job of being just descriptive enough, without overdoing it. The details of life in the tunnels are belivable, as well as the characters. There was really only one glaring part of the book that could have been tied up better (SPOILER: more detail on what happend to Jeff when the hunt was over - did he go back to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence, or did Jinx testify so he was found innocent). The detail and enjoyment of the rest of the book overshadowed this missing info, and made the book a delightful read.

Overall it is a quick enjoyable book that I couldn't put down. I think I read it in only a few days. I'm not sure when I'll pick up another John Saul book next, but I'm sure glad I picked up this one!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, superb, wonderful
Review: A beautifully crafted tale that will drag you in instantly. The story revolves around (MC), his father and lover, Heather. The central story is very standard at first. Jeff Converse interrupts a brutal rape. His interference stops the attacker, but the victim sees only him and he is falsely accused ... and sentenced.

And this is where the story throws a curveball. On the way to prison, the transport van is involved in a car crash. Jeff is pulled from the wreck and taken into the subway. Following his rescuer, he is led into the underground world. And taken to a dark room, where he meets Jagger. A real messed up dude who confuses friendship for love, he has hidden homosexual needs. He's also a big guy.

They are introduced to the "game". Get out of the underground tunnels and you go free. Sounds easy enough. What they don't know is that armed homeless guys itching to kill guard each exit.

Throw into the mix, Jinx, a homeless girl who lives in the tunnels under the city, who through her own research (and knowledge of the crime of which Jeff is accused) finds out for sure that Jeff is innocent. She decides to enter the "hunting arena" and help him escape.

Also entering the tunnels are his father and lover Heather. Who father is in "The Hunt Club".

This book rocked. I do have a few complaints though:

Jeff is not made to seem real, a badly crafted character. I didn't care if he lived or not. I did though, care about the father and Jinx. These characters are well drawn. The father is easy to dislike.
Heather and her fathers relationship is not developed (could be an editorial dispute), so who cares if she kills him.
One minute, Jeff's father is carrying a 7.62mm M-14A1 next he is handling a Steyr SSG-PI. Hmm.
Sometimes, the viewpoint changed for like a paragraph, one minute we are reading Jeff's thought and worries, next paragraph Jagger interrupts, then back to Jeff. Luckily it doesn't happen very often and is easy to miss.
Good points:

The story flows easily and reads just as easily.
The confusion (resulting in Jeff's arrest) is well explained from the viewpoint of the victim.
The ending rush through the underground world is tense
Overall this book is well worth a few days to read, yes a few days. It'll hook you as most John Saul's books do. One thing was missing from the ending though, what happened to Jeff's conviction? It wasn't mentioned, three subplots were closed and closed kind of "too" nicely. But it really bugs me not to know what happened with the conviction.



Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable read.
Review: What I liked most about this book was its creation and description of a world beneath the streets of New York City. Central to the plot is a community of New York City homeless folks, who, despite being long discarded by society, have a compelling existence, an intricate network of relationships, and a hierarchy. Quite interesting and affecting.

A good read, especially if you're a fan of Saul.