Dark Woods

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Summary: Chilling, you may think twice about what is out there!
Review: A great read. What is nice here is that this book was obviously written by an outdoorsman for outdoorsmen. If you enjoy the woods (and what may be in them) you will enjoy this novel. Also nice to see a true hunting story without the usual Hollywood P.C. spin.

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Summary: Cool book
Review: Cryptozoology is a favorite subject of mine. Through the years the majority of "crypto-fiction" novels and movies have been pretty awful. I came across this book and found it to be extremely well-written and suspenseful. It has some genuinely creepy moments, but is very believable in its portrayal of the human characters as well as the Sasquatch.

Good job!

Rating:
Summary: Dark Woods
Review: Good book! Story hooks you in before you know it. The outcome is definately not what you expect. Kumar takes a pragmatic and naturalistic approach to exploring what is a uniquely American legend.

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Summary: CLOSE TO BEING A CLASSIC BIGFOOT STORY
Review: Had Jay Kumar approached his novel from a strong angle of horror and blended it with his skillful mix of hunter outdoorsmanship and well-researched Bigfoot lore, he would have had a runaway bestseller with DARK WOODS. The setting and story-line literally beg to be made frightening by their very virtue.

Frank Vaughn kicks off events while out hunting with two buddies, when he shoots a Sasquatch, thinking it an attacking bear. Understandably, Vaughn does not force his shaken friends to pursue the injured beast and finish it off or make sure it can survive. Driven by a strong hunter's ethic, Vaughn returns to the forest to do the right thing. Unfortunately for him, a lid cannot be kept on a story of Bigfoot proportions, especially in a wilderness county of Washington State. As a result, he is quickly joined by Mackey, a representative from the lumber company that owns the land where the shooting occurred; Dr Lansing, a Bigfoot expert whose career has stalled as a result of his devotion to the mythic creature; and Alison, a Fish & Wildlife officer representing her aunt, a high-ranking official with the Department of the Interior, calling shots from Washington, DC.

Kumar wisely departs from the JAWS paradigm, so often copied and so seldom matched, by exploring the consequences of discovering a previously undiscovered bipedal primate roaming the Pacific northwest, given the current use of the Endangered Species Act. Consequences that could result in virtual economic devastation should the timber industry be shut down by environmentalists in the name of preservation.

All of this and the hopes of Lansing hinge on one thing: Killing a Bigfoot to prove to the skeptical world that the creature exists.

There is a lot of debate between the characters about these issues and whether environmentalists really know what they are doing when they hijack the law to "save" and insignificant creature and make thousands of acres unusable.

And sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. If not for the shadowy image of a Sasquatch in the upper right-hand corner, I'd have never picked this novel up. It is a respectful treatment of the Bigfoot legend. If it had been given a horror slant, this book would have been out of sight and a bestseller.

Bravo. I've waited my whole life to read a book like this.

Rating:
Summary: Great read, even for a city guy
Review: I knew nothing about hunting, the outdoors or environmental issues beyond the soundbites, and any sasquatch knowledge is from 20 year old bad tv. This book was a great read, very entertaining and intelligent. Kumar weaves a old fashioned suspense storyline with thought-provoking points of view on the environment and even political gamesmanship. He avoids any gratuitous gore and instead tells an entertaining story that keeps you guessing. Nicely done!


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Summary: Good start for Kumar
Review: I love reading books about sasquatch, either fiction or non-fiction. This novel is splendid and an excellent outing for Kumar to express his interest and/or experience in hunting, the outdoors, political maneuverings, business tactics, and manipulations of laws and codes. Deputy Sheriff Frank Vaughn becomes embroiled in a search for a wounded sasquatch and is shanghai-ed into taking along a corporate problem solver, a college professor, and a Fish & Wildlife employee. Each has their own motives for going on the hunt with Vaughn's being the self proclaimed moral reason of not leaving a wounded animal to run off into the woods without knowing if it is dying or will be okay. Manipulation from the varied party members and the undiscovered territorial sasquatches moves the story along nicely. There's a few good twists and turns and you take an appreciation of Chris Mackey's views on the possible and feasible abusive uses of the Endangered Species Act.

Kumar could have easily slipped into the bigfoot-as-a-killing-monster horror story but thankfully avoided that instead using it for suspense. The book could have been a great horror story, no doubt, but I think it's even better by shedding the bigfoot in a less threatening force of nature rather than an abomination. Kumar could do justice to a good horror story if he were to use the wendigo legend, however (hint hint Mr. Kumar).

I truly enjoyed this book as a novel and as a bigfoot fiction book. Not quite as good as John Boston's "Naked Came the Sasquatch" but certainly better than Richard Hoyt's "Bigfoot" and M.E. Knerr's "Sasquatch: Monster of the Northwest Woods" about a what-if injured bigfoot story (underrated book btw). I also rate books on the probability scale on whether I will ever read it again, "Dark Woods" is definitely one I read a few more times.

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Summary: Great first effort!!!
Review: I read this book within two days, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a novel about a hunt for a Sasquatch in fictional Skookum County, Washington (which is based on Skamania County, Washington). A hunting party apparently finds a dead deer and a dead body, one member shoots a Sasquatch, which gets angry and attacks one of the party members. Deputy Sheriff Frank Vaughn is the man who shot the Sasquatch, and the team rushes the wounded man to the hospital. Vaugh returns to the area along with an employee of Carolina Pacific, Chris Mackey, to try to humanely put the Sasquatch out of its misery. Along the way, they meet a University professor, Arthur Lansing (who is modeled after the late Grover Krantz) and a member of the national Fish and Wildlife Commission, Alison Lombard, who is sent by her aunt, Brenda Underwood, a bigwig in the Fish and Wildlife Commission, to "keep an eye on things." As the party tracks down the Sasquatch, finding more footprints and hearing eerie howls, it becomes clear that they are the hunted rather than the hunters. I won't spoil the book for you, but it comes to an exciting and satisfying conclusion. A very highly-recommended book even for those who are not into Sasquatch.

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Summary: Entertaining
Review: Interesting read about the mythical creatures. The ending could have used more spice than it had, but overall, Kumar took the legend and made it somewhat believable. It doesn't get too bogged down in techno-jargon or fall into the usual traps that a book of this nature tends to do (outlandish fight sequences or things of that nature). Character development was a bit weak, but overall it was enjoyable.

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Summary: Page Turner
Review: Something for everyone -- this book puts you in the woods in the middle of detective story where happenings in the halls of Congress loom as large as the things in the woods. Well-woven story that's hard to put down.

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Summary: Is this really his first novel?
Review: The motion picture rights to this book won't last long, if they aren't already sold.
A great read, wonderfully written and surprisingly unconventional, especially considering the genre. A suspenseful thriller that is obviously much deeper and with more purpose than the usual fare. Don't gloss over this title or cover just because you THINK you already know what the book is about. Give it a try and it will entertain, teach, and raise questions in your own mind at the same time.