The Manhattan Hunt Club: A Novel - Softcover

Saul, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449006522 ISBN 13: 9780449006528

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2002

Synopsis

Falsely convicted of a brutal crime, college student Jeff Converse sees his future vanishing before his eyes. But someone has other plans for Jeff, in a far deadlier place than any penitentiary. Jeff finds himself beneath the teeming streets of Manhattan, in a hidden landscape of twisting tunnels and forgotten subterranean chambers. Here, an invisible population of the homeless, the desperate, and the mad has carved out its own shadow society. But they are not alone. For someone has made this forsaken civilization a private killing ground. Now, with no weapon but his wits, and an unimaginable threat lurking around every dark corner, Jeff must somehow move heaven and earth to escape from a living hell. . . .

About this title

Review:

In Manhattan Hunt Club John Saul plumbs the depths of the Manhattan underground--the network of subway tunnels and secret caverns and chambers where the homeless denizens of the city have created their own society. It's a world Jeff Converse, a young college student convicted of a crime he didn't commit, never knew existed until he is plunged into it after an "accident" that occurs while he is being transported to prison. He soon realizes that it's no accident, but the opening move in a deadly game being played by some of the city's most powerful men and women, a game in which he is the prey and they are the hunters. Jeff's only chance to make it to the surface and survive lies in allying himself with a homicidal maniac who's appointed himself the young man's protector, but whose designs on Jeff are almost as lethal as those of his enemies in the Manhattan Hunt Club.

Saul made his reputation in the horror genre, but he now focuses on psychological terrors rather than things that go bump in the night. His narrative gifts are displayed to great advantage in this heart-stopping thriller; the pacing is flawless and the central characters are very well developed. What keeps this from living up to its fullest potential is the inadequate motivation of the villains, who are largely one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. But that won't keep this otherwise topnotch thriller off the bestseller lists, where Saul (Nightshade, The Right Hand of Evil), like Stephen King, is a perennial contender for the number one spot. --Jane Adams

From the Back Cover:

“HEART-OF-DARKNESS STORYTELLER SAUL WEAVES A CREEPY TALE OF MURDER, CORRUPTION, AND EVIL . . . It’s a hot tome for summer in the city.”
–People

“Long after you’ve finished this suspenseful cliffhanger of a book, the underground world that Saul creates will linger in the mind. . . . Saul takes us deep into that dark night of the soul and the subways in his frighteningly realistic and scarifying tale.”
–The Providence Sunday Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0449006522
• ISBN 13: 9780449006528
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 384