The Manhattan Hunt Club

John Saul surprised me with this story.When I read his books I'm always waiting forthe boogy man to jump out at me but this one was more like a crime mystery instead of a horror thriller. I still enjoyed the story very much. It was about a guy that is wrongly accused of a crime. He is found guilty but his father and girlfriend know that he is innocent. He is being taken to a different prison when there is supposedly a tragic accident. He is forced down into the tunnels to try to survive. Then heis forced to be a part of "The Hunt". Track Rabbit Yuck!!

Me ha sorprendido mucho ver que todas las reseñas negativas que he leído sobre TMHC señalan lo "asqueroso, horrible, depravado, inimaginable" que supone la idea de una cacería de humanos.
Supongo que esos lectores han nacido ayer, aprendieron a leer en un par de horas y este es el único libro que tenían disponible. Buena suerte con el resto de libros, tebeos, películas y series de televisión que tratan el mismo tema. Si nacieron ayer, tienen tiempo para toparse con unos cincuenta títulos antes de morir.
A mí, que la idea de la cacería humana siempre me ha parecido muy interesante, me ha encantado esta novela. La historia, los personajes, lo que no se cuenta pero está ahí, y el final, han sido enormemente satisfactorios.
John Saul no es SK, pero además de tener libros como para levantar una barricada suele tratar temas que podrían dar lugar a muchas pelis de terror de serie B (tantas veces más interesantes que las de serie A). A la gente que se queja pero no nació ayer le sugiero que antes de leer se tome los dos minutos que supone echar un vistazo al perfil del autor. Se ahorraría una úlcera.
Si os ha gustado, alegraos: tenéis mucho y de un estilo muy similar por delante.
Recordad que siempre podéis preguntarme por libros que ya haya leído, en referencia a calidad, temática, CW, TW o muertes de animalitos.

what a great book...makes me want to go underground.....pure awesomeness

A very intriguing story about an unjustly accused and sentenced man who is kidnapped from the vehicle taking him to jail and hidden in the tunnels and passages beneath New York City to be later used as quarry in a hunt conducted by a group of powerful politicians. The descriptions of the chase in the tunnels and the narrow escapes are quite believeable and the author's writing style and command of English language and grammar add to the enjoyment of this book.

3.25 stars.

I started reading the book because humans hunting other humans in an underground labyrinth sounded just like the sort of horribly creepy despair I wanted to read. What I mainly got instead was one of those books that love to continually pass the main view-point baton from one character to another every few pages or so. While this in itself isn't a bad way to tell a story, I feel that doing this often diminishes the scary atmosphere that, y'know, scary books are supposed to be building up.

Ultimately I gave up on my disappointment of not getting the atmospheric horror I wanted going in and instead embraced the rescue mission that Jeff's father and girlfriend take on during their view points, which was rather fun.

Also: "When twenty-one year old NYU student Jeff Converse is convicted of a brutal rape and murder that he did not commit, his nightmare has just begun." Whoever wrote the blurb for the back of the book obviously never even read the damn thing, as the fact that "Jeff's" victim is alive from the very beginning is blatantly stated. He is convicted of a brutal attempted murder that leaves the woman unable to walk, not a murder, not a rape.

**************** SPOILERS*******************



The last Saul book I read was when I was HS or Jr. HS over 30 years ago and I remember being entertained. But this book was absolute rubbish. It could have been really entertaining, but he took a wrong turn off the highway on this one. Firstly, a man is convicted when there really isn't any real proof of him committing the crime. My other issue is that men were being hunted. Yes, hunted. And not hunted by the common man. No they were being hunted by the DA and other big wigs.... Even a priest was involved in the hunting. Ugh it was just awful. The best thing? It was short. Really deserves negative 10.

Better than average fluff book. somewhat silly- but entertaining. Great change of pace after reading a few "heavier" books.

The Manhattan Hunt Club by John Saul.

Manhattan Hunt Club is a story about Jeff Converse and how he was convicted on attempted murder and rape to Cindy Allen, despite that Jeff Converse is innocent, he was convicted. By the time he was about to be moved to a larger imprisonment, he was saved by a man named Scratch and take him into the tunnels wherein, a hunting game is being held.

I was so captivated by the plot when i haven't read the book. As i remember i read the plot on wikipedia, after reading one of John Saul's novel, the Perfect Nightmare. Despite that the Perfect Nightmare appears to not as so imaginative as the MHC. I like the MHC than the PN, for many reasons.

1. PN has this plot that appears to be typical, its so narrow that it appears that the world is composed only of the main characters. Meanwhile in MHC, despite that there is a struggle, making it as reality as much as Saul can. Saul tried his best to put as much characters as he can, good thing that he did that, well if the story only revolves around 2 characters, it would be dull and boring, also; MHC has this element that somehow makes you think, hmmm.... interesting. PN does have this element, but after reading the whole book, i felt like PN was hastily written.

2. PN is typical, a missing girl and a psycho guy, that the reason behind why he was like that wasn't clearly explained, just for the sake of storytelling, these elements was kinda, included. MHC meanwhile, has this survival genre, i don't know what is that term but mostly in the books like Hunger Game and Maze Runner, that makes the reader wants to read it.

After reading the plot as i said earlier, i was so caught by the fact that this story was like 'wow, Battle Royale' on some kind,l that really caught my attention.

I really like the characters here, but still there are this short comings in each of the character but at least, Saul somewhat put his imagination on and put a heavy twist that would make the reader feels like wow, that was unexpected, or wow, a good twist for a good story. The twist of the story was so unexpected, i won't tell the twist, or it will spoil the readers, that i felt goosebumps.

Anyways, about the characters, I really don't like Jeff's character he was like the normal goody goody guy. His kindness was too good to be true, he is gentle but damn, after what happened to you, you still act as passive as that? Damn, i'd be soo mad if that happened to me. Jeff appears to be so calm, that he appears to be an oppressive type of person that he let this things happened to him. I know, it was just a character but, damn, man can't be that calm or gentle after he was convicted and whats more he is innocent. Jeff appear always to be in control of his emotion which is yeah, good but too good to be true.

Keith, Keith is Jeff's father, well, i like his character, but dislike some of it. His thoughts and way of thinking was like too mystical. I know people may say that no my son is alive, but after all that, your like a crazy guy believing that your son is still alive, despite that evidence shows that he is dead. I know in the story that Jeff isn't dead, but if this is real story, and your Keith, i think, Keith would be like, instead of walking to the crash site where his son died, he'd be on a hospital, talking to a psychiatrist.

Mary, i really hate Mary, she was soo too devoted to her religion. Thinking that this is God's will and this happens because of what she and Keith did, but damn hell no. Even if you are the smartest person in the world, there is no way you could know God's will dammit! Many would also say that. I really hate her after she cremated the body, well, i think she just did it for Jeff's memorial, to give him a proper good bye. People probably hating her because she got into Keith's way to know whether that burned man is Jeff or not. When i was reading the book, i got that feeling but Mary did what she think is best for her son, but Jeff is alive.

Heather, i don't know this Heather girl, but i find her really annoying. He is innocent, such as. i know Jeff is innocent but damn, that words always ring to the ear that almost wanted me to punch her face just for her to stop. I don't know why Saul put that part where Heather was like always implying that Jeff is innocent, he is truly innocent but damn, if Heather did that for helping or for Jeff to be release, damn, she is damn to annoying to be considered to be helping. But i kinda find her character in more significance after she and Keith went down, but well, she is still a character that is annoying and appears to be such a brat.

Jinx, just like Heather, Jinx is annoying as hell. I think if i were Jinx, and i like this Jeff guy, still, i won't go help him, well, my life would be at risks, despite that i know he is innocent. Still, i won't go down there. She is too good to be true as well, but she contribute something to make this story interesting but man, if that is happening in real life, i won't be doing what she had done.

Eve, i like Eve, in the beginning of the story, until i realized something about her past and when the story kinda changed that makes me think, oh there is it again, the part that Saul is writing it to hastily. I like Eve, because she has this notion of wanting to serve people, but after realizing that she is a part of it just for her personal matter, i hated her. I also hated the part where she jumped into the tunnel and thinking, I'm Rambo, but she failed, well, what a dumb woman.

Well, for summarization. I think this story is good, but not so good, because, i have this arbitrary notion that when i read a book i wanted it to appear to be real despite that it is fiction.

Anyways, what i noticed about this book that the first part was too slow, a chapter that appears to be a thought of one of the character or even introducing one of the characters that i find really boring. I also noticed that there is a dramatical change in the characters, especially in Perry and Eve, that appears to be forced. Saul tried to make them villain despite that they appear in the story as nothing but a normal richy rich. He forced it so much that makes me think, that he has written it so hastily, not thinking about supporting how this works or like putting a suspicion on this characters, like, I know I right.

But despite that, i kinda sort like the ending, well, i partly hating it or unsatisfied with it, first, i just hoped that they ended it when they reached the end of the tunnel at least the unsatisfactory is not the high as after he put the ending, 5 Years Later, that appears to be nothing but a waste of time reading it, I liked it because Jeff saw someone who thought he would never see again.