In my opinion this in John Saul's masterpiece! I first got hooked on the horror of John Saul when I stumbled upon The Blackstone Chronicles, but have found some of Saul's novels disappointing (as word of advice: don't bother reading The Devil's Labyrinth published in 2007). Saul has a history of writing bad or simply off the wall endings to his stories. I loved The Manhattan Hunt Club - a story of homeless people living underground (literally) by accessing subway tunnels. Saul clearly put a lot of work, time and research into this manuscript. Other Saul books I would recommend: The Blackstone Chronicles, Black Lightning, Perfect Nightmare, The Homing and Shadows. Midnight Voices and Black Creek Crossing were good stories with terrible endings. John Saul has been writing stories of horror since 1977.

2011 Update: I re-read this book with the John Saul Lit Group (come join us if you like John Saul or Horror - I'm Moderator). Unfortunately, my audiobook from the library was damaged and I had to skip through much of it. I still think this is a great story with twists and thought provoking issues - power and authority, manipulation, judging, right and wrong, etc. Saul tells a good story that comes full circle.

Interesting story. Interesting concept--not totally a really bad idea.

I don’t know if John Saul is always this good at the “people are complicated,” thing, creating good characters and complex personalities, because this is only my 2nd book from him, but he sure gets it right this time. Not all, but quite a few of the many characters in this book are well developed and complex, with just a few being one-dimensional.

It wasn’t exactly profound, and didn’t make me weep or give me goose pimples, but this is a super entertaining ride and a super creative piece of work. The copy on the back cover does not do justice to what this thing is actually about. In my experience, something has to be an historic ghost story for the author to want to weave it this well. The author put a lot of thought into this one.

It was ok, pretty imaginative and always made you wondering what would happen next. But still a typical creepy john saul book

4 stars:

-I read this before I join Goodreads. It was good! As the title goes, not one for those always play by the rules. Not being rude, I think the horror part was how likely this could be done and not be noticed. Homeless are people too. I do like the ending. Some might think some parts are violent. A fan of horror would probably not.

Underground war!

This was a very interesting book. I really enjoyed reading something different for a change. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a great suspense novel.

A group of wealthy Manhattanites decide to take justice into their own hands. Tired of criminals getting away with murder, they start hunting and killing convicted criminals they feel did not get a harsh enough sentence. The criminals are taken into the sewers and set free. Then the hunt starts. When they go after Jeff, a college student falsely convicted of a horrible crime, they get more than they bargained for.

Jeff is released into the sewers, along with Jagger, a murdering psychotic. Together they form an alliance to try to survive the hunt and get out of the sewers alive. Along the way we also meet many of the homeless population who call the sewers their home.

This book is part thriller (the part with Jeff) and part an attempt to call attention to the amount of homeless people living in and under the city. There was a slow buildup into the final exciting ending. I enjoyed reading this.

The city elite crate a hunt in the underground tunnels for sport

The plot borders on absurdity but if you don't think about that too much, it is a fun mystery-esque horror with some entertaining two-faced characters.

2.5

Pretty damn good! I have started a few John Saul books that I never could get into. I actually borrowed this on accident. But I was pleasantly surprised. The story moved at a good pace. The characters were well developed and engaging. Does it make you rethink your views of the world? No. Is a fun read for the weekend? Yes!

Jeff gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and finds him self through the court system around people who believe he’s committed the crime and should sit and rot in jail. After being given considerably light sentence he is transferred to another jail. On the way there the prison van is hit and a homeless looking person leads him into the tunnels under Manhattan.

While in the tunnels Jeff is locked in a room with a large prisoner names jagger who has Demands of his own to deal with. Then one day the door opens and a set of game rules is explained get to the outside and you live, if not you die.

Manhattan is known to have many tunnels under the city long forgotten where he city’s homeless or house less have taken refuge from the outside world.

While manoeuvring the tunnels Jeff meets people and obstacles while trying to get out only to find the game has been rigged for the hunters.

While in the tunnels some characters are moving on with their life while others try to find closure and some just don’t believe what is presented to them as true and seek their own truths.

As characters and slowly intertwined together the story takes twists and turns to lead to one conclusion.