Review: Hunter´s Choice: A Matt Hunter Adventure

Author: J. C. Hager
ISBN: 978-0-9797546-5-4

In his debut novel, Hunter´s Choice: A Matt Hunter Adventure, J.C. Hager has employed his expertise as a hunter to offer us quite a yarn that could probably easily make a great movie.

Our narrative unfolds when a Cessna 310 crashes in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. On board the aircraft are two passengers and the pilot. However, there were also some other interesting goodies that our protagonist Matt Hunter soon discovers and as we will see, places him into a moral quandary.

Forty-eight year old Hunter recently retired after twenty-three years as a high school teacher and football coach. This was his first opportunity in over twenty years to hunt during the second week of gun season. He inherited, for the most part, from his grandfather, three hundred and sixty acres of very remote property in Upper Peninsula in Mackinaw County. The land also included a quarry that was last active in the 1930s, a rustic cabin and moreover part of the largest cave system in Michigan. It was while vacationing in this remote area when Hunter hears the crashing sound of the Cessna. Subsequently, Hunter makes a decision to rescue whomever may have been on board the aircraft-a choice that would result in an astounding effect on his life. It was so far reaching that it would have been practically impossible to have ever imagined the costs that would emanate from this decision.

In fact, little did Hunter realize that he would be meeting up with an important Russian Mafia crime boss, falling in love with Tanya, a beautiful young woman who, along with her parents, were innocently implicated in criminal activities, the encountering of various US governmental agencies that were all getting into the act, coming into possession of narcotics that probably had a street value in the millions, discovering bundles of cash, being pursued by some nasty big-league bad guys, and, oh yes, involved in a few killings that were all committed for the sake of his own self-defence. All of which, as you can see, makes for some very thrilling reading that keeps humming along in a lively novel that also includes the passion of a tale of romance.

What also shines in the novel is Hager´s familiarity with the finer points of all things pertaining to hunting and boating that he cleverly interweaves into his plot.

Moreover, he has fashioned a memorable flawed hero, who is forced to straddle two worlds. Perhaps, we may even be inclined to conclude that the ending is morally wrong and I guess this is what makes the novel all the more out of the ordinary and great food for thought.

CLICK HERE TO READ NORM'S INTERVIEW WITH J.C. (John) HAGER