Hunting Time

Colter Shaw is doing a favour for a friend. He is between jobs and takes up the challenge of finding a brilliant scientist and her daughter, who have fled their home to avoid her husband. Jon Merritt is an ex-cop with a drink problem – the problem is the rage that falls on him when he has had too much alcohol. He was jailed for his abusive and violent behaviour toward his wife, and his release early from prison means that she and their daughter take immediate evasive action and disappear.

Shaw is brought on board by her employer to find them. Entrepreneur Marty Harmon is desperate to have her back at work because of her expertise in a huge project he is masterminding. Shaw, a survival expert, needs to track them down, keep them safe from the violence her husband has promised, and bring her back to complete the revolutionary technology she is developing.

Complications arise when it becomes obvious that there are others also hunting the missing pair. A deadly pair of psychopaths are closing in on the fugitives as fast as Colter Shaw, leaving a trail of pain and death behind them.  Merritt, too, is close behind them, with the promised revenge on his wife at the forefront of his mind.

Just who is feeding information and directions to all the seekers, and why, is the key to the hunt.  Allison is travelling from one place she hoped was safety to another; constantly on the run, constantly trying to find somewhere no one will find them. She is smart, canny and desperate to stay ahead of everyone. However, she just can’t seem to find sanctuary without it being breached.

As with all Jeffery Deaver thrillers, the action is exhaustive, and tricks of tracking and evasion are laid out carefully and instructively. In addition, the characters are defined and balanced between deeply dangerous and those the reader is gunning for.   

There are questions as to whether all the good guys are actually good and whether all the bad guys are really bad. And of course there’s the perennial question of the identity of the hidden villain that we have all missed. With each twist we are led to believe we know the answers, but there is always just one twist left that throws all the reasoning into chaos.

Revolutionary technology is child’s play compared to trying to outwit Deaver and his plots.