The Hunt Club - Softcover

Lott, Bret

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060977701 ISBN 13: 9780060977702

Publisher: Perennial, 1999

Synopsis

In this lyrically written, hauntingly seductive novel, Bret Lott brings to life the beauty and flavor of the mist-covered swamps and backlands of South Carolina's Lowcountry in a story that is both mystery and rite of passage.

At fifteen, Huger ("you say it YOU-gee") Dillard already knows a great deal about the ways of the world--or so he thinks. He may not have a father, but with the guidance of his blind "Unc," Leland, and weekends spent at the Hunt Club--a tract of woods and swamp belonging to his family--Huger knows all about the land and the habits of its wildlife, from deer to the pompous Charleston doctors and lawyers who come to hunt them. But nothing can prepare him for the dark events that begin to unfold when he and Unc stumble upon the body of a well-to-do Charleston regular on their land.

Who wanted him dead? And why is the Hunt Club suddenly at the heart of a dark secret worth killing for? Caught in a treacherous labyrinth that stretches deep into the past, Huger and everyone he loves are about to discover painful truths that will irrevocably change them; truths that will shatter a young boy's innocence and test him as a man.

About this title

Review:

"It started with a body, the head of it pretty much gone, the hands skinned." This eerie introduction to Bret Lott's The Hunt Club sets the tone for this novel of murder, violence, and sinister secrets. The settings are dark and sultry: ramshackle trailers, forgotten burial grounds, and the seedy Hunt Club itself, built on "trash land." Events are witnessed through the eyes of 15-year-old Huger Dillard, smart, precocious, and always at the forefront of some crisis or criminal activity. Huger is also the eyes for his uncle, the owner of the Hunt Club who was left blind from a fire that killed his wife. Huger and "Unc" are unwittingly entangled in a web of murder and deceit, and they must solve this classic whodunit. Assisted by a local cook and her young, deaf daughter, this is a fresh and innovative detective team. The Hunt Club is a thrill ride all the way, a mix of gloriously grotesque characters, forbidding landscapes, and rotten crimes.

From the Back Cover:

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE HUNT CLUB

"I turned the pages of Bret Lott's The Hunt Club so insistently that, had there been pictures on the pages instead of print, it would have made a movie. It's that suspenseful. You care about the novel's fifteen-year-old protagonist that much. Lott, a writer you can always count on, adds another dimension with this, his first tango with mystery and murder."
--Wally Lamb, author of She's Come Undone

"Mystery fans who dote on stylish writing and strong characters will love The Hunt Club."
--Tony Hillerman

"Imagine Bret Lott's exacting and lyrical prose, combined with a body count that would send a serial killer under the bed: That's The Hunt Club, a gripping, wrenching, and devastatingly good book."
--Chris Bohjalian, author of Midwives

"Bret Lott has written a suspenseful mystery that is also, for its young protagonist, an intense emotional journey into adulthood with all its dangerous secrets, its acts of grace and courage. As always, Lott writes with a fine feel for the landscape of his fiction, and a gifted generous eye for the memorable people who live there."
--Michael Malone, author of Handling Sin and Time's Witness

"Lott's characters are as vital as heartbeats, as is his sense of place. . . . As a portrayal of a boy's acceptance through suffering of a world riven by sin but grounded in love, the book is moving, memorable, even masterful."
--Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Perennial
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0060977701
• ISBN 13: 9780060977702
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256