The Hunt Club (1998) by Brett Lott

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Hunt Club (1998)

by Brett Lott

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

South Carolina: 5/14

   The Hunt Club is what you call an interesting failure- half of a conventional thriller about greed and life in South Carolina as seen through the eyes of the 15 year old protagonist and half a work of literary fiction about said 15 year old and his family.   It doesn't really land either punch, but it is short enough and there are enough interesting moments to make it a worthwhile read- certainly within the context of the 1,001 Novels: A Library of American it is a good representative of South Carolina, with plenty of tromping about in the marshy landscape of the area north of Charleston.   One of the things I've learned from this chapter of the 1,001 Novels project is that there are geographical similarities between the low lands of South Carolina and the swampy wetlands of southern New England- at times I feel like the descriptions- here of lowland South Carolina could equally apply to summertime New Hampshire.

  The Hunt Club has several of the worst tropes in thriller/crime fiction including multiple scenes of various villains loudly explaining what they are doing to people they intend to murder in cold blood.  I've never understood it since seeing James Bond villains do it as a child.  So much talking but at least The Hunt Club was short.