coolreads# The Hunting @definitelybooks

The Hunting
Author: Stephen Leather
Publisher: Hodder
ISBN: 9781529345254

Surprisingly, Stephen Leather’s The Hunting does not have the same thrills as his past novels.

Basically, the story with a weird and ridiculous plot, revolves around billionaire Jon van Santh who is into big-game hunting. It starts off with him hunting elephants in the wilds of Botswana when his wife and children who are holidaying in a resort beach hotel in Northern Cyprus, are gunned down together with the other tourists by the ISIS terrorists. In anger and grief, Jon goes on a mission to hunt down the killers. He hires ex-Special Forces men to snatch the ISIS killers from Syria and bring them to his vast estate in the US. His massive mansion is surrounded by lush jungles and that is where he set the killers loose so that he can hunt them down, one by one.

Then, the story switches to the ISIS hideout in Syria where the eight killers are now hiding after committing their brutal massacre. During a training on how to assemble a suicide vest at the camp, something goes terribly wrong and the vest exploded, killing eight and injurying a few dozen terrorists.

Next, the story moves to Raj Patel, a volunteer doctor at a Syrian hospital. He was once a Marine. He is kidnapped at gunpoint by the ISIS terrorists and taken to their camp to treat their injured brothers. When Raj finishes the job, it’s too dark to send him back to the hospital but the soldiers promise to do so the next morning. Unfortunately that night itself, Jon’s men arrive at the camp and snatch the ISIS killers, including Raj, who is mistaken for the eighth member who's killed during the blast. Raj protests and says he’s a doctor but ex-Special Forces men ignore him.

After some initial struggles, two of the ISIS killers are shot when they try to escape.

Then, against all odds, Raj and the remaining ISIS members have to fend for themselves in the jungle and fight for their survival against Jon who is hunting them. Will they survive the hunt?

The author takes great pains to delve into details on the weapons used by Jon during his big-game hunting as well as those used by the Special Forces, which may appear to be a bit of an overkill. The story plot itself appears to be too convenient and coincidental to be believable when Raj and his ISIS pals defy all odds to outsmart the ex-Special Forces men. After they grab Raj by mistake, he has to fight back. To survive, he has become as ruthless a killer as the man who is hunting him.

And the unusual ending leaves the readers wondering what is the lesson to be learnt here. Seems like karma at work when a hunter eventually ends up being hunted.