HUNTER: A Thriller [Paperback]

Robert Bidinotto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2011

#1 KINDLE BESTSELLER IN "MYSTERIES & THRILLERS" & "ROMANTIC SUSPENSE"
A WALL STREET JOURNAL "TOP 10" NATIONAL BESTSELLER

WHO IS HUNTER? WHO IS PREY?
WHO WILL SURVIVE?

Award-winning true-crime author Robert Bidinotto makes his stunning fiction debut with a best-selling thriller that has earned more than 250 "5-star" rave reviews from readers.

   Two people, passionately in love.
   But each hides a deadly secret.
   He is a crusading vigilante, on a violent quest for justice.
   She is tracking this unknown assassin, sworn to stop him.
   Neither realizes the truth about the other.
   And neither knows that a terrifying predator is hunting them both. . . .

From its first gripping pages, HUNTER takes you on a nonstop thrill ride: from the top floor of the CIA, to the marbled corridors of Capitol Hill...from the posh hotels of downtown Washington, to the city's mean, violent streets. It introduces a colorful new hero for our time--and a dazzling heroine every bit his equal.

A spy mystery...a crime thriller...a passionate romance: HUNTER is a genre-bending novel unlike any you've read. Deviously plotted, filled with vivid characters, and propelled at a breakneck pace, it's a tale as memorable for its provocative ideas as for a rousing climax that has readers cheering.

If you enjoy the thrillers of Lee Child, Stephen Hunter, Brad Thor, and Vince Flynn,
you'll love HUNTER.

"One of the best vigilante thrillers since Clancy's Without Remorse....HUNTER delivers in a way few thrillers do. From the opening kill shot to the climactic showdown, HUNTER strikes home with the power and pinpoint accuracy of a Barrett M99....A fantastic debut thriller....A solid five stars." --Stephen England, author, Pandora's Grave

"...a terrifically paced suspense novel with a killer premise.... If you're a fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, I suspect you'll like HUNTER. --Randy Ingermanson, "America's Mad Professor of Fiction Writing" and author, Fiction Writing for Dummies

"A joy...one of the great romances....To say that HUNTER is a well-structured novel is an understatement....Even the lesser characters are vividly realized [and] memorably etched with a few deft strokes. Bidinotto seems incapable of creating a cardboard figure....I demand a sequel....I want to return to the exhilarating moral atmosphere of Bidinotto's story." --Roger Donway, The Atlasphere

"...pulse-pounding action, kick-a** characters, and a touch of romance....Bidinotto's technique is near flawless....[O]n the same level as authors Tom Clancy, John Grisham, and James Patterson." --Allizabeth Collins, "The Paperback Pursuer"

"Please order a copy of Robert's new thriller HUNTER if you want something that will keep you up at night turning pages." --Neil Russell, author, City of War and Wildcase

"...all the elements of an exciting thriller--strong conflicts, romance, action, and characters you care about. I especially loved the concluding paragraph, and you will too. Buy it." --Larry Abrams, author, The Philosophical Practitioner

"I read the whole thing yesterday, to the exclusion of pretty much anything else....I LOVED the book." --Rose Robbins, author, Deep Blue Ocean

"HUNTER is one of the three best first novels I have ever read. And one of the best, period. No smoke. A magnificent job. More, please." --Shawn Reynolds

"I finished reading HUNTER this afternoon and I have one word: Fabulous!!!" --Jeanette Traeg

"A thoroughly enjoyable read." --Frank Schulwolf

"A great story." --Sean Killian

"...the characters were fleshed out beautifully, and I loved the way the two story arcs, which seemed to be so separate, merged together as one to culminate in a spectacular action ending." --Gabrielle Suglia

"Good pacing. Great action. Great ending!" --Gregory Wall

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Bidinotto is an award-winning investigative journalist, magazine editor, and author. A former Staff Writer for Reader's Digest, he authored high-profile investigative pieces on crime, including "Getting Away with Murder," which stirred a national controversy in 1988 about prison furlough programs. That article was honored as a National Magazine Award finalist for "Best Magazine Article of the Year in the Public Interest Category" by the American Society of Magazine Editors. Bidinotto also published Criminal Justice? The Legal System vs. Individual Responsibility, with a Foreword by John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted," and Freed to Kill -- a compendium of horror stories exposing failures in our legal system. Many of those hair-raising stories, as well as ones that he investigated for Reader's Digest, served as the basis for HUNTER. Bidinotto makes his home on the Chesapeake Bay with his wife and their cat, Luna (who plays a supporting role in HUNTER).

Product Details

• Paperback: 486 pages
• Publisher: Avenger Books (June 21, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615507719
• ISBN-13: 978-0615507712
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (354 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #603,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hello, I'm Robert Bidinotto. Thanks so much for stopping by my author page.

By way of introduction: I'm a widely published, award-winning investigative journalist, magazine editor, and author.

My first novel, "HUNTER: A Thriller," was published in late June 2011. Bridging and blending the crime and spy-fiction genres, and with a powerful love story at its heart, "HUNTER" is a unique suspense thriller. It draws upon my experiences as an investigative journalist writing "true crime" books and articles. I hope you check it out here on Amazon, where it's available in ebook, audiobook, and trade paperback editions.

On November 27, 2011, "HUNTER" was selected as the #1 Kindle "Editors' Pick" and immediately skyrocketed onto the Kindle Store Bestseller List. By December 3, it had peaked at #4 overall, simultaneously becoming the #1 bestselling Kindle ebook in "Mysteries & Thrillers," "Thrillers," "Romantic Suspense," and "Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue." "HUNTER" also landed on the Wall Street Journal's "Top 10" bestseller list in "Fiction Ebooks." To date, it has attracted more than 250 "5-star" Amazon reader reviews.

As for my previous books: I was editor of and chief contributor to the widely acclaimed "Criminal Justice? The Legal System vs. Individual Responsibility," with a Foreword by John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted." I also wrote "Freed to Kill," a compendium of horror stories that exposed the terrible failings of our legal system. Many of those hair-raising stories, as well as ones that I investigated for Reader's Digest, served as the basis for my fiction thriller "HUNTER."

While working as a Staff Writer for Reader's Digest, I authored high-profile investigative pieces on crime and other public controversies. I'm perhaps best known for my article "Getting Away with Murder" in the July 1988 issue of the Digest. It stirred a national controversy about crime and prison furlough programs during the 1988 presidential election campaign, and is widely credited with having affected the outcome of the election. That article was honored as a 1989 National Magazine Award finalist for "Best Magazine Article of the Year in the Public Interest Category" by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

I've written and lectured widely, on many topics. My articles, essays, columns, book and film reviews have appeared in Success, Writer's Digest, The Boston Herald, The American Spectator, and other journals. I've appeared on scores of major radio and television talk shows, and I've lectured before campus, civic, business, and public affairs organizations throughout North America and in Europe.

From 2005-2008, I served as editor-in-chief of The New Individualist magazine. While editor, I was a 2007 Gold Winner of Folio's prestigious "Eddie" Award, for editorial excellence -- the magazine industry's highest honor. I also received the Free Press Association's Mencken Award for "Best Feature Story," as well as other awards and honors from the National Victim Center and victim rights organizations, for my outspoken public advocacy on behalf of crime victims.

With my wife, Cynthia, and our stridently individualistic cat, Luna, I make my home on the Chesapeake Bay. I do enjoy communicating with my readers. So please feel free to contact me through my fiction blog, "The Vigilante Author, at www.bidinotto.com; my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bidinotto; and my Twitter account at @RobertBidinotto.

I look forward to hearing from you. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy "HUNTER" and the continuing adventures in the series.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 107 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Stunning First Novel: In Equal Parts Thriller, Romance and Morality Play July 26, 2011

By UFO6

Format:Paperback

I didn't know what to expect when I began reading this debut novel, but what I walked into stunned me as much with its depth and authenticity as its pedal-to-the-metal action.

Some of the most bestial of violent criminals, prematurely (read: criminally) released from the cages they've earned, have been turning up dead in ways and places that suggest a distinct message: "Have you misplaced this?" The police are stumped, and so are the military intelligence personnel brought in when a treasonous double agent is similarly dispatched before their eyes. Thus begins an intense search for a killer who targets killers, and who leaves not a trace of evidence behind.

"Hunter" begins as breakneck action suspense and almost immediately traverses into an engaging intellectual quest, sort of a "thinking man's 'Death Wish,'" but in which moral choices, not chance or simple physical conflict, are the plot's navigation points. Questions of guilt and innocence, justice and the proper objects of compassion, suspicion and trust, legality and morality, integrity and conflicting loyalties, are laid out before the reader as puzzles, woven ingeniously into a drama whose action is cinematic in its realism.

The elegant romance that develops simultaneously, hinges too on moral questions and choices rather than arbitrary emotions and events - something that's rare to nonexistent in contemporary fiction. The central relationship in "Hunter" is not mere embellishment, it is integral to both plot and theme. Into that romantic structure Bidinotto deftly blends mistaken assumptions, erroneous conclusions and tantalizing details of a hidden past, to achieve a stunning richness of character development. I've read a number of post-Rand novels purporting to represent the romantic school of fiction, and almost to a one the relationships in them come across as stilted, wooden and implausible. Not Bidinotto. What's particularly amazing in the central romance of "Hunter" is that he's able to project a relationship that's uncommon in its grace and elegance, yet as authentic in feel as direct experience. These people do not seem like fictional characters, yet they're still appropriately - and necessarily - larger-than-life. It's a unique combination, and the result, again, is uncommon authenticity and character depth in a thriller.

The theme at its core is an intense, often visceral parable of justice: of justice misplaced, justice denied, justice betrayed, justice recaptured and justice restored. It's a parable as gratifying as it is overdue.

"Hunter" is a truly fantastic first novel that announces Bidinotto's arrival into the company of blockbuster thriller authors, the first of a series that will doubtlessly have people impatiently glaring at their calendars with every approaching release date. The word "Bravo" seems woefully inadequate here - this novel is an instant out-of-the-park Grand Slam from the new kid on the block. Now, may we please have another!

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Crime, punishment, love and trust: HUNTER A Thriller June 22, 2011

By The Virginian

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

At the core of HUNTER lies the culmination of years of study and investigation of the criminal justice system and the correctional system in the United States.

At its heart lives an entirely different animal. A classic love story infused with joy and sorrow, trust and doubt, but most of all genuine uncontrolled passion.

Robert Bidinotto, a well known and respected voice in the arena of crime and punishment has taken these elements and blended them into a truly stunning first novel.

HUNTER A Thriller easily lives up to its title. What seemingly begins as another battle in the world of espionage quickly takes on overtones of betrayal of another sort which hits closer to home.

Annie Woods, a special CIA investigator, has discovered a traitor. But what she doesn't know is how this revelation is about to change her life in unexpected ways. Perhaps forever.

Dylan Hunter is a free-lance investigative reporter who specializes in reporting on the often times outrageous circumstances and outcomes surrounding justice system verdicts. And the even more outrageous lack of attention and respect and true justice given to the victims of crime.

A brutal attack on an unsuspecting couple becomes the catalyst for these two loners to meet. They each carry the baggage of past betrayals but incredibly to both, sparks fly , and they soon find themselves inseparable.

But when a series of unusual killings occur, Dylan and Annie suddenly find themselves unexpectedly at odds. Feelings of mistrust and doubt come to a head as they each find reasons to suspect the other is not who they seem.

And through it all, an enemy who is the embodiment of evil, has them both in his sights.

In a shocking and thrilling climax, Dylan and Annie face not only that supreme evil and danger but also their fears and doubts about each other.

And what they discover may not be what they expect.

Robert Bidinotto has truly written an exciting and thoughtful novel. He has expertly woven many traditional and, interestingly to me, non-traditional elements to create a reading experience. I truly felt I was actually there in the room with these characters which made the experience all the more real to me. Included is a cast of colorful supporting characters which is always important and I hope will appear in future installments.

Dylan and Annie were very real to me. Very genuine. Their love story is integral to the feel of this whole experience which is somewhat unusual for a thriller. But it works beautifully and is a special treat for readers. In no way does it slow the pace of the story. In fact, I was just as impatient to see what was going to happen to their relationship as I was to see the resolution of the novel's premise.

Special attention should be given to Bidinotto's many years of work investigating crime and punishment in America and the absurdities that have been wrought. He has skillfully brought attention to these issues in the story, especially that of the wrongs done to the victims of crime. We should all take note.

Read HUNTER. You won't be disappointed.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 100% Solid Thriller! September 25, 2011

By Claude Bouchard

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was introduced to Robert Bidinotto in an interview he did with fellow author Gary Ponzo and was immediately intrigued, particularly since "Hunter" was a novel about vigilantism, a concept I'm familiar with through my own writing. I was not disappointed.

A journalist by profession, Bidinotto's writing is flawless and precise. He uses words to create scenes much like an accomplished artist uses paint and brush to create a masterpiece. His characters are three dimensional; they are real, flesh and blood people with true emotions. The story itself is an intricately woven tapestry of details which all perfectly mesh together resulting in a highly believable, suspenseful read.

I thank Gary for bringing Robert and "Hunter" to my attention as this novel is the best in the crime thriller genre I've read in a while. I can only give one piece of advice to you readers out there. Buy this book!