23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
No Sequel Is Required, February 4, 2006
I am and have been a huge John Lescroart fan. The Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky series has been a joy to read and it was with some curiosity that I awaited the release of The Hunt Club. This was to be a departure from the past and I was hoping it would measure up.
Dismas Hardy makes a few cameo appearances in this novel, but this story as about a new character, Wyatt Hunt, PI. Still set in San Francisco, Hunt becomes involved in the murder of a federal judge and his mistress and the disappearance of a tv personality. The start of the novel is promising and it is not long before you find yourself immersed in the intrigue however, for far too long in my judgement, the story is allowed to meander without apparent purpose until as the end comes into sight, Lescroart finds his feet again and puts some very interesting finishing touches to it.
To my mind this is a novel that does not beg for or even promise a sequel. It can easily be a stand alone book and if there are no further adventures of Wyatt Hunt, that will be alright with me. Hopefully, if Mr. Hunt is to have some longevity in future novels, the author will find something about him to make him relevant to those of us who admire his writing.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Detective Story/Police Procedural with Insights Into the Human Heart, March 9, 2006
Many John Lescroat fans will undoubtedly be disappointed that this story includes only a few exceedingly brief (although meaningful) appearances by Dismas Hardy and only a passing reference to Abe Glitsky, the two friends who have provided so many hours of enjoyment to readers who enjoy both legal thrillers and police procedurals. Nevertheless, THE HUNT CLUB does remain true to several of the elements which have made Lescroart one of my favorite authors: wonderful character development, intricate plotting, attention to detail (perhaps overly so in this case), which as usual are combined with sufficient action and suspense to maintain the reader's interest. To provide a bridge for readers of his earlier works and to increase their background understanding of this story, there are two crossover characters as well. Amy Wu plays a crucial role before the story is completed and Diz' partner Wes Farrell appears several times as well. And as usual, the city of San Francisco itself provides not only the geographic backdrop for the story but a political dimension to the plot as well.
The first section of this book is entitled "That was then", and consists of four chapters which provide both a brief introduction and also some historical background regarding the two characters who will play the central roles in any continuing series originates from this novel. The first is Wyatt Hunt, whose varied experiences have led him to his current occupation as a private investigator and head of the firm which bears his name. The second is San Francisco Homicide Inspector Devin Juhle, Wyatt's best friend and baseball buddy during their teenage years. (Wyatt had unexpectedly reconnected with Devin while investigating a potential case of child abuse during his previous employment by Child Protective Services Department.) As Chapter Five informs the reader with the heading, "This is now"; the story then abruptly transitions to the present as Devin Juhle and his partner Gumqui Shui are summoned to the murder scene of federal Judge George Palmer and his mistress (and mystery woman) Staci Rosalier.
Soon thereafter, Andrea Parisi, a local lawyer who has currently become a media celebrity as a commentator on Trial TV also becomes a central character in the plot; unsurprisingly, since in Wyatt's words she is "beautiful, smart, fun and nice", he finds himself increasing at odds with his friend Dev as Andrea together with her law firm's powerful client increasingly becomes a prime focus of the police investigation. When Andrea suddenly disappears without a trace, the interests of the two friends collide. Dev wants to solve the murders and follow established police procedure to protect the evidence in his case from court challenge; Wyatt is convinced of Andrea's innocence and simply wants to maximize any chance that there may be of finding Andrea alive without much concern for such legal niceties as the rules of evidence and the necessity for establishing probable cause in order to get a search warrant.
Thee are so many elements to the plot of this story that any detailed discussion would make this review both much too lengthy and also unavoidably lead to the introduction spoilers. For example, for some time the police are baffled by the fact that Staci Rosalier's background seems to be a complete mystery - she has few friends and despite the publicity associated with the case no family members come forward to identify her. Another element which complicates the plot is some possible involvement of the CCPOA (prison guard's union) in the murder. Dev and his partner Shiu learn that Judge Palmer's investigation of the union had caused its leaders and lawyers (the firm where Andrea worked) to become very worried about his threat to recommend legal action against the union. (The facts unearthed by the author's detailed research with regard to this aspect of the story are very interesting and are illustrative of why I find his work so enjoyable.)
There is clearly a very important legal backdrop to this story, which involves several cleverly interwoven elements which are central to the plot. The story also provides a fair amount of legal insight, particularly an excellent discussion of the granting of search warrants based on probable cause. Nevertheless, readers primarily interested in legal thrillers (e.g. several of the author's previous works) will probably be disappointed, this book has no courtroom scenes of the type which often figure prominently in the Hardy/Glitsky series. But it does feature the same type of increasing tension and crescendoing climaxes characteristic of that series and then the intensely personal finale (often bittersweet) which follows.
Of course, the reader can only speculate on the reasons why Lescroart has followed in the recent path two other writers with popular series protagonists who have created new series which have also achieved best seller status, viz Robert Parker (who now authors the Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall series in addition to the immensely popular Spenser books) and James Patterson (who now alternates The Women's Murder Club with his Alex Cross novels). But whatever those reasons, this nascent series has the potential to provide additional enjoyment to his readers. However, given the much greater depth of his character development and much greater complexity of his plotting and depth of his narratives, his attention to Wyatt and Dev in future novels may be at the expense of his fans further enjoyment of the Abe and Diz saga, a tradeoff which I hope does not occur. My hope would be that in some manner the two series somehow intersect if not merge and that all these marvelous characters get a chance to interact.
While I tremendously enjoyed the character development in this story, the reason for the reduction in my rating to four stars is that I felt that the details involved in the plot and the actions of some of the characters became extremely implausible at times. In addition, on a few occasions the degree of detail exceeded what was necessary to provide realism. Nevertheless, while as I have indicated this book is nominally a police procedural/detective story, the last few superb pages make it clear that it is really the Wyatt Hunt story with Devin Juhle as the strong supporting actor in Wyatt's drama. The comments and thoughts about love and life contained in various succinct passages throughout this book were extremely insightful and at times quite moving. And thus the title, THE HUNT CLUB is actually a wonderful double entendre, which encompasses both Wyatt's firm (including his employees Tamara and Mickey who in a wonderful touch both appear as children in the first chapter of the book) and also his group of friends who provide crucial support at a critical time in his life. Thus, my fond hope is that this book will provide the springboard for as successful a set of stories as began with THE FIRST LAW (review 2/9/2003), which while only four stars was deeply moving and provided the essential background for Lescroart's two most recent five star efforts THE SECOND CHAIR (review 4/22/2004) and THE MOTIVE (review 2/1/2005). In summary, this is a worthwhile read, especially if you want a standalone thriller heavy on plot and character development and much more complex and requiring more reader involvement than many of the beach or airline flight casual reads that comprise pop fiction currently. And the unexpected twists at the end will certainly leave you on a high note and ready for the next development in Wyatt Hunt's life.
Tucker Andersen
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe 3.5 stars - A decent airplane book, September 2, 2006
Wyatt Hunt began his career with Child Protective Services but has moved on to private investigation. A federal judge and a young woman have been murdered at the judge's home. A beautiful journalist, Andrea Parisi, in whom Wyatt is interested, has disappeared. Who is the dead woman, what is the motive and where is Andrea. Wyatt and members of his team, The Hunt Club, are determined to find out, sometimes to the consternation of Wyatt's friend, homicide inspector Devin Juhle.
This book started out really well for me but then kind of fell apart. There were too many characters and too many similar names, and other than Wyatt, I didn't feel I'd gotten to know any of them well. I like good twists in a plot, but the route the story finally took didn't convince me. It wasn't that the motive was completely implausible, but the person behind the motive seemed implausible. Some authors set books in the Bay Area and make the unique microclimates a almost another character. Lescroart didn't give me a strong sense of place. In fact, I had to remind myself the story is set where I live. It's a good airplane book, but didn't make me a huge fan of the author.
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