Customer Reviews

Hunt at the Well of Eternity

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Indiana Jones watch out: Gabriel Hunt's reputation will ultimately surpass yours.
Why should the girls have all the fun at the beach each summer? Now we have Gabriel Hunt to take us places we'll never see, do things we only dare dream about, and have us come out a winner every time. James Reasoner brings home Gabriel's debut with the craft of the master he is.

When a stunningly beautiful woman with a slight Hispanic accent barely has a chance to introduce herself as she approaches Michael Hunt at a Metropolitan Museum of Art reception in honor of a new exhibit on loan from the Hunt Foundation, neither Michael nor his brother, Gabriel, could know it would precipitate gunfire and the woman's kidnapping. Michael is described as "shorter, younger, and studious-looking rather than ruggedly handsome" and "accustomed to paling into insignificance next to his more dynamic older brother." Gabriel is decidedly the more adventurous of the two: "He would find Mariella Montez, and he would find out what was behind her kidnapping, and the attack at the museum, and he wouldn't stop looking until he did."

Gabriel's search takes him from Florida to Mexico to the jungles of Central America. But even before that quest can begin, the action immediately goes into high gear [no pun intended] with a high-speed chase over the East River on the Queensboro Bridge, and doesn't let up till Gabriel's mission is accomplished.

Hard Case Crime, through Leisure Books/Dorchester Publishing, has their own mission: to revive the beloved genres of pulp crime fiction, which it has already done with over 50 titles and counting, and now pulp adventure fiction. This is the first entry in that endeavor, written in true swash-buckling style by Western author James Reasoner. I must admit to a slight hesitancy as I started this book, not sure an Indiana Jones-style book was for me, but that feeling was quickly dispelled after no more than the first few pages. It all comes off in plausible, exciting fashion. The novel is very fast-faced and well-written, and I'm looking forward to future entries in this series. The next one, "Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear," written by Charles Ardai, the erstwhile editor of Hard Case Crime, has an August 2009 publication date, and it should be an equally terrific yarn.

Gabriel Hunt is a hero torn out of the pages of the Hero Pulps of the 30s and 40s. The world was full of unknown places, dark powers and only a two-fisted man with both brains and brawn could tame it. The story is familiar territory for anyone who ever delighted in the adventure serials, and anyone looking for breathtaking originality is probably... well, deeply confused for starters. This is good fun and a pleasant read that clips along at a great pace. I await further exploits of Gabriel Hunt with anticipation.

Excellent pulpish adventure. A cross between Doc Savage and Indiana Jones, perhaps. And a nice twist that I didn't see coming.

Reading this book was like watching a low-budget 80s action flick -- flat single-dimensional characters with a cliche plot whose twists you can see coming from a mile away. (Sorry, I just felt compelled to describe a cliche with another cliche.)

Thankfully, this isn't a movie, so its action quotient is not restrained by budget. And clearly, the operating mantra while writing this book was "action, Action, ACTION, and MORE ACTION."

And boy, does this book move fast. In the very first page (which contains only about a half page of text), not only are we introduced to the hero and his brother, but also the mysterious woman who brings them something that kickstarts the story. Of course, she is also "the loveliest woman he has seen in quite some time." What else is new.

The first 40 pages or so also contain no less than two gunfights/brawls and two vehicular chase scenes. Once again, "action, Action, ACTION, and MORE ACTION."

If you like things such as character development, character drama, lush prose, and other similar literary ornaments, then this is not a book for you. This book doesn't even pretend to contain any redeeming literary qualities. It is shamelessly, intentionally, and proudly simplistic, and that's exactly where the book's charm lies. This is a guilty pleasure novel for guys.

"Hunt at the Well of Eternity" is a fast-paced page-turner. It's campy, and it's fun, even if it's mindlessly so. That's exactly what the writer(s) were shooting for, and they succeeded magnificently.

If you are in the mood for a book equivalent of an 80s action flick, I cannot recommend Gabriel Hunt highly enough. Don't forget your popcorn.

Book 29: Hunt at the Well of Eternity by Gabriel Hunt (and James Reasoner), isbn 9780843962468, 232 pages, Leisure Books, $6.99

Gabriel Hunt, the "author" and main character of this book, is half James Bond: oh so smooth and irresistible to women, great with a gun, cool under pressure and villianous death threats; and half Indiana Jones: world renowned retriever of antiquities, even if sometimes he does slightly illegal things to get them, always stumbling into trouble just when he thinks he's in the clear, handy with a bullwhip (and it is heavily implied he was taught to use it by Dr. Jones himself).

In this first installment of a new series from the publishers of the Hard Case Crime books, Gabriel Hunt (ably assisted by his younger, nerdier brother Michael) scours the world (the Florida Keys, Mexico City and Guatemala), wooing beautiful women (Cierra and Mariella), fighting evil badguys (a classic Blofeld type, his disfigured henchman), meeting more than one character whose allegience is questionable at best, and saving ancient artifacts from being destroyed or just forgotten. The series is intended to return the genre of Adventure Fiction to the attention of readers (it's never really been out of the attention of movie-goers, thanks to folks like the aforementioned Jones). If the name "Well of Eternity" brings the more well-known "fountain of youth" to mind, it's intentional and explained early in the book.

There are some moments in this first book that clunk a little, but overall it's a fun breezy read, heavy on the action with enough of a hint of the Hunt Brothers' past (missing parents, running a Foundation, etc). There is of course the obligatory adventure-fiction Encounter With The Unusual (Indy had his Lost Ark and Holy Grail; Hunt has the Well of Eternity so far), which is what makes the books fun.

The website implies that there will be a new book every three months or so. I'm definitely on-board for the ride.

3 AND 1/2 STARS

When I heard that horror writers Christa Faust, Nicholas Kaufman, and especially David J. Schow were writing a pulp adventure series, I had to jump on board. Currently, six titles are slated to be released by six different writers under the Gabriel Hunt pseudonym, who also happens to be the main character in the series.

Indiana Jones overdosing on a mix of speed and steroids is one way of describing the hyper-violence and fast pace of this book. This adventure has more non-stop action than a trilogy of big-budget Hollywood adventure movies. Seriously, that's what it feels like. With the style and lightning pace of this type of book, one needs to leave realism and common sense behind and just go along for the ride. Once I understood and accepted that conclusion, I had a great time reading it.

While the characters, fairly one dimensional, seem to be either on the side of good or bad with nothing in between, the real attraction here is the action and very cool concept of the "Well of Eternity" and the lineage and clues that lead to its discovery. The writer of this installment, James Reasoner, uses his expert knowledge of the Civil War to give the story an authentic mythology to the mystical water, which is the main focus of the book. I was especially impressed how Reasoner was able to clearly and simply describe the elaborate action sequences without any confusion. He makes you feel as if you are right there with the characters and know exactly what is happening at all times.

Although this is not my usual genre to read, I was pleasantly satisfied with the experience and happy to continue reading the next installment of Gabriel Hunt. It is refreshing to see the resurgence of the pulp action adventure novel again, not to mention one with such a beautifully painted retro book cover, too.

I got a big kick out of James Reasoner's widely, and justifiably, praised HUNT AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY. It's a throw-back, in the best sense of the word, to the pulps of yesteryear. But you don't have to be a fan of old movie serials and comic books to enjoy this Doc Savage/Indiana Jones-esque tale, a rollicking, fast-moving, and thrill-a-minute action adventure that aspires to be nothing more than it is: pure, escapist fun. James has set the bar mighty high for the next five authors in this "ghost-written" series.

Good action novel for a quick read that is forgetable. If you read this, remember this isn't great literature. It's just fun while you're reading it.

Gabriel Hunt has arrived just in time for long summer weekends and idle days spent relaxing on the beach or backyard. If you loved Indiana Jones and crave some light summer reading involving nonstop adventure in exotic locales, complete with harrowing escapes, blazing gun battles and beautiful damsels in distress, then HUNT AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY is the book for you.

This is the first installment of a new paperback original series created by Charles Ardai, creator of Hard Case Crime books. Hard Case Crime has been a resounding success while breathing new life into the genre. Ardai's idea was to publish a paperback hard-boiled crime novel a month, reprinting long-lost pulp works by the masters of the genre and original works by current-day authors.

Now Ardai has turned his attention to another lost part of the once-thriving world of pulp fiction: the adventure story. The fictional adventurer Gabriel Hunt is very much in the tradition of Doc Savage. With over 181 issues from 1933 to 1949, readers would plunk down their dime each month to read about Doc's latest hair-raising adventure in Doc Savage Magazine.

By the 1950s, adventure stories were filling the book racks of candy stores during the Golden Age of pulp paperback originals. These books were famous for their action-packed, bright-colored, lurid covers depicting beautiful women wearing little besides looks of terror. Many of those dog-eared books ended up beneath the beds of young American boys who enjoyed the covers probably as much as the stories.

Then television arrived like an invading alien army, its eerie electronic glow piercing the darkness in living room after living room, conquering all before it and destroying forever the pulp paperbacks originals.

The spirit of the pulp adventure series lived on, most famously in the Indiana Jones movies and in the genre's high-tech first cousin: spy adventure series like James Bond. Now Ardai brings us a pulp paperback adventure series for a new century. There will be six books issued over the next year and a half. Hunt will be telling his story with the help of professional writers such as Ardai, Christa Faust, Raymond Benson and James Reasoner. Reasoner, author of 200 books in the western, mystery and military genres, is "co-author" of WELL OF ETERNITY.

The Hunt books are written in current time. Gabriel Hunt and his brother run the $100-million Hunt foundation. Gabriel is a modern-day explorer, globetrotting the world in search of discovery. Reasoner writes of Gabriel, "He had spent much of his life in far-off, out-of-the-way places where modern civilization was a rumor at best. People liked to think that the entire world had been tamed, that modern technology now reached to all four corners of the globe. They didn't know how wrong they were."

But despite its modern setting, Hunt is pure pulp in the classic style. WELL OF ETERNITY begins with a black-tie affair that the foundation is throwing in New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art to unveil some Egyptian artifacts. Then a beautiful woman tries to give Hunt's brother an old bottle wrapped in some kind of flag and all hell breaks loose.

The bullets start to fly, and in true pulp tradition they rarely stop. In a pulp adventure story, the idea is to keep the action coming fast and furious. Within hours of the mayhem at the museum, which ends with the mysterious woman being kidnapped, there is a gun battle on the Queensboro Bridge as an SUV tries to ram Gabriel's souped up convertible into the East River. But Gabriel is always prepared. He never leaves home without his trusty Colt .45 Peacemaker six-shooter.

And that is just by page 25. I counted at least six spectacular attempts on Gabriel's life in the first two days of the story. Our hero is chased through the swamps of Florida by killers on airboats and jet skies. Then, killers try to take him out on the hills above Mexico City and the jungles of Central America. He is after the woman but also trying to break the mystery of the bundle the woman brought to the museum.

It turns out that the bottle was from a distillery that has been out of business for 144 years, and the flag was the battle flag of a Confederate Civil War cavalry regiment.

To give away more would be to spoil the fun. In the true pulp fiction tradition, this book is pure escapism, filled with action verbs. Fists "crashed down." Silenced pistols "spit death" There is the "wind rip" of slugs passing by. WELL OF SILENCE gives us a little bit of everything: jungle bandits springing ambushes, bullwhip fights, life-and-death battles on swaying rope bridges hundreds of feet in the air. There are great exotic names: the Black River, the Blade of the Gods gorge.

And the book also comes with a beautiful original cover painting by Glen Orbik. Those of us still small boys at heart can marvel at the covers of the entire series, although we probably won't have to keep them under the bed anymore.

Our guide through the story is this handsome, six-foot hero who has a way with the ladies. Reasoner writes, "Gabriel woke up with an armful of warm, nude female flesh, which almost made up for the fact that he was lying in a narrow bunk with nothing but a thin bug-infested mattress for cushioning in a crude hut in the middle of the Guatemalan mountains."

If you want a discussion on the impact of neo-liberal economics on Central America or torture policy in the War on Terror, this might not be the book for you. But if you want something light for a plane ride or a day at the beach, you can't go wrong with Gabriel Hunt. Charles Ardai is once again to be congratulated for resurrecting and revitalizing another glorious part of America's pulp fiction past. Consider this passage:

"Escalante said, `Does trouble always follow you so diligently, amigo?'

"Gabriel chuckled, `Not always. Just most of the time.'"

Let us hope that it keeps following him long into the future. HUNT AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY is a rollicking, fun read.

--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan