The Hunted: A Thriller [Hardcover]

Wayne Barcomb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2009

A lightning-fast police procedural from an up-and-coming talent, The Hunted introduces a homicide detective who gets the shock of his life while tracking a most ingenious serial killer

From a writer whose previous works Robert B. Parker declared “compelling . . . swiftly told” and James W. Hall called “top-notch” comes this first electrifying thriller featuring New York City homicide detective Frank Russo.

The Hunted begins with a little girl witnessing a horrible crime. Due to the child's testimony, the murderer is convicted. Eighteen years later the killer is released on parole, and his mission is to track down the now grown woman he feels betrayed him. A deranged dance of masked identities ensues, and it is up to newly single homicide detective Frank Russo to unravel the case.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An overly convoluted plot and stilted dialogue mar Barcomb's third crime novel (after Blood Tide and Undercurrent), the first in a projected series. The testimony of eight-year-old Tookie Lucky Gale, who watched her father, Paul, murder her mother, is enough to send Paul to jail for 21 years. After he's paroled, Paul sets out to find Lucky and get his revenge. Meanwhile, a string of gruesome homicides in Manhattan stump Det. Frank Russo, who's writing his own criminal justice book and yearns to make his legendary retired cop father proud. Frank soon suspects that the killer he's chasing is a woman, because of the crimes' disturbing sexual component, but he and his partner, Jerry Blodgett, hit one dead end after another as the body count climbs. Barcomb clumsily shifts among Frank, Lucky and Paul without ever revealing much about any of them, and the cop chatter in the station and at crime scenes sounds as if it were recycled from old TV shows or dated detective novels. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

A girl sees her father kill her mother. When the police come, he tries to lie his way out of it, but she tells the truth. Her father is sent to prison. Now, 18 years later, he’s out on parole, and he has one thing on his mind: find his daughter and get his revenge. Meanwhile, someone is committing murders in an especially unsettling manner, and homicide cop Frank Russo is pulling out all the stops to find the killer. This is a good, well-constructed thriller that keeps both Frank and the reader in a constant state of confusion. Frank is trying to sort out who’s behind the killings, and the reader, who possesses information about the case that Frank lacks, is trying to figure out the connection between the two plotlines. There is plenty of  misdirection here, and the author handles it all with panache. Fans of Jeffery Deaver, the current king of misdirection, might recognize some of the techniques Barcomb uses, but he’s using them in his own way, to his own ends. A compelling thriller with a very satisfying conclusion. --David Pitt

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031237075x
• ISBN-13: 978-0312370756
• ASIN: 031237075X
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,000,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars refreshing police procedural, April 17, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hunted: A Thriller (Hardcover)

The child witnessed the murder. She testified in court explaining what she saw that she knows will haunt her forever. The killer is convicted and sent to prison.

Eighteen years later, New York homicide detective Frank Russo is the lead investigator into the homicides of several people. His inquiry seems to go nowhere though he believes a serial killer is the culprit. Frank soon learns that a convicted murderer sentenced eighteen years ago was recently paroled. He begins to change his theory re the current killings and wonders if that freed convict is on a rampage leading him to the person who sent him to prison.

Frank is a fabulous cop struggling in his failed personal life as much as he struggles with a case that is going nowhere. In many ways the deranged killer steals the show from Frank as the audience sees first hand how he was an abuse victim and his efforts to not give in to the obsession to kill again. As Frank follows the few clues, he remains clueless to the identity of the culprit who lives a normal middle class life even as his urging is to hunt down the cop chasing him. Though serial killer investigative thrillers have saturated the market, Wayne Barcomb's fine tale is a refreshing police procedural mostly because of the hunter and the HUNTED.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hunted hunts the hunted hunts the hunted..., June 7, 2010

By 

W. Smith (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hunted: A Thriller (Hardcover)

I was amazed by this thriller. Wayne Barcombe is very clever. I was totally thrown for a loop. The ending is a jaw dropper! I actually had to go back and re-read certain scenes to figure out what I missed. The clues along the way are very subtile. This is why this book is so enjoyable as a thriller. This is a story about a serial killer loose in New York City and a young multi-generational heartbroken cop is under pressure to hunt down the killer and solve the hideous crimes. In addition to the cops, there is another hunter hunting the elusive killer. There are a few scenes in the book that I found hard to take as a female and as a human being, but it is a cruel world and Barcombe doesn't shelter his readers from such real horrors. Reminiscent of John Lutz's' Frank Quinn Series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average Story That Redeems Itself Somewhat With a Great Ending!, September 29, 2009

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Hunted: A Thriller (Hardcover)

The Hunted is nothing special, just another police procedure, serial killer type read. Wayne Barcomb has created an interesting female serial killer, although we could have done with a bit more murder scene action, especially after the first murder rather than just a new chapter with Detective Frank Russo receiving a call to attend another scene after we left the killer and victim still alive.

The Hunted also drags on at times, as we get side tracked into Frank Russo's love and personal life, boredom sets in and the temptation to start skimming starts to form in the mind. Having read those scenes without skimming is something I now regret as nothing interesting ever happened. Chapters in the beginning are written in the style of having cliff hangers at each's end and each chapter beginning introducing a new character meaning you're not quite sure if you're revisiting a character you've already read, or have a brand new one coming into play. Plus with the father at the start of the book who also is released from jail later on, having a girl's name with Gale (he has a first too - Paul but is always referred to as Gale) only adds to the confusion.

The only thing that lifts this story to an average overall rating is the great surprise ending. Just when you think you know what's going on you realise you haven't got a clue. A brilliant ending though only can lift the book so much, especially when you consider some readers may well have stopped reading earlier on.

Basic plot of the Hunted is a young girl watches her abusive father torture and kill her mother. He feeds her a story to tell the police, but she bravely tells them the truth sending him to jail. After changing her name and now a beautiful woman, she has relocated to New York. After turning the tables on a would be rapist she learns the therapeutic benefits taking out these predators has on her every day well being. As homicide detective Frank Russo takes on these cases his personal life may well bring him closer to the killer than his detective skills ever will!