Customer Reviews

Razorback

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was attracted to this book because I am vietnam vet. I am also an avid hog hunter. When I read this book, I could not put it down. Scott Wilde portrays ranch life and hog hunting in a very realistic way.

I was very impressed that this book had no sex or bad language. However, there was some tasteful romance to this story.

I look forward to any future books by Scott Wilde.

I just finished reading Razorback by Scott Wilde. It was a page turner from the get go. I liked the story line and development of the characters so typical of East Texas folks. While it had many gruesome parts to describe the horror of Old Lucifers' killing ways, it made you realize how fierce and horrible a viscious hog could be. I liked the sensitivity that was brought to the characters, the love they shared for each other and their remarkable resiliance. Well worth the read!

The author does an excellent job in portraying East Texas life. This book is a good weekend read; the author captures your imagination right up front. I liked the parallels of the evils of the wild animal compared to the evils of man. The book has suspense, romance, and spirituality blended in to a well told story. Kudos to the author and I look forward to his next novel.

This is a strange little book. You could call it a tale of vengeance and redemption, revolving around a naturalist's knowledge of wild hogs in Texas. It's only a little over 200 pages long (in relatively large type). The writing is amateurish, the characters very one-dimensional, the dialogue simple.

There are three parallel plots: vengeance on the huge Russian Razorback that is terrorizing a rural Texas community; a Vietnam vet's journey to rekindle his belief in God, and a shallow love story. Think Big Pig helps Wounded Warrior find love and Jesus.

The author is at his best describing the Texas landscape and wildlife and the activity of hunting. He is obviusly a seasoned outdoorsman with a wealth of information on feral hogs and their effects on their environment. I think, however, that he might have created a more substantial book if he had stuck to nonfiction and collected a series of real-life tales concerning hunting wild pigs.

Since I was expecting a regular novel, I found this book very disappointing. It's geared more to hunting enthusiasts and conservative Christians than to the average reader. For a more satisfying read from a professional novelist try to locate the out-of-print paperback "Razorback," written by Peter Brennan in 1981. As I recall, it came out after the hit novel, "Jaws," and imitates that format (as the more recent "Razorback" tries to do) of pitting man against an animal that is so much bigger than life that it becomes an embodiment of primeval "evil." Brennan's "Razorback" takes place in Australia where conservationists are investigating the illegal hunting of kangaroos at night from trucks with spotlights. As in the newer title, a giant black razorback is the deadly predator, and there is plenty of factual information on wild hogs and their habits.

Scott Wilde has captured the dialect and culture of deep East Texas in a surprisingly real way. He uses it to tell a story that pulls the reader into the horror faced by a community terrorized by a giant razorback. Readers not familiar with the sport of hog hunting will no doubt be sickened at times by the graphic details supplied by Wilde as he describes how the hog kills in a manner almost human in its intensity. Nonetheless, even these details are presented in a way that could only be termed realistic and not gratuitous.

The book has tender plots lines that contrast romance and spirituality with the horror of the over-sized hog. The protagonist is not overly complex, but neither is he a shallow character. He is faced with the tragedy of losing his brother, his father and a friend to the appetite of the razorback, his own spiritual struggle, a budding romance and the recovery of his post-Viet Nam War syndromes.

This is a good weekend read and readers should look forward to other Scott Wilde endeavors.

William "Billy" Longbow was just a boy in Lufkin, Texas, when he first saw the bloody terror that a giant Russian Razorback hog could inflict. Billy and his older brother, JJ, watched helplessly as it gutted their friend and then they sobbed as several hogs devoured the body. Later, as a young man, Billy was drafted and sent to Vietnam. He ended up a side gunner on a Huey 67H20 helicopter. While there, he saw the bloody terror that man could inflict as well.

A medically discharged Billy returned home to heal, mentally and physically. Soon JJ was swearing that he saw the same huge hog that had killed their friend long ago. Worse, the giant hog had several others with him. The huge Razorback hog became a menace to the entire community. Even with a six thousand dollar reward on the razorback's head, no one could find it, much less kill it. So Billy must finally make the decision to take matters into his own hands.

**** The military section of the book is a very small part. Ninety percent of this thriller focuses on the razorback and its reign of terror. The author uses his outdoorsman experience to make this tale extremely realistic. A bit of romance is thrown in with the arrival of Suzanne for Billy. She has a level head, just like Billy, and she is one feisty lady. All-in-all, the author, Scott Wilde, has written a wonderful hunting thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.