The Hunt by Tim Lebbon

The Hunt
By Tim Lebbon
Published by Avon Books (18 June 2015)
ISBN: 978-0008122898

Publisher's description
Escape and they’ll kill your family...

The cruellest game. The highest stakes. Only she can bring his family back alive …

Rose is the one that got away. She was the prey in a human trophy hunt organised by an elite secret organisation for super-rich clients seeking a unique thrill. She paid a terrible price. Every moment since she has been planning her revenge … And now her day has come.

Chris returns from his morning run to find his wife and children missing and a stranger in his kitchen.

He’s told to run.

If he’s caught and killed, his family go free. If he escapes, they die.

Rose is the only one who can help him, but Rose only has her sights on one conclusion. For her, Chris is bait. But The Trail have not forgotten the woman who tried to outwit them.

The Trail want Rose. The hunters want Chris’s corpse. Rose wants revenge, and Chris just wants his family back.

The hunt is on …

My verdict
I loved The Hunt. It was such an easy yet nail-biting read and the plot flowed brilliantly from start to finish. You are literally thrown in at the deep end and there's no stopping for breath along the way.

Chris comes home from his daily run to discover that his wife and daughters have vanished - and there's a trail of blood in the bathroom. A stranger in his kitchen tells him to stay put and wait for further instructions. When Chris tries to call his friends and family for help, they cut him off. Then a second stranger (Rose) appears, telling him that she can save him, as long as he is prepared to keep running to stay alive.

Chris soon learns that the hunt is on and he is the prey… Clients of the shadowy organisation The Trail pay to hunt humans down like wild animals. If he stops running, the clients and members of The Trail will kill him. If he escapes, his family will die instead. So he has no choice but to run for his life - no mean feat when you are a middle-aged architect who has taken up distance running as a hobby.

The fast-paced action takes place among vivid descriptions of the Welsh mountains. It's clear that the author has a personal understanding of the physical and emotional impact of long-distance running, which adds to the authenticity of the plot.  This is about Chris' fight for survival - and the horrific actions of others with more money than humanity. You also learn more about Rose's past - she is the one who escaped rather than played the game - and why she is determined to stop The Trail for good.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.