Book Review: Hunting Ground

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Hunting Ground     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Charles L. Grant
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Fantasy   Supernatural   Horror
Series: Black Oak # 4
Roc, Jun 2000, $5.99, 249 pp.

Things often go bump in the night with most incidents easily explainable. However, once in a while, that noise cannot be defined. Black Oak Security is one of the country's best private detective agencies, renowned for solving the cases that their competitors shy away from accepting. Even Black Oak runs into a rare case that defies natural phenomena, leaving the owner Proctor believing in the supernatural.

Proctor is deeply depressed when his mother comes out of a seven-year old comatose state to utter two words before falling back into the coma. He cannot obtain a lead on a client's missing daughter and all his other cases seem boring. His friends feel he needs a vacation. He agrees and goes to Atlantic City where he becomes embroiled in a strange serial killer case in which the throats of the victims have been bitten off. Proctor is back in his element dealing with a deadly case that rings supernatural to the sleuth.

Charles Grant is a very cunning writer, who leaves hints and tiny clues that provides the direction this series seems to be taken one puzzle piece at a time. Proctor gets weirder but better with each subsequent tale. Mr. Grant is clearly a master of supernatural mysteries similar to that of Hamilton and Huff. HUNTING GROUND has cross genre appeal to readers of horror, urban fantasy, and mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner