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Hunter's Blood
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 3, 2023
The cover blurb of Hunter's Blood states "Spine-chilling new adventure in the savage tradition of Deliverance" which for once seems pretty apt. Set largely in the boonies along the Mississippi river in Arkansas, Hunter's Blood tells the tale of a hunting expedition that, lets say, goes south pretty quick when they encounter some serious rednecks.
Cunningham builds the story nicely and introduces the hunting party, with the main protagonist David being the son of the guy who leads the hunting 'team'. Their goal is to bag some whitetail deer and the place is several hundred virgin acres of forest that one of the team member's firm just bought the wood rights too (a big paper company). So, we have a father/son combo, a pair of brothers and a 'the new guy'-- a friend of one of the brothers who has never really gone hunting before.
David and his father have been hunting for years and I really liked how Cunningham developed the two and their views toward hunting in general. While not a hunter myself, I have family members who are active hunters and their views on the act largely parallel with what Cunningham gives us here. The object is not to simply drink beer and go blasting around with big guns (although that does happen), but to respect your prey.
Anyway, after a hair-raising scene at a redneck bar just outside the woods, the group takes their new Chevy Blazer deep into the woods. Around the campfire that first day some rather dark stories emerge about the place which are written off a redneck tales, but you can tell Cunningham is building up something. Why do even the locals stay away from these woods? Yeah, it is posted No Hunting but that never stopped a real redneck. When David and his father encounter some very nervous game wardens their first day there and hear about some nasty poachers active around these parts, the scene is set...
Really a good tale of suspense and while nasty redneck tales have been done to death, they were still pretty fresh when this was first published in 1977. Be warned, however, as these rednecks make the ones in Deliverance seem like punks. Great job building the tension and super pacing. I would have gone 4 stars except for the denouement . I wish Cunningham had written more as now I have completed his corpus 😢
Cunningham builds the story nicely and introduces the hunting party, with the main protagonist David being the son of the guy who leads the hunting 'team'. Their goal is to bag some whitetail deer and the place is several hundred virgin acres of forest that one of the team member's firm just bought the wood rights too (a big paper company). So, we have a father/son combo, a pair of brothers and a 'the new guy'-- a friend of one of the brothers who has never really gone hunting before.
David and his father have been hunting for years and I really liked how Cunningham developed the two and their views toward hunting in general. While not a hunter myself, I have family members who are active hunters and their views on the act largely parallel with what Cunningham gives us here. The object is not to simply drink beer and go blasting around with big guns (although that does happen), but to respect your prey.
Anyway, after a hair-raising scene at a redneck bar just outside the woods, the group takes their new Chevy Blazer deep into the woods. Around the campfire that first day some rather dark stories emerge about the place which are written off a redneck tales, but you can tell Cunningham is building up something. Why do even the locals stay away from these woods? Yeah, it is posted No Hunting but that never stopped a real redneck. When David and his father encounter some very nervous game wardens their first day there and hear about some nasty poachers active around these parts, the scene is set...
Really a good tale of suspense and while nasty redneck tales have been done to death, they were still pretty fresh when this was first published in 1977. Be warned, however, as these rednecks make the ones in Deliverance seem like punks. Great job building the tension and super pacing. I would have gone 4 stars except for the denouement . I wish Cunningham had written more as now I have completed his corpus 😢
July 10, 2013
Five men from the city - a father and son, two brothers, and a business partner of theirs - go into the woods to do some hunting. What could possibly go wrong for them deep within posted woods? Apparently everything. Soon these city dwellers find themselves pitted against an evil so savage and ancient, even the locals avoid it at all costs.
I have to say that while this book was relatively good; overall, it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was certainly a good book for its type, and succeeded in holding my attention throughout, but I think that the hunting trip plot point didn't really work for me. I give this book an A!
I have to say that while this book was relatively good; overall, it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was certainly a good book for its type, and succeeded in holding my attention throughout, but I think that the hunting trip plot point didn't really work for me. I give this book an A!
November 21, 2012
When five men go hunting in posted woods, what can go wrong? Everything. Soon, the city-slickers find themselves pitted against townies so savage and ancient, even the rednecks won't mess with them.
January 5, 2026
Solid wilderness/chase thriller that is gory enough to nearly stray into horror territory. Five guys from the city go deer hunting in a large, unspoiled tract of land that is now earmarked for logging in the near future. The five guys run into trouble with the locals at a roadhouse (naturally ) near the hunting area, and a fight/chase ensues going into the hunting area. But further trouble awaits the city boys, and much violence results. The ending kinda runs out of steam; probably would have been four stars with a stronger finale. Good, bloody fun. Recommended!
January 20, 2023
Macho noir at its finest. Thoroughly entertaining. The ending is not what I expected.
January 4, 2026
I spent a little more on this 1977 Fawcett mass-market paperback than I probably should've...but the cover called out to me, and I figured I could always sell it back when I was finished. I don't need to compare Hunter's Blood to Deliverance because as you can see from the cover image the publisher did it for me- "spine-chilling new adventure in the savage tradition of Deliverance"- and while I think it at least lives up to that billing*, I was also reminded of the excellent Walter Hill movie Southern Comfort (1981). Like those two movies, Hunter's Blood is about misadventure in the woods, about a group of five men (a father and son, two brothers, and Jimmy the "new guy") who set out from Memphis for a hunting trip, west across the Mississippi to the boonies of Arkansas, and boy does author Jere Cunningham put them through hell when they meet some unfriendly locals. Parts of the second half made me want to crawl into the fetal position and never leave the suburbs again.
I tried to imagine that it was 1977, before we had a million-and-one entertainment options at home, and that I'd picked this up at the local pharmacy or wherever (for the $1.75 cover price) because there weren't any good movies on TV that weekend and I'd been craving a balls-to-the-wall survival story that borders on horror. Well, this would've delivered in spades. The testosterone level is through the roof here, and I guess you would call it a pulp novel, but I'm starting to understand that a lot of these old pulp writers knew what they were doing just as much as the more "literary" types. As much as Cunningham puts the pedal to the metal in the second half, he takes his time getting there, and he makes it interesting to spend time with these guys on the road, in a bar (I loved the long apocryphal story about Elvis), and later around the campfire. There's great characterization and pacing, an atmosphere of real dread, and a well-worn-yet-powerful theme to the effect that there's a brutal reality just under the surface of so-called civilized life that we have a more complicated relationship with than we'd often like to admit.
(* = I'm speaking only of Deliverance the movie here, I've never read the novel.)
April 20, 2023
Not going to lie, I picked up this book because Judith Sonnet told me to. (She should start a book club like Oprah, so we know what to read next.) Regardless, I am very happy that I did because this was a quick, vicious, & splattertastic. Think Deliverance meets The Hills Have Eyes meets The Hunt, then sprinkle liberally with brain matter splatters. I was never a big hunting/camping fan & this is another book that will keep it that way. Another win for vintage horror/splatterpunk, I had to double check that this was written in 1977 because it seemed like it could fit right in with today’s offerings. Highly recommend this one. 5 slack-jawed yokels out of 5.
March 13, 2023
Breathless and brutal "action horror". If you like movies like Green Room, Blue Ruin, and Deliverance... you'll LOVE this. Easy five stars.
April 23, 2023
Eerie.. bone chilling and more gruesome than Deliverance
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews