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Fear Street Sagas #9

Heart of the Hunter

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A medicine woman tells Jamie Fier the love potion she gave him will cost him. Now Jamie finds himself transforming into a wolf--and if his true love sees him in this form, he will remain a wolf forever.

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

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1094 people want to read

About the author

R.L. Stine

1,680 books18.7k followers
Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
Profile Image for Adrienne.
295 reviews38 followers
July 29, 2019
What a twist! I would've expected that after years of reading Mr. Stine's works, I would've been able to guess that ending.

But, no.

mind still blown

I will never get tired of the Fear Street saga.
Profile Image for Brendan.
400 reviews12 followers
October 21, 2020
4.5 stars
.
what a nostalgia bomb! i forgot how gory these books were (i literally haven't read a single YA horror that has gotten this graphic and this is MIDDLE GRADE). also, this book had two insane plot twists that left me jaw-dropped. i'm definitely picking up another in October!
Profile Image for Jesse.
348 reviews5 followers
October 25, 2024
A surprisingly nasty bit of middle grade werewolf grue from ghostwriter Eric Weiner. I wish it was a little more fleshed out and the writing moved beyond just "functional", but there were moments of savage violence and a very dark, almost blackly ironic tone that made it an entertaining read.
Profile Image for Jaime.
1,032 reviews1 follower
April 14, 2012
I was a huge R.L. Stine fan in my early teens! I loved all the fear street books! They are what got me into reading again! :)
Profile Image for Courtney Gruenholz.
Author 13 books24 followers
July 23, 2024
Bumped it down to 4 stars from 5 because the whole plot is good but I wouldn't say it was amazing...that was just my nostalgia goggles.

We start in the good old Wilderness of 1792 Kentucky ...my home state. Traveling the Appalachian Mountains and the Cumberland Gap forged by good old Daniel Boone is a wagon train from Virginia where one wagon has a family named Goode...and one named Fier.

Seventeen year old Jamie Fier is traveling with his father John and his mother Dora Mae to find some new luck as their tobacco fields were not producing a good crop. Dora Mae keeps begging her husband to take them back to Virginia because this is all unknown wilderness...full of animals and INDIANS!!

The correct term will be Native Americans and specifically the Shawnee from here on out BTW...

John knows that his family is cursed by this time but maybe not that the Goode family are the reason...wouldn't change anything if he did. John Fier despises Lucien Goode because he is selfish, lazy, a liar and a cheat taking more rations for his family that now the Fiers are rationing their own meager rations.

Lucien has two daughters, Laura and Amanda. Both girls are blonde but Laura is sixteen and Amanda is fifteen and Laura has forest green eyes while Jamie finds Amanda's brown eyes like mud. Amanda also wears her hair in braids with red bows and has a huge crush on Jamie while Laura is the one he wants.

The wagons stop for the night and Lucien Goode begins to start on his own dislike for the Fiers by rousing the others to force them out of the group. He has heard John talk about being cursed and their most recent scout has not come back with food or any news, claiming he has been killed by the Shawnee due to the curse.

Weak with hunger and being easily influenced 18th century pioneers, the others start to agree with Lucien. A fight between the two men with John holding tight to his rifle results in the poor man shooting his own wife! Dora Mae dies in her husband's arms and the wagons head on with the Fiers still allowed as part of the group. Only because by coincidence, the scout returned at that exact moment to say that he at least found water.

Days roll by and John Fier has gone crazy, talking to his wife as if she were right beside him and not dead and buried on the trail behind. One night when they stop, Jamie goes off into the woods alone to contemplate how he can kill Lucien Goode when he finds that Amanda has followed after him with words of warning.

Her father is saying they should abandon Jamie and his father to the wilderness which only makes him even more furious. Amanda tells Jamie that perhaps if she marries him they will let Jamie stay because she is so in love with him even if he doesn't love her but Jamie will not abandon his father with his slowly fading sanity.

When the axle on the Fier wagon becomes broken, no one will take the Fiers into their wagon even though the wagonmaster asks out of his duty. Amanda pleads with Jamie to come with them but when Laura makes a rude comment to her sister that they wouldn't let "him" in...it severs the last shred of Jamie believing he could find any goodness in the Goodes.

Amanda is a pest but not as bad as her father and sister but if she really loved Jamie, I would think she would stay with him to take care of his dad. It sure would save Jamie from the grief he will encounter once they have been abandoned...

Either madness or realization dawning that his wife is dead, John Fier walks into the woods as Jamie tries to stop him. He hears a howl like that of a wolf and then Jamie finds his father dead on the ground with his throat torn out down to the bone so he runs for his life and ends up being corned and caught by a group of Shawnee men out hunting.

Once back at their camp, they take Jamie to a hut where an old Shawnee woman lives. She shocks Jamie by speaking English and he learns that her name is Withering Woman, born of a White father and a Shawnee woman of this tribe. They are a "lost" Shawnee tribe and their chief, Running Elk, has brought Jamie here because of his eyes...blue-silver eyes like that of a wolf.

It is said that a boy with eyes like the wolf will help their tribe find the buffalo to make them strong once again First, Jamie has to prove his worth by running a warrior gamut where basically the throw tomahawks at him and lash at him with sticks and if he impresses them enough to earn enough votes...he will be excepted into the tribe.

If not...he will be killed if they don't scalp him first. Withering Woman urges Jamie to harness the power of the wolf to survive but something else drives Jamie to win...a Shawnee maiden named Whispering Wind. He sees her in the crowd and even though she finds him strange and funny...Jamie is determined to have her and impress her.

He is a seventeen year old boy...his brain is only doing half of the thinking.

Jamie is, of course, accepted into the tribe but Jamie wonders how long they will let him live when days pass and Jamie can not find any buffalo. Telling Withering Woman that all he can think about is marrying Whispering Wind even if it means his life is in danger, she tells Jamie that she can cast a spell that will make her love him and choose him as her husband.

Jamie agrees to anything even if it means letting the woman have his soul...

So after drinking a potion made with blood and having a wolf tooth tied about his neck during the next full moon, Jamie finds his body changing into that of a wolf! With his new sense of smell, Jamie is able to find the buffalo and bring back the body of one to drop at Running Elk's feet the next morning.

Despite knowing he will now live, Jamie goes to see Withering Woman to find a way to undo the spell but she tells him that there is none. You see, Withering Woman turned Jamie with the hopes that he would be her mate.

There is a lot of matchmaking going wrong in this book because Jamie still wants Whispering Wind and the old woman warns Jamie that if his true love ever sees him in his wolf body...he will stay that way forever.

Jamie now finds that he has a chance at happiness but there are too many enemies against him in love and hate and revenge all on the fate of the moon that hangs up in the night sky...

Everything after that leading up to the ending is a thrill a minute but I honestly...don't enjoy the payoff. Heart of The Hunter is still a joy to read as it gives off those Ginger Snaps Back vibes and I love that whole franchise but this lacked some...bite, you could say.


Profile Image for Becky.
132 reviews28 followers
April 20, 2015
[Jaime Fier has lycanthropy.]

Press ENTER to size up the situation.


If The Werewolf of Fever Swamp was my gateway drug to the concept of werewolves, this book cemented the interest. I remember this book in the school library - shoved in the little rack of Goosebumps and Fear Street books that contained at least 50 of its kin - and how the cover of the book enticed me. I read this book, finished it, gazed upwards into the sky, clenched a fist, and said thoughtfully to myself "werewolves are awesome".

Because of this, I have a really silly soft spot for this book, just a tiny pulpy horror novel that's one of hundreds of Fear Street novels that exist, and it's one of those rare books where I dare not read again because I know it won't be like when I first read it.

"So why give it four stars if you don't actually know how good it is?" Yes, it's been a long time since I read this book (I was eleven when I read this, over a decade ago), but I still remember most of the plot points so vividly.
And that's the best word to describe this book: vivid.

This is no grade school Goosebumps novel; the werewolf transformation scenes (complete with bones cracking, muscles tearing, and hair ripping out - all that fun stuff) and the werewolf attack scenes that follow with throats torn out and luckless humans left to bleed to death are gruesome, bloody, horrific, and man I loved it.

Heart of the Hunter takes place in 1792, as settlers hitch up their wagons and leave Virginia to flee starvation and find sunnier pastures out west. Jaime Fier, our main protagonist/wolf-to-be, is one of these settlers, and boy does life throw some really rotten curveballs at him. Most of the other settlers on the trail mistrust him and his family on account of a "curse" (apparently the Fier family is a generational family that appears in quite a few Fear Street novels; this fact was unknown to me when I first read this so I just assumed the settlers were being assholes) and refuse to help them. This one girl from the Goodes family keeps creepily telling him how she's going to marry him despite him being way more interested in her sister, who is pretty much the human version of a ragdoll in terms of health and personality. Basically the goings are pretty rough for these poor varmints.

And soon, mishap after mishap later, the Fier wagon breaks, the other wagons forge on ahead without him, and Jaime Fier and his father are left stranded in the wilderness where they will most assuredly die at the hands of a cruel world that they do not fully understand. So much for Manifest Destiny.

One savage wolf attack later, Jaime is now orphaned and at the mercy of the wilderness. Thankfully, he's then taken under the wing of some Native Americans and he ends up living with them for some time. Guess they're just alright with the whole "stealing their land" thing that's been going on recently. In time, he learns the ways of the tribe and he falls in love with Whispering Wood, the lovely girl on the front cover who, as you might guess, will probably not make it through this book unscathed or with a throat intact.

Jaime Neir wants to win her affections, but he's just not getting through to her despite his white man charms. So he turns to his local medicine woman for advice. The Withering Woman answers his problems by brewing him a potion that will help him win the heart of the woman he loves.

However, this love potion comes with a side effect. In addition to love, this potion also turns him into a wolf every night of the full moon where he is doomed to roam the earth and tear innocent people's throats out and, if his true love sees him in wolf form, he will be trapped in wolf form forever.

I...guess this was a fair trade off?

And so begins the killing, and what happens next is Jaime's downward spiral from someone with really bad luck into something that is slowly turning into a wolf even in human form. He begins to rationalize the killing, to accept it as a part of who he is. He becomes both the main protagonist and the villain of the story, although another villain shows up later. And he ends up catching up with the Goodes (especially the two sisters) and the other settlers and brings his curse with him.

The characters felt a level above the typical R. L. Stine fare. If you've read a Goosebumps or a Fear Street novel before, you will know that the characters can be a little flat, with most of their personality coming from their physical descriptions. Literally the only Goosebumps character I can pin a name to is Slappy the sentient ventriloquist dummy. And I won't lie; there are some flat characters in this book, with Whispering Wood in particular feeling like a non-character.

However, the love-crazy Goode sister (who goes to some really disturbing lengths to win Jaime's heart) and Jaime possess shades of grey I don't often see in the Fear Street novels and I commend them for it. These characters stuck out as characters. It only took about several hundred books for R. L. Stine (or one of his many ghostwriters) to get this far.

Looking back, there are some problems with this book. I will address the white elephant in the room and say that there is a degree of casual racism when dealing with the Native Americans in this book in that they feel more like the cartoon version of "Native American" rather than an actual tribe that would exist. Typical of Fear Street novels, explanation as to why a love potion can also cause lycanthropy is never given.

However, I feel that the twist ending (typical of R. L. Stine, there is a "stinger" that basically makes everything worse) and the manifestation of the love triangle revenge plot that almost matches the werewolf maulings in savagery in this historical werewolf mini-novel totally made up for it.

Not an amazing book by any means, but its importance on my developing interests and the fun I had reading it makes it stand out nonetheless. Basically, if you're on the market for a quick little story on werewolves in a historical era and don't mind some minor problems in terms of racial sensitivity, you won't be disappointed with this.
65 reviews
July 22, 2021
Reading and re-reading some of the R.L. Stine's fear street sagas after hearing about the movies on Netflix.

This book is about Jamie Fier who loves a woman and uses supernatural means to obtain that woman. Later, he tries to use the same supernatural means to get revenge on a family that caused his parents' downfall. The story reveals how "true love" is not all like Disney's happily ever after and how revenge can cause the downfall of the person who is exacting it.

I remember reading some of these books during the night as a kid. As an adult, it still has that draw to make you want to read it in one sitting. However, I realize it may not be to everyone's taste. Some adults can go back to their childhood's haunts and enjoy the story all over again; some not. For young adult readers, I would say give it a try if you are into the genre. For adults who are new to R. L. Stine's books or just heard about them from kid's shows, I would just give them a try--even if it is just to screen for your kids. You might surprise yourself
Profile Image for Tehnehn Kaijaah Edwards.
343 reviews5 followers
October 10, 2022
I wanted a quick and easy read and that is what I got. I became enthralled with the Fear Street Sagas about 3 years ago and read the first 3 books in days. I really enjoyed the story of the Fier's and the Goodes. After the first three books the quality of each book that followed varied in quality. Some are very good, some not so much, and others are just okay. Heart of the Hunter is better than Dance of Death, introducing us to more descendants of the original members introduced in the first three books. Although it lacks in the imagination department, it gains points for introducing something different to the saga. Jamie Fier gives up his "soul" for the love of the one called Whispering Wind, and in doing so he becomes a monster. As always there is a Fier or Goode hellbent on revenge for the wrong that they do to each other. Jamie is not the most likable Fier, or the most memorable but his descent into wolfdom sure is interesting. If you are a fan of the Fear Street books then I recommend this book, if not skip it.
Profile Image for Samantha Dupree.
505 reviews10 followers
July 7, 2023
Is it problematic? Sure. Is it silly? Also, sure.

But when I tell you I jumped at the chance to read this because of one thing: this book has haunted me since I was a child.

I have had the plot of this book, specifically the twist ending, stuck in my head for DECADES. I could remember reading it! I could remember being gobsmacked by the ending! I read it IN CHURCH as a child!! But I could not remember the author OR the title which made tracking it down nearly impossible.

But then I read the og fear street trilogy and saw this recommended and lost my mind. Sure, it's not as scary as I remember and it is very very silly but whatever, it was a quick fun read with a cool ending.
And it reminded me of the Fear Street Cheerleader books which I remembered I also devoured with a passion so brb, gonna go reread those now...
Profile Image for Khurshid Ali.
843 reviews1 follower
July 22, 2023
I have become a fan of R L Stine.

Are you a lover of werewolf stories
Are you a lover of the Fier Family
Then this is a definite must read. I loved this book.

A tragic death of his family lead Jamie Fier to be captured by Shawnee Indians.
A fated love creates a chain of events leading Jamie to the Goodes to enact revenge.

Listen to the legend of the Indians.
Listen to the story of a love between a werewolf and a person - A story where wanting true love asks for a soul
Listen to the story of Crimson Falls.

Remember the curse that follows the Fears
A curse that cant be stopped or contained.

Profile Image for Joshua.
192 reviews2 followers
October 16, 2025
Other than a few mediocre book in the series, this isnt one of those. The series is actually really good and still holds up all these years later. Even though these are ghostwritten, you can definitely tell Stine did not write this book, specifically.
The only thing that annoyed me about this book was the curse being if the wolf was seen by someone that loves them then they would be trapped forever. Kinda silly because it 1) pretty much tells you what will happen and 2)It would make more sense to have the curse be opposite-if the wolf is in love with someone and that person sees the wolf in his true form then he would be trapped.
Profile Image for Tabitha.
224 reviews1 follower
August 1, 2025
3.5 stars - Jamie loses both of his parents while traveling with a covered wagon caravan, but he is taken in by a Native American tribe where he has to prove his worth. He ends up undergoing a transformation and sets off on a mission to target the man that he blames for his parents' deaths. Another Fier vs. Goode showdown.

"I'm getting too old for this. She needs a husband who can carry her to her room every time she faints. You have my blessing.” - Mr. Goode has no problem handing over his daughter of weak constitution. 😂
Profile Image for Leander.
217 reviews5 followers
January 25, 2019
True love.
We've often heard that true love is liberating, but Stine has other ideas.
True love dooms a person to a lifetime of imprisonment.
I hated Goode's from the beginning, and maybe I felt a bit of pity for them towards the end, but the end itself made me hate the last surviving member of their family.
True love.
Have to be on the lookout for it I guess, so I can push her into the Crimson falls, exactly what Jamie couldn't do. :P
Profile Image for Amber "Epp".
1,134 reviews63 followers
June 4, 2017
I think I liked the Fear Saga more than just plain old fear street the series just had more to it for me .... I really loved all the twisted tales from this series so much fun

I had an absolute blast reading all of these again in 2013 .... :)
Profile Image for Chelsea.
2,096 reviews63 followers
December 26, 2018
Meh. The Oregon Trail with werewolves? Once again, bizarre pacing that had what could have been a cool plot but was so bogged down with red herrings and false clues that it was too watered down. A romance plot that never felt genuine paired with this werewolf stuff...it was a pile of garbage.
22 reviews
October 20, 2019
Love this book. I've read it multiple times and the ending is very fitting. I would describe it as a bit of unintended but perfectly satisfying revenge against the vengeful.
Profile Image for sarah sanchez.
30 reviews
December 13, 2019
Half ways i was bored but towards the end i started getting the hang of it. It was interesting and twisted. Slightly predictive.
Profile Image for Tarissa.
1,584 reviews83 followers
April 27, 2021
An interesting Indian legend about wolf... coming true. A boy seeking revenge on those who preyed upon his family... by a twist of fate. Not truly scary, but a fun read.
Profile Image for Bayleigh Phillips.
51 reviews1 follower
June 3, 2023
Really enjoyed this little book! Such a good read! Not worthy of 5 stars but a good book!
Profile Image for Kari Hill.
10 reviews
August 29, 2023
One of my favorites from RL Stine and i finished it for a second time a while ago
39 reviews1 follower
October 11, 2023
I am well into my 30s. I wouldn't have thought, at my age, I would still be reading an R.L. Stine book. But this was in my library, and I wanted to clear my library, and thus read it.

As it is a saga, pre-knowledge would have been useful, but definitely not needed. This is the 9th book in the series, and I am glad I can read it as a standalone as I only have this book in possession; I do not have the whole series.

It's an easy book to read. The suspense kept you going and I love the twist at the end. Honestly, I wouldn't have expected anything less from R.L. Stine. Yes, I grew up reading his books (20 years ago?) and I have loved it then.

I suppose from the cover illustration you can tell what the story is about. But still, it's an excitable read if you are looking for really easy cheap thrills. Also, I guess it depends on your age and your preferences, in terms of book genres. But yes, I would recommend reading his books. He is R.L Stine!

Fun Fact: I was googling a bit on the book and I came upon an article: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/fear-s....

I did watch the Netflix's Fear Street saga '1994' and '1976' but didn't finish '1666'. It totally didn't register that the book I read supposedly inspired the Netflix movies because they have different plots... Again, I didn't watch '1666', and also I didn't read the whole saga. There are 16 books in this series alone. But they did use the same character names Fier and Goode. So that was very interesting.
Profile Image for Shannon.
1,111 reviews51 followers
November 13, 2016
This was extremely slow at first. The part of the story that took place with the Native Americans was super boring. It wasn’t until the love potion came into play that I started to get more interested in what was happening. I wanted to feel bad for Jamie, but he made some really stupid decisions. Like, he’s so obsessed with this girl in the tribe that he barely blinks an eye when he hears that he’d have to go through with this sketchy ritual. If that was me, I’d want to know exactly what price I’d have to pay and all the specifics of this deal I was making. But no, Jamie just goes ahead with it and then gets all angry when it turns out that he got what he ultimately wanted but also ended up getting screwed over in another way.

The ending totally made up for the things I didn’t like about this book. It turned out to be much darker than I was expecting it to be. .
Profile Image for Catastrophe Queen.
1,700 reviews
May 15, 2014
I love reading about the feud between the Fears and Goodes. I knew this wasn't going to end well for Jamie because he was hell bent on exacting revenge upon his enemies (and that never works out in the end). Poor Jamie.
Profile Image for Brittany.
1,195 reviews28 followers
December 31, 2017
I read this book while in middle school. I was a HUGE R.L. Stine fan and like most of his other books, I couldn't put it down.
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