Hunted Past Reason
By Richard Matheson

     Reminiscent of The Most Dangerous Game and Deliverance, the fast moving plot of this story pits two acquaintances against each other in an age-old story of the hunter and the hunted.

     Bob Hansen is an up and coming screenwriter and novelist who wants to experience backpacking firsthand for his newest novel. Doug Crowley is a failed husband and father, as well as an actor on his way to failure...but he is an experienced woodsman. Doug offers to take Bob on a backpacking trip into the wilderness. Bob discovers that he doesn't know Doug at all. It appears that Doug is jealous of Bob's successful marriage and career, and Doug becomes increasingly morose and emotional. The story leads to an unexpected sexual assault and then Doug gives Bob a three hour head start, promising to kill him when he catches up. Bob's inexperience in the woods and Doug's expertise makes for a hair-raising adventure.

     While the story was exciting and hard to put down, I was disappointed in the predictability of the plot line as well as a couple of wildlife encounters that just were not realistic. While this story does not compare with Matheson's I am Legend or Hell House, it does have great characters, and non-stop action. I am still a Matheson fan, and will anxiously await any other books that he writes.