Hunt Books

You are transported to a highland croft, full of tranquility. Times past imagined before technology moved us into the realms of science fiction. If this is old age, then it is something to look forward to.

Oh, the blessings of being an author with too much time on his hands. I can just picture Ian Rankin sitting in the house (farm? cottage?) he and his wife bought in rural Dordogne, having whizzed through the manuscript for yet another increasingly well-written John Rebus novel and -- having left behind all other employment across the British Channel and neither inclined to carpentry nor gardening -- feeling his mind growing restless, in need of occupation. Now, wouldn't you have started looking for another outlet for your creative energy had you been in his spot?

The result of the aforementioned process, which Rankin describes in the foreword of a 2000 (alas, so far [???] British-only!) compilation uniting all three novels in one volume, were a series of thrillers written under the pseudonym Jack Harvey: Jack for his newborn son, Harvey for his wife's maiden name.

In "Blood Hunt," the last of the three books, fans of Inspector Rebus meet an old acquaintance; George Reeve from the first Rebus novel, "Knots and Crosses." Only here he's the good guy -- well, mostly; because there isn't such a thing as a clean-cut "good guy" in *any* Ian Rankin novel. In any event, "Blood Hunt" introduces us to Reeve's back story; his life as an outdoors survival teacher, and his own memories and nightmares of his service with the SAS -- after we've already gotten a fair share of Rebus's in "Knots and Crosses" -- particularly the Falklands campaign, during which he met the man who would soon turn out to be his biggest nemesis; as much as Reeve will later become a nemesis to Rebus.

Further, we learn that Reeve had a brother; a journalist on the trail of a story centering around a chemical company headquartered in San Diego. When that brother is murdered, Reeve's instincts as a hunter are awakened -- and like a bull terrier he pits himself to the heels of those responsible for the murder and doesn't let go until he has brought them to justice: *his* kind of justice, that is, which isn't necessarily that of the police, but one they understand only too well. The SAS call themselves Nietzsche's gentlemen -- believing in the self-proclaimed amoralist's teachings that the will to power is all that matters and all that controls life; and the novel's conclusion is very much in keeping with that adage.

As a back story to the first Rebus book, "Blood Hunt" works only just so -- while the essential facts are in synch with Reeve's and Rebus's SAS past, to truly click with "Knots and Crosses," this book would have had to be written about a decade earlier, or vice versa, which in turn wouldn't square with the later Rebus books' historical and political references ... you get the picture. Read as a stand-alone, however, this is a tightly-plotted thriller, every bit as violent as the second Jack Harvey novel, "Bleeding Hearts" (there's a reason why blood figures in both books' titles) and, while based on a conspiracy theory that easily dates it as a mid-1990s release, as strong as both "Bleeding Hearts" and the best of the Rebus books on characters and settings (Scotland to San Diego, London, France and back, with -- literally -- a cliffhanger finale on the Outer Hebrides' rough mountainous territory). And then there's that children's rhyme that I don't think I'll ever hear quite the same way I used to ...

Although I'm happy enough for Rankin's success with Inspector Rebus and wouldn't want any story featuring Edinburgh's finest (and most hard-drinking) D.I. missing from my bookcases, in a way I regret that Rankin had to shelve Jack Harvey after only three books. So just in case, Mr. Rankin, in the unlikely event that you should ever resurrect that alter ego (or write another non-Rebus novel under your own name): I promise I'll read that one, too, and probably with just as much pleasure as any of your other books.

Connoisseurs of C-SPAN's Booknotes are familiar with one of the great, and unusual, questions that host Brian Lamb uses : How did so-and-so come to write this cover blurb for the dust jacket of your book ? The genius of this question is that it calls attention to--though, typical of Brian Lamb, he doesn't dwell on it--one of the real scams of the book industry, the fact that the folks who are blurbed frequently have some previous relationship with the author. Someone, it may have been The New Republic, actually used to have a terrific feature where they untangled these relationships. My favorite recurring motif is where the Author's Acknowledgment thanks a person who, we suddenly realize, has not so coincidentally provided an encomium for the cover. Harder to track down, but equally amusing, are the mutual blurbs, where authors' words of praise appear on each other's books.

Now, I'd read Geoffrey Norman's Morgan Hunt series several years ago in paperback, and thoroughly enjoyed it. But had I not, what right-thinking man could resist the blandishments on the back of this hardcover that I found; the authors quoted are : James Hall and Loren D. Estleman, an outstanding thriller writer and the best private eye novelist of his generation respectively; P.J. O'Rourke, one of the funniest political writers going; and not just one but both Buckleys, Christopher and William F., Jr.. I mean, c'mon, even once you realize that Geoffrey Norman is a contributor to National Review (founded by WFB) and Forbes FYI (edited by Christopher) and has written for The American Spectator (once home to PJ), you just aren't likely to ignore that collection of famous fans.

As I said, the books are outstanding irrespective of who endorses them. Morgan Hunt is a former Green Beret and an ex-convict, having killed the man who was physically abusing his sister. He lives in the Florida Panhandle, and the natural world is an integral part of the stories. He's tough but likable, and though he's got a streak of machismo and a fearsome moral code, it's not as if Norman is trying to brainwash unsuspecting readers with conservative dogma.

Blue Chipper might even surprise some folks, who tend to pigeon hole conservatives. The story centers around the exploitation of poor black athletes, in this case a basketball phenom, by scholastic athletic programs and coaches. Norman lives on the Florida Gulf Coast for part of the year, his column for National Review is on sports, and he writes about hunting and the outdoors for Sports Afield. This entry in the series gives him the chance to flex all his muscles, which he does to good effect.

Of course, the other half of the year he spends in the People's Republic of Vermont and you should really be sure to track down his columns on the increasingly frightening politics of the Green Mountain State. They are a hoot.

GRADE : A

Wilhelm Dinesen, father of Karen Dinesen (later Karen Blixen) comitted suicide by hanging himself in Copenhagen at the age of 49 on March 28, 1895, only a few weeks before his second oldest daughter Karen's tenth birthday (April 17).

It is a well-known fact that the death of a parent at a young age, between the age of nine and fourteen in particular, is devestating to a child, and one that often continues to haunt the person for the rest of their life. William Styron is one famous example; his mother died from cancer when he was fourteen, and her death and his unresolved emotions stemming from the grief was partly responsible for the severe depression which came close to driving him to suicide many years later when he was around sixty.

Karen Blixen did not make a secret of how much her father had meant to her or that his death had a profound effect on her, but it was not until she became a writer/story teller that she truly dealt with her emotions. Pain turned into art, as she herself stated.

When reading her father's - in Danish literature - classic "Letters from the Hunt", one is given a marvelous key to Karen Blixen. When I read it (in my native Danish) I was immensely moved by his love of nature, his respect for it, and I was also delighted by his sense of humor. His personality and charm comes across so vividly today, more than a century later that I found myself seeing himself through the eyes of his wife Ingeborg and his daughter Karen, and fully understanding their undying love for him.

A note: Wilhelm most likely had extramarital erotic escapades. They were common and almost expected, and many men contracted various VDs from mistresses or prostitutes, but his love of his wife Ingeborg was by all accounts genuine, depite their different personalities. And: we cannot judge a late 19th century marriage (1881-95) by today's standard. Besides, things have not changed much since then. The only difference now is that both men and women engage in seeking sexual "spice" ouside marriage.

Ingeborg was left with five children to raise (with the help and support of family and household staff), but with her deep Unitarian faith and staying busy with homemaking, she seems to have survived with remarkably few emotional scars, although she was not a person to wear her heart on her sleeve and most likely grieved in private. Karen on the other hand never fully recovered from the loss. Ingeborg knew this and recognized her late husband's spirit and personality in their daughter. (In Blixen's "Letters from Africa" there is a wonderful letter from Ingeborg to Karen's brother Thomas in which she writes of this)

Karen did not search for a father figure in a partner, but for someone who could give her the same gifts that her father had given her when he would take her for walks around Rungstedlund, the garden and woods and meadows surrounding their home of the same name north of Copenhagen.(the area is one of the most beautiful parts of Denmark) He was often away in Parliament, on trips, or hunting with friends, but when he was home, she was clearly his favorite child and the one he felt closest to, despite the fact that he had two sons, Karen's younger brothers, who were mere toddlers at the time.

His writing is that of a natural born writer; it seems to come easy to him (he himself is said not to have thought of writing as more than a hobby). The descriptions of the Danish and Swedish scenery are lyrical and yet wonderfully straightforward, as if he is painting a picture for us. Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen would later paint pictures for her readers of Africa, Denmark, and other places in much the same manner.

Wilhelm Dinesen's respect for the American Indian (he lived for three years in a cabin in Wisconsin and made friends with the native Americans there who named him Boganis (hazelnut - the name he later chose as his author pseudonym), for animals, and his love of women and admiration for soldiers (he fought in several European wars as a young man) are all a joy to read. And in our politically correct times, a note: Yes, he was a hunter, but he was not a reckless, vain, boastful one.

The book (which in fact is comprised of his two collections of Letters from the 1880s and 1890s)) is a beautiful and sublime volume which offers the reader more than just a glimpse into the mind of a remarkable man and a vital key to his daughter Karen who became a world famous writer. He would have been proud.

Karen Blixen found Wilhelm's equal in Denys Finch Hatton (they met in 1918, four years after her arrival to Africa; he died in 1931), and like her father, he too died well before his time, although perhaps Blixen herself, with her strong belief in fate, believed that their time had in fact come?) Fortunately, both of these larger-than-life men live on through Karen's life story and her writing, and for Wilhelm's part, also through his love "Letters" to nature and to life.

A must for anyone with more than a superficial interest in Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen.

Note: I have not read the book in translation, but sincerely hope that his words were not butchered in the process!

One of the best children books I have ever seen! Teaches love and compassion. Highly recommend!

Book Of The Hunt is a great book! It is an important book! I have been involved with the Men's Movement almost since the beginning. I have read Iron John, Fire in the Belly, and probably twenty similar books. I have met Robert Bly. I'm 44 years old and feel like I've seen and done it all. Book Of The Hunt was a whole new beginning for me; it was also the place where I finally knew I had ARRIVED. I am not a hunter, so I was pleased to discover that it really ISN'T about hunting, except in its origins. Any man can incorporate these principles and this razor sharp wisdom into his own life, career, personal relationships, heart and mind instantly. It proved to me that while you may not be able to change the world at large, you can certainly change your world, the world the way you experience and deal with it, and you might just change the rest of the world while doing it. This is real Truth, the kind of straight forward information you can use in the real world. At the same time you may learn just how UNreal the real world is, or was before you read the book. All I want to know is where have these guys been all this time?

Ralph Kohler has hunted waterfowl along the Missouri river for over 75 years. His autobiography is destined to be a classic!
In his own words, Ralph walks his readers through his remarkable life as a champion shooter, champion ballroom dancer
and waterfowler extrodinaire.
Once you read the book you will want to spend a few days in the blind with this fine gentleman. Ralph will be inducted into THE LEGENDS OF THE OUTDOORS hall of fame on August 18 in Nashville TN.

This is a wonderful book that is very useful. It is not directed towards elementary students however. There are one or two activities that seem adaptable to elementary students. However, the most of the activities are really more for middle school and upper elem. students. Well worth the money. It provides a cheap easy to way to demonstrate many of the science lessons you need to teach. There are sections on soil, worms, composting, and more.

Enjoy.

In and out of the sex club; that is all Nikki wants to do. She plans to
deliver new military orders for one of her men, and then she will
quickly leave. But even the best well-laid plans can be changed.
Tonight's change comes in the form of Mack. Mack and Nikki share office
space, and he's played the starring role in her nightly fantasies for
the past six months. Though Nikki has wanted Mack, he is into dominance
and submission, which is just not her bag. What's a woman to do when
offered a weekend of hot, uninhibited sex with her fantasy man? Say
YES! And then try not to lose her heart anymore than she already has.

Mack wants Nikki. He's wanted Nikki for a long time; now he will have
her. Seeing her in the sex club, Mack bites the bullet and offers Nikki
a weekend unlike any other. He is completely surprised and totally
pleased when she says yes. A lot is riding on this weekend; losing his
heart and gaining Nikki's in return.

Bound By Love had me spellbound! This story is completely hot and sexy
from start to finish. Nikki wants Mack but is afraid of stepping into
his world of BDSM, afraid of losing the control on which she keeps a
tight grip. When she decides to take that first step, she realizes that
it's a step well taken. Mack handles her with kid gloves, both of them
learning about the other along the way. If they are honest with
themselves, this is actually a relationship six months in the making.
Mack is scorching hot, and he uses the latent Dom in him to put the
wheels in motion with Nikki while still showing his tender side.
Nikki's startling realization that she cares for Mack hits her
unexpectedly. Bound by Love is a fantastic short story where Nikki
learns that love is not about surrender, but about sharing.

Dee
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

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