BarbsBooks

3.5 Stars

Drew Edwards finds himself in an unreal situation. He’s been kidnapped off the street and is going to be hunted. Thankfully, Chance Collins finds the situation just as unrealistic. Apparently Chance’s father has been kidnapping men, who all happen to be gay, and hunting them for sport. This doesn’t sit well with Chance who happens to be gay himself. That Chance’s father also expects Chance to be the one to hunt and kill Drew is almost too much for Chance to handle. After a few days of listening to Drew talk about his family and his life Chance makes up his mind. Drew is released and told he has a six hour head start. Of course, this is a lie. He doesn’t have that long til Chance is sent after him. He is also unaware Chance has been beaten because his father suspects he is gay and is trying to teach him how that’s wrong. Chance has til the next morning to return to the cabin with Drew’s severed hand as proof of his murder.

Chance has no intentions of remaining under his father’s psychotic thumb any longer. His goal is now to find Drew and do his best to ensure the both of them make it out of the mountains alive. This is easier said than done. His father, who is himself an officer in the military, also has help from an accomplished tracker. Drew isn’t even sure he wants to trust Chance. Eventually he does and sees the man behind the psycho who has shaped so much of his life. Drew also sees someone he’d like to spend some time with. Some time not trying to escape death. Together they realize they are their only chance at life.

Okay, I’ll say right now this book stretched the bounds of believability for me. I liked both Chance and Drew and actually found their relationship to be plausible. They both suspected it couldn’t be. I would have found one of them to be insane had they thought right from the start that what they had could really work while Chance was holding Drew hostage. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. That was well done. It was Chance’s father I just couldn’t get over. For me, instead of a believable baddie he came across as almost cartoonish in his overt badness. He wasn’t a main character but was still quite significant in terms of plot and character development for Chance. Having said that, I do think there are people crazy enough to kidnap then hunt and kill their victims. Despite not accepting one character I definitely felt there were aspects of the book that were both plausible and quite chilling.
Ultimately, I liked this book more than I expected. The writing was good, and I found I kept wanting to read. I did finish in one sitting despite scoffing a bit at the one character I couldn’t accept. It ends up being a charming story with a bit of an opposites attract kind of vibe. Chance and Drew made it work.

Faye's review can also be found at
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