The Accidental Hunter

Black Issues Book Review, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Malcolm Venable

The Accidental Hunter by Nelson George Touchstone, February 2005 $13, ISBN 0-743-23552-5

Extortion. Attempted murder. Kidnapping. Ransom. Ordinarily these are building blocks for a great mystery, but in this novel by noted author and cultural critic Nelson George, these blocks aren't enough to keep the house from crumbling. The people inhabiting the pages, including D. Hunter, the hero and security specialist who finds himself guarding a pop princess, seem one-dimensional. They don't evolve, and we don't empathize with them, making it difficult to really know them and in turn to care about them.

Further, too often some pivotal plot point happens without the author making readers fully aware of it.

The book's premise gives it the potential to be engrossing, but its lack of cohesiveness prevents it from developing the kind of suspense that makes a mystery chilling.

Malcolm Venable is a freelance writer in New York City.