Matheson has demonstrated that he can still write an excellent book. With little preamble, we join Doug and Bob as they are dropped off at the woods on a three to four day backpacking trip. All part of some research by Bob for a new book that he is writing; Doug is the expert backpacker providing the in-field research. And as the trip progresses and we get to learn about our characters, we also learn that Doug is not the most well-balanced individual. And after further tribulations, Bob finds himself very much the whipping boy for Doug.

While the idea has been done countless times before (man hunting man in the woods) and while I did find myself waiting a few time for the inevitable final collapse of friendship between the two men, I still found myself pulled into the characters and the events unfolding. Part of the hunt evolves from a disagreement on a philosophy for life but that can only be pulled off if you have believable characters in the first place. And we do have them here. This is a solidly good novel and I'm glad to see a new novel from Matheson as opposed to just reading all the collections of his older material. ( )

A new Richard Matheson novel is a literary happening. Especially when it is his first new novel in seven years. Hunted Past Reason marks the return of the most influential horror writer of the 20th century.

For those new to this grandmaster—How I envy you; oh, to be able to read his works again for the first time!—Richard Matheson is the author of some of the seminal works of horror/dark suspense including I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, Stir of Echoes, Hell House, Bid Time Return, What Dreams May Come, and others. Several of those titles will resonate with movie buffs, as many were made into successful films. But don't just take my word for his skills; Matheson has received the Edgar, Stoker, World Fantasy, Spur, and the Writers Guild Award. Did I mention his work on Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Rod Serling's Night Gallery, and both Nightstalker films? It is not hyperbole to say that without Richard Matheson, there would be no Stephen King or Dean Koontz.

Hunted Past Reason is the story of Bob Hansen, a screenwriter researching his next film, and his friend Doug, an out of work actor and consummate outdoorsman, spending what is suppose to be two days in the California wilderness hiking and camping. The plan is for Doug to share the experience of the outdoors with Bob. He does that and so much more.

Turns out Doug has a criminal past and is insanely jealous of Bob and his success. His writing career, his beautiful wife, his wonderful children. Doug is a struggling actor, a failed husband, the father of a suicide victim. He is also crazy.

Eventually the novel becomes "The Most Dangerous Game" (Richard Connell's classic short story of man vs. man). This is not a bad thing; Matheson is a master of suspense. The tension was there. I was riveted. So much so that I was dreaming the story at night. And let met tell you, they weren't pleasant dreams.

Matheson uses his strengths. Hunted Past Reason is a slim book with a taut, crisp style. Unlike his literary descendant, Stephen King, Matheson's prose has become, if nothing else, leaner as his career has progressed.

Just above him, he saw the ledge he'd picked out when he'd mapped his climbing route before starting out. Thank God, he thought. A chance to rest. He reached up eagerly to pull himself onto the ledge.

Moving too fast, he started losing his balance. "No!" he cried out, panicked, pressing himself against the rock face as tightly as he could, wavering between balance and loss of it. Gasping for breath, he clutched as hard as he could at a rocky outcrop on the ledge. Don't fall, don't fall, he told himself, jamming both feet in their holds as rigidly as he could. Don't fall!

This is a men's adventure novel in the best sense of the word. Is it harsh? Yes. Horrific? In places. Is it well written? Absolutely.

All this leads to the disappointment at the end. Sadly, the ending is every thing you'd come to expect from a lesser writer: Stereotypical and sappy. Matheson really needed to return to his roots and give us a Twilight Zone ending. It's all too clean and pat at the end. I'm almost surprised that it doesn't end with "...and they lived happily ever after." Though it is close.

While flawed, Hunted Past Reason is the best Matheson novel since the Spur award winner Journal of the Gun Years. This is an author at the peak of his skills, who forgot that a great story needs a great ending. Matheson was this close to creating another masterpiece. Hunted Past Reason is what I call a train ride book, a story that has a exciting journey—but when you get where you are going, the station is a disappointment.

(This review originally appeared at RevolutionSF)
Link: [http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.html?id=1203] ( )

From Amazon:

It was supposed to be just an ordinary camping trip, two old friends hiking through the woods of northern California. But this self-enforced isolation exposes long-hidden rivalries and resentments between the men. The deeper they get into the wilderness, far from civilization, the greater the tension becomes–until it erupts into a terrifying life-or-death battle for survival. Two men enter the woods, but only one will emerge alive .

My Thoughts:

I have always found Richard Matheson's books to be well written and have had some redeeming quality to them. This one was really on the fence. It was well written...the plot line was good but there was certainly nothing new in it and pasts of it were unbelievable. Two guys...one initially good, the other bad to the core...a trip to the middle of nowhere...testosterone quickly takes over. Bob was an inexperienced backpacker but he did things later in the book that an experienced backpacker would have had trouble pulling off. Also the wildlife they encountered seemed a little over the top. WARNING: Anyone that wishes to check out this book also needs to be aware that there is a scene of a very graphic rape...can we say "Deliverance"? 2.5 stars would be more accurate. ( )

Avoid like the plague. ( )

Matheson has lost none of his touch. What could have been a simple stalker-in-the-woods story turned, in his hands, into a deep and disturbing meditation on belief, on the troubles between fathers and sons, on the kinds of continuity without which a mind can skitter into sociopathy. Paced perfectly, with complex characterization, realistic third-person omniscient voice, and terse but powerful imagery, this novel could be read as a thriller, but also as a portrait of two characters, one resilient because of strong familial and cultural reinforcing connections and one fragile for lack of them, it is great fiction.

Or as one of the forerunners of the genre that has emerged since September 2001: fear, and violence, as a contagion. ( )