thehunted The Hunted
by Mike Dellosso

Joe Saunders returns to his childhood home in Dark Hills to join the search party for his missing nephew, Caleb. When Caleb is found badly injured, news of the boy’s wounds are linked to some ferocious animal at large. Soon folks around town report seeing an African lion on the loose. The police are not amused with this possibility since Dark Hills is located in Pennsylvania, USA.

Joe knows something attacked his nephew and he’s determined to hunt it down. He hooks up with Chief Maggie Gill, who also happens to be the love of his life. Fifteen years ago, he left Maggie hanging without a word. The closer Joe and Maggie  work together to get to the bottom of this strange animal in their midst, the more they both struggle with buried feelings. Maggie in particular must decide whether she needs to keep Joe in the loop when she realizes the animal attacks are related to a dark secret in her family.

As more people are killed by this mysterious “lion”, Joe seeks the truth despite Maggie’s sudden closed-mouth attitude. In the midst of his truth-seeking mission, Joe must rediscover his faith so he’s able to battle forces that are beyond the naked eye.

Mike Dellosso has been described as the next Frank Peretti or Stephen King. I have to say I totally agree. Not only is this debut author’s storytelling skills worthy in comparison to the masters, but I suspect this is just the beginning of an awesome career.

The Hunted is a well-crafted suspense thriller that offers an interesting mix of plot and character development. There’s definitely plenty of action, but Dellosso takes time to explore spiritual themes in particular the horrific costs related to deploying revenge. There’s an amazing amount of detail and imagination intertwined in this story. This book is considered a thriller so there are some graphical moments that may make the reader cringe.  This is definitely a book you might want to read during the daytime if you are a little worried about being bothered by vivid imagery. I loved the story premise and Dellosso kept the tension tight right up to the very end.

Reviewed by Tyora Moody