The Hunt Club by Bret Lott caught my attention because I had previously enjoyed Jewel by the same author. I went into this book expecting another engaging, character-driven story. However, what I found was something very different—especially given how the novel begins.

A Murder Mystery That Forgets Its Own Murder

The story opens with a genuinely intriguing setup. Teenager Huger and his Uncle Leland — known as Unc — stumble upon a murder scene at Leland’s hunt club. A plastic surgeon named Charles Middleton Simons has been shot and killed, with a cardboard sign nearby claiming his wife was the killer. It sounds like the beginning of a gripping mystery, right?

However, that’s where the mystery pretty much ends. Instead of an investigation into the murder, the story shifts to Huger and Unc being pursued by members of the Hungry Neck Hunt Club, who are pressuring Unc to sell his property to developers. No one seems particularly concerned that a man was murdered. No one is hunting down the killer. Even though a handwritten sign names the wife as the suspect, there’s no police investigation, no questioning, nothing. We even learn fairly early on that the wife didn’t actually do it — and still, nothing happens with that revelation.

It felt like the murder was just a prop to get the story moving, and then it got completely abandoned.

Too Much Detail, Not Enough Story

One of my biggest frustrations with The Hunt Club is the pacing. The story follows Huger and Unc as they try to escape the people after them, but the scenes drag on far too long. Huger only has his driver’s permit, and there are extended passages detailing his driving routes — the specific roads, the stores they pass, the turns he makes. That level of detail might work in some books, but here it just felt like filler. None of it moved the story forward or told me anything meaningful about the characters.

I found my mind wandering repeatedly while reading. And the troubling part? When I snapped back to attention, I realized I hadn’t missed anything important. That’s never a good sign.

My Final Thoughts

I really wanted to like The Hunt Club. Bret Lott is clearly a talented writer — Jewel proved that. But this one missed the mark for me entirely. The premise promised a thriller, but instead I got a slow-moving story about a boy and his uncle trying to avoid pushy land buyers, with a forgotten murder tucked in the background.

If you’re a fan of Bret Lott, I’d honestly suggest skipping this one and picking up Jewel instead. Head over to my Jewel book review if you want to see what Bret Lott can really do. And if you’re looking for a thriller that actually delivers on its setup, The Hunt Club probably isn’t the book for you. I finished it, but I can’t say I’d recommend it.