I was hooked from the very start of Canadian writer Roz Nay’s novel The Hunted.
A hand over my mouth wakes me, the skin of it tinny with metal and salt.
…
“Stevie,” he whispers, his voice hoarse. “It’s not safe here. You’re not safe.”
Stevie and Jacob are high school sweethearts who have left their small-town Maine home in search of adventure and respite from the death of Stevie’s grandmother, a loss that meant that she is out of a job and a place to live. Now, at twenty-four, they’ve landed in Africa, where Jacob has taken a job as a dive instructor at GoEco, which is located on an island south of Zanzibar.
Stevie is clearly on tenterhooks and her first few days in Africa do nothing to settle her nerves. Nothing is like it is back home. On her first night at a hostel, another traveler tells her that “You can’t trust anyone.”
Then they meet Leo and Tasmin, a beautiful British couple. We know Leo isn’t to be trusted because he is the other narrator.
They seemed new. Vulnerable. I have to admit, I felt an almost immediate fondness for them both.
It’s interesting to read a cat and mouse thriller when the cat is identified so early on; you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. As the novel moves on, we get to learn a little bit about both Leo and Stevie – seems they both have some carefully guarded secrets.
Although things sort of fell apart for me once the foursome arrived in Rafiki and the machinations seemed a little over-the-top, I still enjoyed the read.
This is my second novel (Our Little Secret) by Nay. I will definitely continue to read what she writes.
The Ludic Reader 