The Manhattan Hunt Club - Hardcover

In Manhattan Hunt Club John Saul plumbs the depths of the Manhattan underground--the network of subway tunnels and secret caverns and chambers where the homeless denizens of the city have created their own society. It's a world Jeff Converse, a young college student convicted of a crime he didn't commit, never knew existed until he is plunged into it after an "accident" that occurs while he is being transported to prison. He soon realizes that it's no accident, but the opening move in a deadly game being played by some of the city's most powerful men and women, a game in which he is the prey and they are the hunters. Jeff's only chance to make it to the surface and survive lies in allying himself with a homicidal maniac who's appointed himself the young man's protector, but whose designs on Jeff are almost as lethal as those of his enemies in the Manhattan Hunt Club.

Saul made his reputation in the horror genre, but he now focuses on psychological terrors rather than things that go bump in the night. His narrative gifts are displayed to great advantage in this heart-stopping thriller; the pacing is flawless and the central characters are very well developed. What keeps this from living up to its fullest potential is the inadequate motivation of the villains, who are largely one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. But that won't keep this otherwise topnotch thriller off the bestseller lists, where Saul (Nightshade, The Right Hand of Evil), like Stephen King, is a perennial contender for the number one spot. --Jane Adams

Performed by Lee Meriwether
Four cassettes, 6 hours
When twenty-one year old NYU student Jeff Converse is convicted of a brutal rape and murder that he did not commit, his nightmare has just begun. Instead of being taken to prison, he is abducted and left in the dark network of tunnels that exist beneath Manhattan. Jeff is at the mercy of the secret society that controls this underground hell-the Manhattan Hunt Club, an exclusive club near Wall Street whose membership includes many of the city's political and financial elite.
Bored with conventional sport, these members now pursue a much more challenging species of game. With a vicious killer as his only ally, Jeff quickly learns the simple rules to the game he has unwittingly begun to play: he will be turned loose in the tunnels and then hunted. If he reaches the surface, he is free. But if he's found, he faces a grisly death.
With this chilling descent into new depths of darkness, John Saul soars to new heights of suspenseful storytelling.