Lescroart, John – THE HUNT CLUB

[LJ Roberts]

THE HUNT CLUB (Private Investigator-San Francisco-Cont) – G Lescroart,
John – Standalone
Dutton, 2006- Hardcover

Wyatt Hunt began his career with Child Protective Services but has moved on to private investigation. A federal judge and a young woman have been murdered at the judge’s home. A beautiful journalist, Andrea Parisi, in whom Wyatt is interested, has disappeared. Who is the dead woman, what is the motive and where is Andrea. Wyatt and members of his team, The Hunt Club, are determined to find out, sometimes to the consternation of Wyatt’s friend, homicide inspector Devin Juhle.

This book started out really well for me but then kind of fell apart. There were too many characters and too many similar names, and other than Wyatt, I didn’t feel I’d gotten to know any of them well. I like good twists in a plot, but the route the story finally took didn’t convince me. It wasn’t that the motive was completely implausible, but the person behind the motive seemed implausible. Some authors set books in the Bay Area and make the unique microclimates a almost another character. Lescroart didn’t give me a strong sense of place. In fact, I had to remind myself the story is set where I live. It’s a good airplane book, but didn’t make me a huge fan of the author.