THE HUNTER AND THE TRAP

by Howard Fast ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 6, 1967

Mr. Fast manages one fresh notion in these two novelettes. The Hunter is a terribly recognizable character, a world famous writer who lives for the ""moments of passion"" in the hunt, now experiencing a triumphant return to New York. This is narrated by his Boswell who greets him at the airport and staggers through the next twenty-four hours as they go drinking. ""God,"" Andrew Bell plans a party that is a social climax. Given at the Carlyle where ""Jack"" had once held a suite, it hosts the beautiful people who fly in from all directions. But the next day, amidst various and sundry hangovers. Bell announces that he is being hunted. By Whom? For What? It all goes to prove that those who live by the sword...The Trap, on the other hand, starts out with a fascinating hypothesis as Harry, a soldier recovering from WW II injuries, is dispatched by his scientist sister to study reports of one child raised by wolves in India and one raised by baboons in Africa. The sister suppositions that if these children became subhuman because of their environment, might we not have some super-human types stultifying in the traditional norms of society. So she takes forty little genius' and sets up a secretive controlled environment where the tots can blossom. Which they do to the usual astonishing fantasy level (telepaths etc.) but it all sounds suspiciously like Haight-Asbury. Both stories do have that sort of slick readability.

Pub Date: Nov. 6, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1967

Categories: FICTION