Hunted Past Reason

by Richard Matheson

Book Overview

From the master of suspense comes this gripping tale of madness and murder. As two old friends hike toward a remote cabin, the deeper they go into the wilderness causes the tension between them to rise--until the simmering hostility erupts into a struggle for survival.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765345080
• ISBN13: 9780765345080
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Gripping, even if not exactly entertaining

I've just recently been reading Matheson. I read "I am Legend" and a collection of other short stories. I'm hooked. So I picked this up not knowing what to expect from the book, but sure that it would be good. It was very good, depending on your definition of good. If you want a book that will make you feel good or be entertaining in a light-hearted way, this is not for you. I was amazed at the way it pulled me in, even though not a lot happened for the first fifty pages or more. I stayed up late reading it and then I couldn't sleep because of how tense I was from the build-up. In a way, my experience reading it was similar to the experience of Bob, the protagonist. I started out optimistic, looking for a good time. I found myself getting more and more uncomfortable and tense, unable to go back, with only the option of going forward. Then a determination set in to finish this thing and reach the end (as another reviewer pointed out), just to get it over with. I admire the writing, but wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

Have Respect

Mr. Matheson has reliably pumped out quality work after quality work, and the first time he slips a bit, hordes of Judases defecate out of their mouths. Or keyboards. Anyway, all of you traitorous clods who feel the need to lambast this great luminary of the fantasy genre should just keep your big mouths shut. He's an old man, for Christ's sake. Let people buy his book, even if it is bad. He has entertained legions of fickle dullards for decades. He has earned the right to sell dud books to those who don't know any better. This man is a genius and an icon. I don't care if he writes a musical comedy on the childhood of Hitler, I will always love Richard Matheson, no matter what. A single I Am Legend or The Incredible Shrinking Man justifies a career of tripe, although Mr. Matheson's body of work is far from tripe. Indeed, it is nonpareil. Have some respect.

Far Fetched in Parts and a Bit Dim-witted Main Character But Still a Great can't Put Down Thriller

Richard Matheson is the master of the normal guy suddenly plunged into a terrifying situation thriller. Matheson has written many classics with this formula such as Duel (a truck driver takes road rage to a new level), The Shrinking Man (normal everyday guy starts and keeps shrinking having to battle redback spiders and other obstacles as he gets smaller and smaller) and of course the classic I Am Legend (everyday guy finds he may be the last man on earth and if this is not enough must constantly repair his house for the nightly attacks by his vampire neighbours). The problem with Hunted Past Reason is that the main hero Bob is a little bit below the intelligence and averageness of your everyday guy and most readers following his terror trip would be thinking, why the f would you do that Bob and not the much more common sense thing? However there are below average intelligence people in this world so if you can accept Bob is one of these you'll enjoy this thriller story ride a lot more! Bob isn't the most likeable character either but Matheson lead characters seldom are (except when they are turned into movie characters). What is a bit hard to take though and the main reason I don't rate this five stars is the wildlife encounters, if these were realistic Bob wouldn't have lasted long enough to worry about Doug catching up with him. Matheson has written a fair bit of Scifi in his days and I don't know, guess in his mind he needed to include these could be in a children's picture book scenes in this novel. I also wondered if there was a regular ferry service, where all the other hikers were? And surely Doug being familiar with this area would have factored this into his decision on giving Bob a three hour start. The other detrimental factor of this book is that Bob occasionally tells the reader that he survives by saying things like looking back on that now I don't know where I got the strength from. But to be fair to Matheson most people would rate Deliverance by James Dickey as the benchmark of this genre and it should be pointed out that he did the exact same thing. Hunted Past Reason is the terror of the ultimate hunt. A writer named Bob asks a friend who he only ever met up with as a part of a couple but who is now divorced, Doug to take him on a four or five day hike (Matheson calls this backpacking) through the wilderness to Doug's remote cabin where they will meet up with Bob's wife Marian. From the start the unfit and wilderness smart Bob begins to pick up the vibe that Doug is jealous of his family and career success, this opinion in Bob's mind turns into maybe it's resentment, then does he blame me for his failures, Bob is never quite sure, even when Doug's moves from just paying him out or being annoyed to verbal hostility. Even when Doug tells Bob that he brought him with him to kill him as they fall asleep one night Bob still naively thinks his friend will take him to the cabin. It is only after Bob is tied to a pole and br

Absolute terror that will have you squirming!

As some of the reviewers have pointed out, this book borrows a little for Most Dangerous Game and Deliverance. Bob, a novelist, decides he wants to write a book on backpacking. An acquaintance of his named Doug, who happens to be a "serious" backpacker, suggests that the only way to write a convincing novel is to try backpacking yourself. Doug offers to take Bob on a backpacking excursion. Bob accepts the offer.The idea is to hike through total "wilderness" for about 4 days in order to reach a cabin in the woods where Bob's wife will wait for them. Bob, knowing absolutely nothing about backpacking, and very little about Doug for that matter, lets his wife Marion drive them to a deserted spot where they can set off and meet Marion 4 days later at the cabin.Almost from the start Doug seems to be quite bad with Bob, treating him with a superior attitude and constantly belittling his lack of knowledge for survival in the wilderness. Almost immediately Bob starts to realize that there is something deeply wrong with Doug but he is now totally dependent on Bob to survive the 4 days and make it back to civilization. Therefore, Bob has to constantly button his lip and just take whatever abuse that Doug lays on him from losing him in the woods and verbally abusing him.The longer they go on Bob realizes that Doug has some serious psychological issues where he hates the world and seems to blame Bob for all his troubles in life. It won't be long before Doug goes over the edge and Bob will be involved in a "life and death" struggle with Doug.Because of the reality of this book, it scarred me beyond reason! Anyone of us could be thrust in a similar situation. No matter what our convictions are we may find ourselves pushed to a point where we will go beyond our normal morals to survive. It is frightening to think this could ever happen to us and we can only pray that it doesn't.While reading the book at the beginning I was wondering why someone would undertake to go on a 4-day hike with no experience and with someone you know very little about. Especially, without first getting into shape (Bob appears to be a couch potato). I would maybe go for a day at most, if I had been Bob.Matheson outdoes himself with this book that is really impossible to put down and you also start to wonder how Matheson could have conceived of the situation without a real point of reference. Also, the depth of information on backpacking is so well researched it is worth reading the book just for that.

A Return To Greatness For Richard Matheson

Many readers, myself included, have been disappointed by Richard Matheson's recent output of fiction....When I heard that a new novel by Richard Matheson was coming, I was excited about it. Rest assured, Hunted Past Reason is Richard Matheson at his best. I found it reminded me most of Hell House, in the way in was structured and the bleak tone of the book... I give Hunted Past Reason my highest recommendation. Richard Matheson is back with one of his finest novels yet. And that, my friends, is just about as good as fiction gets.