The Hunted a fast paced misadventure that unfolds in Africa. Roz Nay’s descriptive style of writing and injections of travel trivia grabbed my interest from the first chapter. You will not bet rushing to stay in a hostel or cultivating travel friendships anytime soon after finishing this book. The characters all carry their own “baggage” that is slowly unpacked and leads to unexpected twists in the storyline.
Many Thanks to Roz Nay, Simon & Schuster Canada, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Where do I start? With a tile like “the Hunted”, this book is everything you’d expect it to be - and more.

Creepy, claustrophobic, obsessive - the atmosphere in this book is so thick and cloying that it can’t help but stick with you, hours after you put the book down. The author brilliantly applies devices like the ‘Hitchcockian’ train with no other passengers and the incredibly vivid strangeness of the remotest reaches of Africa, wild with animals screeching in the “oil-deep blackness”, to islands accessible only by creaky rustic boats, captained by taciturn strangers.

It all adds up to one of the most darkly delicious and compelling settings for a book that I have read in some time.

And as for the characters, the story revolves around two couples , who although on the surface at first seem relatively transparent, are of course, anything but.

Stevie, (blond Scandinavian, struggling with her past)
Jacob, (Stevie’s sensitive, soulful boyfriend and protector)
Tamsin, (a beautiful girl who loves and is “best friends with her life”)
Leo, (movie-star handsome, strange and as we learn, hiding something ).

The chemistry between the couples and the tight and tense plotting that follows leads to a wild and twisty ride, no spoiler here, you will need to read the book to uncover the details. Enough to say that each of their lives is changed forever by the events that transpire.

I also loved the authors wonderful turn of phrase. Here are a few of my absolute favorites:

“Blood begins to fizz in my head like a foam”

“Soft rain tapping at the windowpanes like the ghosts of old fingertips”

“Noise hits me like the flat blade of a shovel”

“I squeezed myself into an easier shape for him.”

And finally:

“But there’s something else in the memory, something darker that’s starting to rise now, like some kind of monster creeping out of a cave”

I love, loved this book.

5 “bright, bright, burning bright” stars, and i can’t wait to read more from this author.

A very big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher,Simon and Schuster Canada, and the author, Roz Nay, for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented here are my own.

This was one of those holy shit reads. I absolutely did not see that crazy ending at all, something I love it of a book, the crazy twists, the plot, well developed characters, I've absolutely loved everything roz has written and the Hunted definitely lived up to my expectations.
Told in dual pov we follow Stevie who's lost a lot, a best friend and her grandmother, traveling to Africa with her boyfriend who is taking on a new job. As soon as they get there Stevie begins to have some major things happen that trigger her past and put her on high alert.
Then we have Leo a total creeper who we learn to love, who is hiding secrets from his past. He started a game with his girlfriend Tasmin, but how far will they let the game go.

It seems everyone is hiding secrets, but the motives for those secrets are different for everyone evolved, but when the secrets start coming to the surface things begin to get a little crazy.

Will be posting to my linked accounts closer to publication date

I wish to extend my thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Ca. for an early electronic copy of The Hunted in return for an honest review. I first became aware of this book from a mailing from CBC in descriptions of 53 upcoming books by Canadian authors. I made a shortlist of the ones I was hoping to read and The Hunted among them. I was happy to receive my request.

I regret to say it didn't live up to my expectations, but I think it will appeal to many readers. It had everything I should enjoy in a thriller, but I could not connect with the characters. I found them emotionally unstable or devious and not at all likeable. The setting in Kenya and the journey through Tanzania were familiar to me, and then there was an exotic island off the African coast. There was a damsel in distress and a crazed stalker. It sounded exactly like my type of story.

Once on the island, the atmosphere becomes menacing. There are dark, disturbing secrets, false identity, misunderstanding of others' behaviour and motives, thefts, snooping in personal property, sabotage of equipment and communication, violence, fear, and deaths.

Stevie reluctantly agrees to accompany her longtime boyfriend, Jacob, to the remote island of Rafki, where he is to work as a diver for GoEco. She is mourning her grandmother's recent death and a friend who died in her presence when both were teenagers. She is in a fragile emotional state, has nightmares and panic attacks. She is constantly worried and discontent. She is growing distant from Jacob, who shows patience with her and understanding of her black moods. I knew I should have been sympathetic but found her annoying.

The story is told from the perspectives of Leo and Stevie. They describe the events in separate chapters. Both are introspective when relating their pasts from their own points of view.

Early in the journey, she is uneasy as she thought an intruder was watching her while she was asleep in her hotel room. Later, she and Jacob meet a gorgeous and friendly couple, Leo and Tamsin. She suspects they are following them to their island destination, but Jacob dismisses her concerns as a mere coincidence.

Stevie reasonably believes that Leo is a deranged stalker. He knows too much about her and is obsessed with her. She becomes friends with Leo's girlfriend, Tamsin, and finds she is attracted to her. Jacob finds Leo's behaviour towards Stevie creepy. There is sure to be some violence, with tension rising among the small group of volunteers and the diving camp manager. Suspicion and danger grow at an alarming rate.

I believe many will enjoy this character-driven psychological thriller set on an African island.