The Hunt: A Decker/Lazarus Novel

Written by Faye Kellerman

Narrated by Mitchell Greenberg

Detective Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus return to Los Angeles when a kidnapping hits close to home—in this breathtaking new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman.

Peter and his partner, Detective Tyler McAdams, are thrown into an unsolved case and propelled into action when a body is found in the very woods where a man previously went missing in upstate New York.

But that’s not the only crisis that Peter has to deal with.

Teresa McLaughlin, the biological mother of Peter and his wife Rina’s foster son, Gabe, has fled to Los Angeles with her two children in tow, hoping to avoid a court injunction amid a messy divorce. But LA is no escape from her problems—she is found by ruthless men and beaten mercilessly. When she wakes, barely conscious, Teresa discovers that both of her children are gone and frantically calls Gabe for help.

With his mother on the verge of death, Gabe contacts Peter and Rina, as well as his biological father, the notorious Christopher Donatti, a former hit man from a known criminal family who’s now a millionaire in Nevada. By bringing Donatti into the fray, Gabe, Peter, and Rina know they have made a deal with the devil—but they may not be able to recover the kids without him.

As these unlikely allies rally to find the kidnappers before things end tragically, they race headlong toward an explosive confrontation from which no one will emerge unscathed...

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Aug 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9780062910523

Faye Kellerman

Faye Kellerman lives with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reviews for The Hunt

[shazjhb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A nice ending to the series. The dialogue in the book is so bad. However it was nice to have things tied up

[northernteacher-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

SPOILERS ahead!! As others have said, disappointing end to quite a good series. Repetitive. Far too horrific bedroom scenes for me. An ending that was too neat but I was glad to finish it.

[lbswiener · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Hunt is a book that spends the majority of the time describing sexual trysts. The author goes back and forth between two different stories. One story is narrated by one of the characters while the other story has a narrator. Consequently, it is difficult to determine what is going on in the story. The stories are not believable. The settings are not believable. The conclusion of the book leaves the door open, if the author wants to write another book. Clearly, though, the author has had enough writing and this was her last book. Only three stars were awarded to this book. This is not one of Faye Kellerman's best stories.

[chasidar_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

SPOILERS BELOW!I've really enjoyed reading the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series, some books were better than others but overall an enjoyable series. Unfortunately this book was awful. The Decker storyline was repetitive and uninteresting. The case (continued from the previous book) just endlessly dragged on with them continually rehashing the same points. Even the resolution of the case was ho-hum. The additional storyline about Gabe's parents was not believable (Terry's waffling about Chris all the time and her almost indifference to Sanjay's kidnapping) and filled with gratuitous and violent sex and rape descriptions, explained away by Chris as that's just who I am. Deal with it. If this really is the final book of the series, it's going out on a very low note.

[judiex · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I have read all the Lazarus & Decker books. This latest book in the series is awful!!!The series began with a lot of input about Rina Lazerus, an orthodox Jewish woman living in Los Angeles, she has been steadily fading out of the story line, reduced to a minor character. That’s a shame because it provided a different outlook than traditional detective stories.THE HUNT offers two and a half plots. Rina and her husband, detective Peter Decker, are planning to move to Israel while he goes on a six-month sabbatical from his position in a small New York State town.One main plot is getting new information on a missing persons case from a previous book after the body of one of the people turns up in a secluded area. Peter would like to resolve the entire case before he leaves.The second plot is about Terry, the biological mother of their foster son, Gabe, who is the victim of a vicious attack during which her five-year-old son is kidnapped. Her eleven-year-old daughter managed to escape. She is in the process of divorcing her ex-husband and father of those children. He lives in India and is a violent man. Terry calls Gabe who calls Peter to try to help her. They get in touch with Terry’s former husband, Chris, a former hit man who now runs a high-class brothel in Nevada. Chris also is a jealous, violent man.The sections about Terry and Chris go overboard with descriptive, violent sex episodes. While Gabe is now an independent adult, Chris is still punishing Terry for having an affair while they were married, more than years previously. (Chris will, as he admits, have sex with anything that has a hole.) He does, however, agree to take care of Terry and her daughter while she heals and do what he can to get her son back.Unsatisfactory story, unsatisfactory ending. Generally well-written with a few interesting parts.

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was really intense, sometimes a deeply unpleasant read, but there were twists and turns beginning to end, and I wanted to know what would happen next. I can't say much without spoilers, but it picks up where the last book left off (thank goodness, it left us hanging). It has a lot more about Donatti and fam than we have ever previously experienced -- hence the unpleasant parts of the read -- be prepared for rape and abuse, in addition to the usual murder/violence. Also, happily, some good family time for the Peter and Rina, and a continuation of the plotline heading towards retirement, though like any Decker plan, it doesn't go as you might expect. Enthralling read, and I think (I hope?) gives us a peek into the future of the series.

*I have to say there were moments when I wondered what message Kellerman is sending -- Chris and Terry's relationship is so messed up, and it almost seems to justify extreme sexual demands as part of the package when dealing with men, especially men who have experienced abuse themselves. There's so much of it that it's hard to know if that's Donatti's character speaking or if there's some background agenda. Definitely something that Terry is struggling with in the book.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.