"The Red Hunter" by Lisa Unger

Thanks to Lisa Unger and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Justice or revenge; what’s the difference? Lisa Unger explores this question and the implications of both in her latest thriller, “The Red Hunter”.  She tells the reader that justice is a concept, one agreed upon by a civilized society. It seeks balance. Revenge is wild and raw, it’s a balancing of the scales of the universe.  Revenge seeks chaos. Thus, giving birth to “The Red Hunter”.
We are also told that “when seeking revenge, dig two graves. One for yourself“.

The two main characters, Claudia and Zoey, are both survivors of a horrific crime where each was left for dead. They have lots of other things in common as well. They were both at the wrong place at the wrong time. They both suffer frequently from “les penseées qui viennent dans le nuit” or “the thoughts that come in the night”. Both attempt to move on with their lives by learning to cope and protect themselves and their families. However while learning and practicing self-protection, they take different paths. Those paths cross when Claudia returns, with her daughter Raven, to an old, abandoned house that her father once owned. She plans to start over here by renovating the house and blogging about it. This house just happens to be the site of the crime involving Zoey.

While sharing so many things, Claudia and Zoey do have one glaring difference. Whereas Claudia is very open about the crime and even blogs about it, Zoey does not want anyone to know what she has been through, who she is or to even be noticed.

Raven and Zoey also share several things: they both live in the aftermath of what happened to their parents, struggle to fit in, have questions about their father (who he was/what was he hiding) and they have a supporting friend who happens to be a boy.  They learn that where they have come from does not have to define them. I loved the quote, “Why do you think where you came from has anything to do with where you belong? I certainly don’t believe that. I can’t. I have to believe that we create our lives.” Wow! Where we have been does not matter… it’s where we are going. Such a powerful statement… and true!

I adore Lisa Unger and her writing style. She writes engaging books and does not leave any strings “unpulled”. She always answers all the questions asked during the book. I gave this one five stars (4.5 rounded up). It was a great story with lots of surprises and interesting supporting characters. The reader learns about justice, revenge, friendship, corruption, betrayal, and letting go (as a parent and as one who has been wronged).  We also learn a lot about relationships and love; true, parental and brotherly.  “Some relationships are like pythons: they wrap around you, slowly squeezing until you can’t breathe” Boy, is that ever true!

I like to think that in the end, some revenge is indeed justified!