Well, I felt like taking at least a short break from reading horror fiction and – after stumbling across this “Paperback Warrior” video about Randy Wayne White’s melodramatic 1980s thriller novels, the tropical-style cover of one of his more modern novels caught my attention. Although the novel in the video was too expensive at the time, I later found a cheap second-hand copy of White’s 2007 “Doc Ford” thriller novel “Hunter’s Moon” online and decided to check it out.
Interestingly, I don’t know whether this novel was ever actually published in the UK. Whilst the US publisher, Berkley, seems to be owned by Penguin (a British publisher), the second-hand copy I got was a US edition and there don’t seem to be new copies available online over here. Also, perhaps fittingly – given one of the book’s themes (eg: people relying on technology too much) – there isn’t an e-book edition of this one either. Though, as a physical book traditionalist, this wasn’t a problem for me 🙂
This review may contain mild-moderate SPOILERS.
This is the 2008 Berkley (US) paperback edition of “Hunter’s Moon” that I read.
Set in Florida, this novel focuses on a forty-something marine biologist – and ex-spy – called Doc Ford who is invited to meet a former US President called Kal Wilson. Wilson only has a month left to live and wants Ford, as well as his hippie friend Tomlinson, to help him slip his security detail and sort out some unfinished business in Central America…
One of the first things that I will say is that, although a little dated, this is still a compelling and atmospheric thriller novel. It grew on me a lot. If you’ve ever read a Clive Cussler novel, then you’ll be on familiar ground here. Even so, this is less of an action movie in novel form and more like a traditional thriller mixed with an adventure story. There’s lots of travel, political intrigue, characterisation, suspense and stuff like that. It’s a slightly slower-paced story than you might expect, but it makes up for this with atmosphere, personality and focus.
And, yes, I cannot praise the atmosphere and setting of this novel highly enough 🙂 Seriously, here’s the opening sentence to show you what I mean: “On a misty, tropic Halloween Eve, an hour before midnight, I stopped paddling when coconut palms poked through the fog ceiling, blue fronds crystalline in the moonlight.” Wow! In literary terms, this is like playing a computer game on high settings with ray-tracing. It’s amazing to see this level of writing in a random paperback thriller. There are lots of tropical locations and even this amazingly atmospheric scene where Tomlinson plays “Moonlight Sonata” on a piano in an abandoned music shop in Key West at midnight.
Again, this isn’t really an “action movie” type novel. There are a small number of well-placed action sequences, and some brutal moments, but it is mostly a story about travelling, political intrigue and sneaking around. It’s an old-school adventure novel disguised as a relatively modern thriller. Still, the characters and atmosphere are well-written enough that you’ll probably still read it regardless. Whilst Kal Wilson is a fictional character, the novel focuses heavily on all the political themes of its time. It is a novel that was written at the height of the “War Of Terror” and the mid-late parts of the Bush era (2001-2009).
And, yes, this book does show its age a little. But, mostly, in a weirdly endearing way. Although the novel’s worldview is unquestionably conservative, it comes from an age – slightly less than two decades ago – when US conservatives were more moderate and/or intelligent when compared to today. In this crass age of boorish Trumpism, it’s weirdly refreshing to read a “conservative” novel where – for example – there’s a strong distinction made between religious extremists and the ordinary members of a religion, where there are maybe only one or two grumbling remarks about “political correctness”, where people are well-informed about geo-politics, where the Gulf Of Mexico is referred to as such etc…. Seriously, in 2025, I’m not even angry about the conservative elements here because, well, I wish US conservatives went back to being like this! Moderate. Intelligent. Vaguely sensible etc… all things which were gradually being lost on the right during the past decade or so, but which have gotten so much worse this year.
This is also a weirdly endearing story about three middle-aged men going on a cool adventure. They’re well-written characters, with a surprising amount of complexity and depth as well. Again, it feels like a novel from another age, but in a weirdly endearing and reassuring way that seems genuine and human. It’s difficult to describe, but it’s a fascinating time-capsule of a book.
There’s also, as hinted much earlier, this anxiety about people over-relying on technology as well – which seems to be a genuinely timeless theme. Not to mention that it allows for a fun contrast between the high-tech spy gadgets in some scenes and the more traditional-style adventure genre scenes where characters are navigating at sea in the old-fashioned way, sending out Morse code messages or piloting low-flying planes using the instruments.
The writing in this book is really good as well. It’s more descriptive and formal than a modern thriller – with longer sentences and a better vocabulary – but also informal enough to flow well and be relaxing to read. Whilst it’s slower-paced than you might expect, there’s enough atmosphere, backstory, political intrigue and stuff like that to keep things interesting. Not to mention that White also alternates between flashbacks and the present day surprisingly effectively in some scenes.
At 336 pages in length, the novel doesn’t outstay its welcome. Even so, the first two-thirds or so of the story is build-up to the final third. Whilst it is never boring, the story only seriously gets into gear surprisingly late on. But the build-up acts as contrast, which gives the final third or so of the novel more dramatic impact than you might expect. It’s slower-paced than you might expect, but in a good way.
All in all, this novel grew on me a lot. Whilst slightly dated and slower-paced, it’s an incredibly atmospheric and compelling thriller story with surprisingly well-written characters. It’s an atmospheric boat journey around Florida and Central America, with some intrigue and the occasional action sequence thrown in as well. The characters are interesting and the writing is better than you might think. Again, this novel grew on me a lot.
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get four and a half.
