Hunt at the Well of Eternity

Pulp adventure is back in a big, bold way with HUNT AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY, the first of a series — six are planned between now and fall 2010 — about adventurer Gabriel Hunt, by “Gabriel Hunt,” a house pen name behind which a rotating stable of authors can hide, a la Kenneth Roberson, Maxwell Grant or Brett Halliday.

This series starter comes from James Reasoner, who quickly sets up the action and lets it go, which it does for each of its 200-plus pages. As it begins, Hunt and his brother Michael (really? Mike Hunt?) are attending a black-tie function at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art when the whole place turns into a shoot-’em-up.

The fracas erupts shortly after the brothers meet busty brunette Mariella Montez, who carries an object wrapped in distressed red fabric. A waiter — or at least someone disguised as one — immediately puts a gun to her cleavage, and she’s kidnapped amid the resulting chaos.

Taking evidence from the scene, the Hunt brothers are perplexed by Montez’s belongings: what appears to be a century-old bottle of whiskey and a Confederate cavalry flag. This is enough to send Gabriel off to the supposed battlesite in Florida to look into it, despite being trailed and shot at along the way, both while in car and airboat.

That search then sends him south to Mexico, where he meets the comely Dr. Cierra Almanzar, stoking certain fires. After all, Hunt is a man who always carries a lighter, despite not smoking, because he never knows when a lady might need a light, or a Molotov cocktail might need igniting. Your guess as to how many chapters go by before they’re exploring each other’s territories.

ETERNITY certainly has no shortage of action, by land, air or sea, and Hunt racks up many miles in his quest. There are lovely ladies, there are bad bandits. The one thing is lacks in its first half, however, is motive. It’s not until halfway through that we learn the flag contains a map; had that been determined from the start, Hunt’s actions to traverse the globe would have made much more sense.

Perhaps I’m taking it a tad too seriously, as this is a series in the mold of Doc Savage and Indiana Jones — and even the more modern NATIONAL TREASURE films. That map leads to a rumored fountain of youth underneath Mayan ruins — hence the title — and odds are, those attracted to such purely escapist fiction will wish to follow their every step.

This is a solid kick-off for the HUNT franchise, but I suspect subsequent outings will only get better. —Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• DEATH HEAD CROSSING by James Reasoner
• DUST DEVILS by James Reasoner

Related posts:

1. Serpent of Eternity
2. Blood Hunt
3. The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice
4. Dust Devils
5. Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind the Thirty-Year Hunt for the Notorious Wichita Serial Killer