Having survived the horrors that awaited inside the decrepit hotel of 2005’s CREEPERS, urban explorer Frank Balenger is back in David Morrell’s SCAVENGER. Having read the first is not a prerequisite, as this semi-sequel pretty much stands on its own. And that’s good news for fans of thrill-a-minute fiction.

After the loss of his wife and fortune, Balenger is on the mend as the novel opens. He’s pocketed some serious reward money for a rare coin he pilfered at CREEPERS’ end and he has a new girlfriend from that adventure, the lovely Amanda. But the happiness is short-lived after the couple is invited to an exclusive seminar on time capsules, which turns out to be a setup where both are drugged.

Balenger wakes up in the hands of the authorities, with no memory of what occurred. Amanda is even worse off: She’s been kidnapped, and comes to in a seemingly abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere. Its rooms hide other victims, though, all of whom soon learn they’re being watched as pawns of a sinister little game.

The mysterious man behind it all – they hear his voice, but cannot see him – equips them with handheld GPS technology and sends them outside to the surrounding wilderness on a scavenger hunt of sorts. Amidst snakes and other snares, the group is sent from location to another, finding clues to that will lead them to God-knows-what. And God forbid you try and make a run for it, like one lady, whose body explodes at the bidding of the Game Master, as he calls himself.

Yeah, this guy means business.

Meanwhile, Balenger is led to clues of his own that eventually send him off on a one-man search-and-rescue mission of Amanda. It’s one of those finely detailed plots that depend on a series of highly specific reactions to work – one that would be impossible to predetermine – but in escapist fiction, it’s easily forgivable. Especially when someone as gifted as Morrell is doing the escaping.

I don’t know if he set out to write what could be a SAW sequel, but that’s essentially what he’s done on the Amanda half of things. And that’s no criticism, because I was glued to every machination of the Game Master’s intricate trap.

How glued? It’s about 350 pages. I started it on a Saturday afternoon and didn’t go to sleep until I reached the back cover.

With CREEPERS and now this, Morrell has another terrific action hero in his bibliography to go alongside FIRST BLOOD’s John Rambo and THE PROTECTOR’s Cavanaugh. That he’s more Everyman than the others – even with a military background – makes him all the more appealing and relatable. Though the first chunk of SCAVENGER casts him in the brainy, DA VINCI CODE style of historical adventure, the climax kicks him squarely into survivalist mode – energy bars, night-scope binoculars and all.

Morrell has yet to do me wrong; he’s one of the more reliable storytellers out there, whether in the short or long form. Here, his brief chapters and string of conflict keep you intrigued. Perhaps even addicted. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• CREEPERS by David Morell