★★★★☆ Brian hunts a killer

Brian's Hunt

Gary Paulsen

In Brian's Return our hero Brian Robeson bought himself a bunch of cool gear and went off to camp in the Canadian wilderness and to visit his Cree friends the Smallhorns. At the end of Brian's Return Brian had paddled within, he thought, about 30 miles of the Smallhorn camp. There he decided he wasn't really ready for humans yet and thought he would spend a little more time wandering around on his lonesome. Brian's Hunt begins shortly after that.

A wounded dog shows up unexpectedly at Brian's camp. She is obviously domesticated, making it a mystery why she would have left her humans. She also appears to view Brian as a friend. Her wounds look like the claws of a bear. Brian succors her, and finding that he enjoys the company of a dog, allows her to accompany him. Feeling a sense of urgency he can't explain, he heads post-haste for the Smallhorn camp. There, as the publisher's blurb informs us "horror ... awaits him". He sets out to hunt the killer.

Brian's Hunt has the feel of a mystery/thriller. It works well. Brian's Return disappointed because nothing much happened. Brian's Hunt is perhaps the most action-oriented of all the books of Brian's Saga. It is also the most suspenseful.

Gary Paulsen ends with an afterword beginning as follows

I can almost hear the voices: “You said the last Brian book was the last Brian book,” and I did say that. But the response from readers is still profoundly overwhelming, hundreds of letters a day, all wanting more of Brian, and so this book, and I will no longer say that I will write no more about Brian and the north woods….In some way he has become real to many, many people and they want to see more of him and so, and so…we shall see.

In fact, Brian's Hunt contains a clear hook to a sequel. Brian rescues Susan, the daughter of the murdered Smallhorn parents. They exchange addresses and agree to meet up after Brian has done what he needs to do. That meet up doesn't happen in Brian's Hunt. Brian is 16 and Susan 14, so it's easy to imagine that sparks will fly. Alas, Paulsen died in 2021 without writing that sequel.

Summing up,

★★★★★ Hatchet
★★★☆☆ The River
★★★★☆ Brian's Winter
★★★☆☆ Brian's Return
★★★★☆ Brian's Hunt

A very good middle grade/young adult series altogether.

Amazon review

Goodreads review

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