Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear

The second entry in Leisure Books' Gabriel Hunt series is as solid as the first ("Hunt At The Well of Eternity") was. For those who haven't seen the books yet, a summary: Gabriel Hunt is a modern day Indiana Jones, hunting for antiquities the world over and getting dragged from one deadly situation to another ... most of which he escapes by the skin of his teeth (or, literally in this adventure, the skin of his fingertips). Like Jones, Hunt has a favored weapon (an antique Colt handgun believed to have been used by either Wyatt Earp or Bat Masterson ... or maybe both). Like James Tiberius Kirk, Hunt does not believe in the "no win scenario." Like James Bond, Hunt has a woman in every port. And like his (possible cousin?) Ethan Hunt, Gabriel is slick at thinking on his feet and turning a disadvantage to an advantage. Also like all of those characters, Hunt has an honest streak a mile wide and won't put anyone else's life on the line just to save his own. This particular adventure involves two beautiful linguists as the romantic foils, an uber-rich aesthete / former Olympian fencer as the bad-guy, and a mystery involving the various versions of the Sphinx myths from around the world. The action moves quickly, and if some of the stunts are a tad on the "unbelievable" side ... well, that's the nature of the genre. This volume also includes a back-up novella, "Nor Idolatry Blind The Eye" by Charles Ardai. All of the Hunt novels appear with the house author name "Gabriel Hunt" on the cover, but Ardai wrote "Cradle of Fear" as well as the back-up story. The Hunt books are just fun adventure escapism ... highly recommended! One slight spoilerish complaint: two books in a row, two dead main villains. I know it's early in the series yet, but I'm hoping at some point the creators develop at least one recurring nemesis for Gabriel. Sort of like Belloq was implied to have been a constant foil for Indiana Jones before the events of "Raiders."

HUNT THROUGH THE CRADLE OF FEAR, the second installment in the new paperback pulp adventure series featuring Gabriel Hunt, delivers on the promise shown in the first book, HUNT AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY, which released in April. This series for a new century provides readers with nonstop thrills and action, along with a fascinating story. To put it simply: it is pulp fiction at its best, rooted firmly in the past with a nod of the fedora to Edgar Rice Burroughs and Doc Savage, but set in the modern world. It is a treat to witness the rebirth of the paperback adventure series. And for that we must thank Charles Ardai, who conceived of this series just as he did the invaluable Hard Case Crime paperback mystery series several years back. Ardai is also the real-life author of CRADLE OF FEAR, which was told to him by the fictional Mr. Hunt. Read one of these works and you can see why Hunt has no time to write his own books. To describe him as being overcaffeinated would be an understatement. Ardai understands that the most important rule of the classic pulp adventure story is action. We get it from page one and it rarely lets up for 200-plus pages, which makes this a fun book. The story starts with Hunt cornered in the turret of a castle in Hungary with seven armed men closing in on him. Of course, he is not alone. Ardai writes, "'Go,' he (Hunt) said again, shooting a glance over his shoulder toward the stone wall where Sheba crouched, clutching the shreds of her dress to her chest. `Now!'" Where he wants her to go is off the edge of the turret, which overlooks a 300-foot drop. He has conveniently provided an inch-wide metal cable that can carry one person down at an angle to the trees below. Of course the problem for Hunt is that there is only room for one on the cable, and he has just fired his last bullet at his pursuers --- at least one of whom is brandishing a rather large curved sword. Of course, your adventure hero, be it Doc Savage or the modern Gabriel Hunt, is indeed resourceful in tight spots. Hunt manages to escape with the woman and bring her back to New York, where he promptly loses her again after a battle with four armed men in an East Side building that sounds suspiciously like the real-life Explorers Club of New York. It turns out that the woman is an Irish scholar on the iconography of the ancient world. Hunt got involved after she was abducted off the streets of Dublin. The trail leads to one Legor Degroet, an uber-rich antiquities collector and former Olympic silver medal winner in fencing from Hungary. Close to 70 now, he walks with the aid of a walking stick that conceals a sword. We also learn that he is twice as rich as Gabriel and his brother Michael's Hunt Foundation. And quite ruthless it turns out. After the wildest cab ride in the history of New York City, Hunt manages to sneak onto the plane where Sheba has been taken by hiding in a box containing guns and ammo. When he emerges, he finds himself in an incredible place

This second installment in the adventures of Gabriel Hunt is a winner from start to finish! In the grand pulp tradition, Ardai keeps the action intense and the plot moving. As a modern day Indiana Jones, Hunt's unraveling of the sphinx mystery while dodging bad buys is sure to thrill any fans of the Jones movies. The mystery itself is interesting and well crafted with enough over the top archeological flights of fancy to captivate any reader. The pace is very good with cliffhanger endings to almost all of the chapters. The short story tacked on at the end is also good and gives the book even more of a pulp feel as the classic pulp magazines of the Golden Age were always packed with tales featuring a host of heroes. Thus the paperback is kind of like a pulp magazine of yesteryear. So if you like fast-paced adventure stories with an engaging hero and daring do by the ton, then this book is for you. This reader is anxiously awaiting the next Hunt adventure and hopes there will be many more to come! A great read. Don't miss it.

Gabriel Hunt stories are essentially updated Doc Savage adventures without Doc Savage's five aides. This was a blend of adventure, thriller and supernatural elements, nicely updated to the present day. Well worth reading.

If you want the literary equivalent of a summer blockbuster, "Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear" fills the bill nicely. The action is positively cinematic and the pace is breathless. Author Charles Ardai has managed the clever feat of invoking the style of other adventure writers without plagiarizing them. This book avoids the slow pace of the first half of the first volume in the series and leaves the reader eager for the next book. "Hunt Through the Cradle of Fear" is the second novel in the new "Hunt for Adventure" series. The books' hero is Gabriel Hunt, gentleman adventurer and heir to the Hunt family fortune. While his brother Michael stays at home to tend to the interests of the Hunt Foundation, Gabriel travels the globe. All of this was established in the first book and is reiterated nicely for new readers along with a clever footnote about the brother's names. While it would do the book a disservice to give away the details of that footnote, it is worth mentioning because it is an example of the wit that pervades the book. Ardai exhibits a craftsman's touch in balancing the nail-biting tension of the book with brief moments of levity. It may seem odd to talk about the tension -- after all the publishers have promised at least four more books in the series -- but Ardai's version of Gabriel Hunt is a man who knows his limits and is painfully aware of his own mortality. Hunt believes he is in real danger and so we do too. The first page opens in the middle of such danger; with Hunt rescuing a damsel in distress from a handful of sword-wielding villains. Although, as readers, we're curious about the whats and whys of the scene, we need no lengthy explanation to enjoy the action. Nor is the scene a flash-forward. Ardai has opted to start the book on a high note and keeps building from there. The important details are deftly dropped in to the story along the way. As the story develops, Gabriel Hunt travels the world and Charles Ardai explores some interesting mythological territory. The locations are suitably exotic and the ideas are deliciously engaging. Again, though, it would be unfair to the book to reveal any details. Better that the readers should come to the experience as the author intended. I will say this, though. There is a brief section of the book set in Turkey and the beginning of that sequence has a very clever in-joke which should bring a laugh from readers who are familiar with Ardai's life. Readers who long for a good, old-fashioned adventure story should take a trip with Gabriel Hunt through "The Cradle of Fear".