The Wolf Hunters by Amanda Mitchison
This debut crime novel is set in a brutal, chaotic Scotland of the near future, where it’s business at any cost for the people who live there.
Archie Henderson, a passionate hunter, has rewilded his vast Highland estate filling the mountains and woods with wolves and bears. Here he runs wolf hunts with a terrible difference.
But when a young man is killed by a bear on the reserve, DI Rhona Ballantyne is assigned the case. As her enquiries progress, she begins to unravel the dark secret behind the death, and uncovers a terrifying truth that will put her own life in jeopardy. Will the hunter become the hunted?
About the author.
Amanda Mitchison was born and brought up in Edinburgh. She now lives in Bristol and works as a Royal Literary Fund fellow at Cardiff University.
She has published seven children’s books and won an Arts Council scholarship. Her biography of David Livingstone was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Award. Her interest in depicting the world as vividly as possible has influenced everything she has written, even her hyper-realistic pet care guide to dragons.
The same realism holds true for The Wolf Hunters, which is Amanda’s first adult novel. The setting is firmly rooted in the wilds of Ardnamurchan and the locations that feature in the novel—the Victorian mansion, the 13th-century tower on its tidal island, the mountains and ancient oak forests, the lighthouse, the old lead mines above Strontian—are all real places.
Review
‘The Wolf Hunters’ is a dark, foreboding novel that seems realistically plausible as a post pandemic world. Scotland decided to cut it self off from the world and is now a desolate desperate place where the wee free church has the power and the people have none. It’s a land where there are no trees, farm animals or even food but yet there is a protected paradise - Archie Henderson estate, which has been left in a pristine state and it’s owner has rewilded the land with bears, wild cats and wolves. It’s now a high end hunting estate but a young man has been found dead, apparently killed by one of the bears. DI Rhona Ballantyne is called in to deal with the body but will she find something that brings the estate’s secrets to light?
Oh may this was a crazy ride wasn’t it? Who else felt sorry for the poor bear?! I enjoyed this dystopian view of Scotland and would love to see this become a series. Despite its very strange setting it was still clearly a police procedural. We have scenes of crime, witnesses, suspects and a detective who wanted to find out the truth no matter what. I found Rhona as a detective to be funny, strong, tenacious (she autopsied a bear for goodness sake!) loyal and this is strangely juxtaposed with a naivety when it comes to the level of evilness in this world.
This was a thought-provoking novel, that was gritty and dark, philosophical at times, it shows what people are capable of to ensure their survival and yet shows that human kindness does shine through, even if it is sodden in drink and smells of mints.
