The Hunted by Mike Dellosso

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It's a pleasure to feature The Hunted by Mike Dellosso on this blog. It's this week's featured CFBA blog tour book. I had the chance to read this book in manuscript format for Mike and offer my endorsement:

From page one The Hunted grabbed me by the collar and wouldn’t let go. It’s full of intrigue, supernatural undertones, and true-to-life characters. I highly recommend this superb debut novel. Mike Dellosso could very well be the next Frank Peretti—if you liked The Oath and Monster, you are going to love The Hunted.

I have a more detailed review of the book up at TitleTrakk.com here that begins with this summary:

While playing in the woods with his friends, eleven-year-old Caleb Saunders is viciously attacked by a large, snarling, mysterious animal. His uncle Joe, a man struggling with his newfound faith, sets out on a mission to find the creature. Along the way he rekindles a friendship, and maybe something more, with the local Chief of Police who’s on a mission of her own. The two uncover things about themselves and the monster terrorizing their community they wish they hadn’t.

Mike did an interview with me, also for TitleTrakk.com, and I asked him about how he got the idea for The Hunted. Here's an excerpt:

C.J.: Share with us about the urban legend that originally inspired you to write The Hunted and how the story developed from there.

Mike: I was surfing the net looking for news clips that might stir my imagination when I stumbled upon this article from the 1920’s. Apparently in some hick town in Indiana the townies were claiming to see an African lion. There were sightings in the fields surrounding the town and a farmer claimed one of his cows was killed by a lion. The town was really in a panic over it. This went on for a few months then just stopped. No one ever figured out where the lion went or where it had come from. Soooo . . . this got me thinking. What if . . . ? You know? And from there the story started to develop in my semi-demented imagination. I put a supernatural, spiritual spin on it, threw in some quirky characters, and . . . there you go.

Check out more here.