Open Season

Open Season began life as the novel The All-Americans, authored by David Osborn. Osborn simultaneously wrote the book and the screenplay and it was purchased by Columbia Pictures. The title was changed to Open Season and the novel was published under that title in 1974 to coincide with the film release. The movie starred popular actor Peter Fonda. In other parts of the world the film was titled Recon Game. 

In Open Season, the book introduces three college buddies who take an annual trip into the Wisconsin forest to hunt deer...and people. So the deal is that these three guys, Art, Greg, and Ken, take this sabbatical hunting trip to drink beer, kill deer and other wildlife, and rape a woman. Here's how it works. 

These three men kidnap a man and woman each year, a couple of lovers, and take them into the wilderness to hunt. The victims are chosen at random and after they are hunted and killed they sink the bodies into a scummy lake. So, it is The Most Dangerous Game just changed slightly. However there is something a little different with this plot point. 

While these three men are out hunting deer as well as the two people they have captured as targets, another mysterious hunter is in the forest hunting the hunters. So, the niche is that deer hunters are being targeted and hunted which fits into a little niche I like to refer to as “Deer Hunter Horror”. 

In the book, three men capture a man and woman who are secretly having an affair away from their tranquil married life. They leave their spouses behind for a short vacation into the woods to do the nasty. But the two are targeted at a motel by Art, Greg, and Ken and hauled into the Wisconsin wilderness. There, they shackle the man in the kitchen and then convince the woman to consent to sex with all three men repeatedly. She goes along with it thinking they will befriend her and she can then escape whatever awful things they have planned for her. She even likes the whole ordeal when she gets going with the men. 

On day two the three hunters give each of the victims a 20 minute head start to run into the wilderness and commence to being chased. The three men of course have rifles and the victims have twigs and branches. Totally fair. Kinda like deer hunting, right? The fight is fixed. But, once the chase ensues another hunter unknown to the reader begins hunting the three hunters. 

Open Season is a savage and violent book at 267 paperback pages and definitely not for the squeamish. There is graphic sex with faces and heads being shot off. But, the book is really good at about page 120 and the pace never slows down. It is also double-pleasure as Open Season works as both a high-octane action novel but also as a mystery as readers guess who the hunter-killer may be. High recommendation.