Buck Fever

By Ben Rehder

Book Overview

Blanco County, Texas: It's the week before deer hunting season, as close to a statewide holiday you get in Texas, and the locals are getting restless. Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock aren't the only good ol' boys out at night spotlighting deer from their pickups, trying to get a jump on the hundreds of hunters that will be out come Saturday. Game Warden John Marlin has his hands full with poaching complaints coming in faster than he can write out-of-season tickets. Then a call of a different sort comes in. A man dressed up in some sort of deer costume has been shot at the Circle S ranch, and witnesses are reporting a massive wild-eyed buck deer prancing about the pasture in a lovesick frenzy. Marlin's seen a lot in his years, but this is wilder than he could have imagined: the man in the deer suit is a good friend, and the whacked-out whitetail isn't exactly a stranger either. It's the beginning of a mad, frantic weekend in Blanco County, one that will see a few more men shot, an invasion by Colombians with more than hunting on their minds, and damn near the end of Marlin's life. Newcomer Ben Rehder serves it all up with a huge helping of humor in this comic mystery that will firmly establish him as the funniest crime writer in Texas.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312291140
• ISBN13: 9780312291143
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 262 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

a helluva fun read that hits home!

as a native texan i must say that buck fever is a book that really captures texas! what a fun read! i'm hooked on the series and highly recommend buck fever!

a fun adventure

i'm glad that i picked this book up...it was great fun to read...the characters are real enough to become people whom you want to get to know better...the crazies are really crazy.....it was a fun adventure...peace mary

Fast moving action!

A drug ring disguised as a game farm? What a great plot!I couldn't put it down once started. The multiple sub-plotsall come together in a well crafted ending. Each characterwas developed so completely that I could identify with theirmotives (no matter how evil). The author pokes a little fun at the commercial game farms now replacing traditional open range deer hunting in some regions.

close to home

Since I live in Texas, I read just about anything taking place in Texas.This one is funny with a plot unlike any other. I live about thirty miles south of where this story happens. I know real people who match the characters in this story almost identicaly. Fun read. Hope to see more of the authors work soon.

wonderful game warden mystery

Usually the opening week of dear hunting season in Blanco County, Texas is a bit wild but this year things get really crazy the week before the season opens. Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock are poaching on the tail end of the Circle S Ranch when they spot some big dear. They shoot but one of the deer they are aiming at is a human in disguise and the other is jumping around like a kangaroo.Game Warden John Marlin is called onto the scene and recognizes the bouncing deer as Buck who his best friend Phil Colby raised as an infant. John gives Buck back to Phil even though the deer technically belongs to the owner of the Circle S, retired but still powerful lobbyist Roy Swank. For some reason, Swank wants the deer back and will go to any length to achieve that goal no matter who gets hurt in the process.This first installment in this new mystery series is both serious and funny, sometimes at the same time. The protagonist plays straight man to all the eccentric characters that make up the support cast, giving BUCK FEVER an almost slapstick feel at times. The story line is well developed with all the sub-plots tying seamlessly into the main tale. Ben Rehder has a distinctively refreshing and original voice, a bright new star in the mystery genre.Harriet Klausner