Madisonville by J.A. Huff

Madisonville by J.A. Huff is a thrilling novel with a great premise – a prison where prisoners are hunted like prey. Six college students come up with the “perfect” crime: having access to a system of tunnels underneath their town, they plan a series of bank robberies…which go horribly wrong. Things get worse from there, as the young men end up in the prison at Madisonville, and soon they find out that “recreation” at the prison means that they are hunted for sport.

Huff is a spirited and engaging writer – he knows every corner of his story, which keeps you turning the pages, as the danger heightens to the point where you can feel the characters’ fear. A misstep is there’s not enough character development for the principle characters – the six guys seem, for the most part, variations of the same person. Additionally, there’s not enough context given for why they think it’s OK to rob banks, more or less for a laugh, especially when it ends up with two cops getting shot. It paints them as somewhat unsympathetic, so their latter peril carries less weight – unlike, say, Katniss in The Hunger Games, who you root for from the start.

If those issues could be cleared up, this would be truly dynamic read, as all the pieces are in place for a bestseller. As it is, this is still a mighty fun read, which sets up the possibility for a sequel. Pulse-pounding and all-too-plausible, Madisonville is an entertaining and original thriller.

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