Hunted is the Prey, is Donovan Hoult’s latest book. The ruthless climb of Winton Springer, an itinerant shearer picked up on an outback Queensland road by Sam Carlin, the owner of a struggling oil and gas exploration company. Uneducated, but highly intelligent, Springer resorts to unscrupulous blackmail, theft and murder as he manipulates himself into seizing total control as the company evolves. He ruthlessly exploits and plans the ultimate destruction of people who know too much of his dealings, and he of theirs, in the take-no-prisoners arena of stock-market manipulation and finance. His world starts to implode when Carlin reveals years later he has a daughter and son from a previous marriage still living in America.The son does not appear to be a threat, but the daughter who is enticed by her father to join the company in Australia. She falls for Springer who realises his position in the company is under threat. Marty Carlin is a highly experienced oil executive. She is ambitious and demanding, and it soon becomes obvious to Springer she is ultimately going to assume the reins of the company.He decides to marry her, but during their honeymoon Marty realises she has unwittingly discovered one of her husband’s criminal actions. She dies during a mysterious scuba diving accident on the Barrier Reef. In a drunken scene at her wake, her brother Alexander accuses Springer of her murder. He severs his ties with his father and flies back to the States, only to return some years later to witness his father’s dying hours.He becomes aware of Springer’s involvement in his father’s condition. In the meantime, his father has married his nurse following an earlier stroke – a much younger woman Springer immediately identifies from his past. She poses an ambitious and dangerous threat.A novel where nothing stands in the way of greed and power.
