Book Review For ‘Hawk Mountain’ by Conner Habib

Hawk Mountain
Written By: Conner Habib
Media: Giveaway from Goodreads
Genre: Horror, Fiction, Thriller
Published: July 5, 2022
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
Rating: 3 Stars

Hawk Mountain is about a lonely man battling demons he’s harbored since high school. Bullied by a kid named Jack, he eventually makes it to adulthood, meets a woman, has a child, gets divorced and is now living alone in a new town with his son, Anthony, whom his ex wife paid him to keep after taking off to Europe. Just when he thinks life is starting to feel some semblance of normal, his high school bully, Jack comes strolling down the beach and straight into his life. Todd invites him back to his house where Jack stays for about a week as Todd struggles with his feelings about Jack suddenly showing up, seemingly out of nowhere. Simultaneously his ex wife Livia, decides she does in fact want to be part of her son’s life and starts intruding quite disrespectfully into their lives. Todd finally gathers his courage to ask Jack to leave as Jack gathers his courage to tell Todd a secret he’s been keeping. What happens next sends their lives spiraling into a world of chaos, lies and heartbreak.

Overall I thought it was a well written story although I did struggle with the believability of the events and how they unfold. Some things just didn’t add up or make sense to me. As a person who was profusely bullied in high school, I just couldn’t understand how the bully was so easily invited back to the house in the first place. I suppose there was a little light shed at the end on maybe why some things happened the way they did, but still I felt things were a little abrupt and did not align with how Todd was described as feeling. I enjoyed the reference to literature from the main character and the few quotes that were included. I liked how the author made sure to highlight how things really happen in our culture of bullies where everyone can see and yet no one can or will help. It’s wildly frustrating and I thought the author did a fine job of capturing that. While I would have liked more details about a few certain aspects, I found it to be a horrifyingly, semi-enjoyable book. This would be a good read for anyone who enjoys crime fiction with a dash of suspense and gore.