A review by katybug25
Buck Fever by Ben Rehder

2.0

I thought this book was okay, but nothing special. There were some funny scenes, but not enough for me to enjoy reading it. I liked that Buck Fever was set in Texas and how the author was accurate with Texan places (Dairy Queen is very popular here, and a lot of small towns will at least have one of them).
The characters were colorful, if not a bit cliché. Marlin, the main character, was likeable, but I did think it was odd that he would let some poachers off with a warning while claiming that part of his job was knowing who to bust. His justification in one case was that the man and his family could use the meat, which makes sense except that the poacher had two hogs along with the doe. There isn’t a hunting season for hogs, since they are invasive species. The man could have just taken the pigs and waited for deer season (which wasn’t far off).
The love interest was definitely a male fantasy. Becky looks like Julia Roberts and was introduced to the main character when he was seeing his friend at the hospital (the second friend to end up there). She seemed unreasonably upset for the main character even though she has been working as a nurse for a while (wouldn’t you be desensitized with patient’s stories, and I imagine there are more traumatic cases as well). The diagnosis was looking good for both characters too. Becky appears “freshly showered” after being kidnapped and without resources to get clean. She also sleeps with Marlin while they are held hostage at a cabin. What the heck? Who would do that while you are unsure of your safety? Priorities!!!!
It was creative to use prize winning bucks to smuggle drugs into the country but I do feel like there are easier ways to smuggle drugs though. The idea of having the hunters kill bucks that just went through surgery was not a very good one. I think they would notice the stitches when the hunters go to butcher the animals. (Maybe he provided butchering services? That would make more sense).
I am not going to read the rest of the series. I think people interested in hunting, beer, non -realistic women and Texas might enjoy these books, but it wasn’t for me.