Top ten fictional hunts

Dan Smith is the author of adult thrillers and adventure/survival stories for younger readers. His YA novel Big Game is about a 13-year-old boy who finds himself, along with the president of the United States, in a race against a deadly enemy. In the movie adaptation of Big Game, Samuel L. Jackson is the president.

At the Guardian, Smith tagged ten of "the most thrilling books that put you in the shoes of the hunter...or the hunted," including:

True Grit by Charles Portis

There isn’t anything I don’t love about this book. Mattie Ross is a unique and engaging narrator despite her aloof superiority, Rooster Cogburn is a gruff and mean drunk, and LaBoeuf is ... well, he’s just LaBoeuf. So when the three of them set out across the wilderness to hunt Tom Chaney – the man who murdered Mattie’s father – you know you’re in for an absolute treat. And the language is to die for.

Read about the other books on the list.

True Grit also appears on Becky Ferreira's list of seven favorite tales of revenge in literature, Anthony Bourdain's list of ten favorite books, Andy Borowitz's list of five top comic novels, Tad Friend's five best list of novels on success, Willy Vlautin's list of five great books set in the West, and Jonathan Lethem's list of five terrific novels overshadowed by their film versions.

--Marshal Zeringue