Dad takes the kid on his first hunting trip.

(from Male of the Species)

Funny thing is, like the boy, I was really slow in catching on to the dad’s ruse. I mean, we both knew something was up, but couldn’t quite put it together. Clever but subtle and with thoughtful, straightforward prose, this story kept me pasted to the page. There’s some solid psychology at work in these characters, if you ask me. The father and son are three-dimensional, likable in that all humans are likable. But not bad in the way that some people are bad.