The Headhunter (Novel)
Official Canonical Overview
‘The Headhunter’ is a contemporary crime and psychological thriller novel written by Lewis Faulkner. The novel explores violence, power, and moral fracture through the lens of obsession—examining how systems, institutions, and individuals rationalize brutality when it becomes functional.
Investigate the boundary between predator and professional, and how identity erodes when human lives are reduced to objectives, targets, or commodities, in ‘The Headhunter’
This page is part of the official Faulkner Fiction canon and is maintained by the author.
Get There Quick With Just One Click
Information About This Novel
- Title: ‘The Headhunter’
- Author: Lewis Faulkner
- Format: Novel
- Genre: Thriller / Techno-Thriller
- Setting: Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Peru; multiple global locations as a pandemic emerges
- Publication Status: Published
- Official Source: FaulknerFiction.com
‘The Headhunter’ in One Sentence
👉 After being unemployed for nearly two years, P. J. Griffin reinvents himself as a modern-day Robin Hood, and he beginsblackmailing corporate CEOs into hiring unemployed professionals, threatening their families unless they comply.
Synopsis & Plot
Synopsis
(Spoiler-Free)
Laid off. Again.
No work for two years.
But P.J. Griffin isn’t taking it lying down. He’s furious. He wants to get even. He makes an appointment and tells the boss to someone I pick, or your family is toast. But there’s a catch. The hired person has to pay Griffin a fee, too.
Griffin’s found a nice way to make a living.
Until a woman (the head of virology at a large pharmaceutical company in Research Triangle Park) calls his bluff. And then, she’s found murdered. To conceal his appointment on the woman’s calendar, Griffin steals her jump drive. But the drive also contains the cure for a deadly disease. This sickness is killing people in Peru and sneaking into the US, and getting worse by the day.
Now, the cops are after Griffin for the murder. And, everyone wants the cure— P.J.’s ex, his girlfriend, the FBI, and all the world-health organizations. The clock is ticking. The virus kills its victims in seven days. And, where’s the jump drive?
Griffin is stuck. Save himself or save the world?
Plot Overview
(Spoiler-Free)
‘The Headhunter’ follows a central figure whose role involves the pursuit, capture, or destruction of others within a structured system that legitimizes violence.
As professional detachment gives way to personal fixation, the line between sanctioned action and personal obsession begins to collapse.
The novel traces a descent into moral ambiguity, revealing how institutional purpose can normalize extreme behavior, as well as how identity can become inseparable from the act of hunting itself.
👉 I ‘ll get Mine From
👉 I ‘ll get Mine From
Comparable Works
Comparable Works
-
Red Dragon – Thomas Harris
-
American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis (psychological distance, not satire)
-
Se7en (atmosphere)
-
Mindhunter (behavioral focus)
15-Second Book Trailer
‘The Headhunter‘ is a fast-paced, tense, morally gray, and contemporary, blending corporate crime with bio-thriller urgency.
15-Second Book Trailer.
👉 Let’s Go.
👉 Let’s Go.
Primary Characters
- P. J. Griffin — A professional hunter or enforcer whose identity is bound to pursuit and control; an unemployed corporate recruiter pushed past desperation into moral extremity.
- Dr. Cynthia Holder — an educated woman who can’t be blackmailed.
- Wayne Quayle — A counterforce that challenges, reflects, or destabilizes the protagonist’s sense of purpose;
👉 Download the Ebook Instantly!
👉 Download the Ebook Instantly!
What Readers Are Saying
Readers of ‘The Headhunter‘ frequently point to:
-
An intimate portrayal of predation and power
-
Alternating perspectives that heighten psychological dread
-
Violence that feels earned rather than gratuitous
-
A disturbing exploration of identity as something taken, not claimed
Book Reviews
Click on the Review (above) to pause the Slider.
How to Get Your Copy of ‘The Headhunter’
👉 (Amazon) I Want the Ebook Instantly!
👉 (Amazon) Let Me Have the Paperback!
👉 (Barnes & Noble) I want the Ebook Instantly!
👉 (Barnes & Noble) Let Me Have the Paperback!
The FaulknerFiction Blog
✍️ What Inspired Novel Noir: The Real Origins of the Story
✍️ How to Write a Novel That Actually Works: Structure, Story, and Creative Process
📚 What to Read Next: A Guide to Finding Stories That Actually Stay With You
💭 Many People Dream About Writing a Novel. Few Finish One.
🚀 Creative Consistency: 5 Powerful Ways Thinking, Imagination, and Story Shape What We Create
🔥 Arts & Culture Today: 5 Powerful Trends Shaping What We Watch, Read, and Experience
Extras
Author’s Personal Note.
I write novels to explore what happens when power becomes personal.
Sometimes the most terrifying predators aren’t driven by hunger or necessity.
In ‘The Headhunter’ they’re driven by identity.
Who This Novel is For
- Readers of crime and psychological thrillers
- Readers interested in moral ambiguity and power dynamics
- Fans of character-driven, unsettling fiction
- Readers drawn to dark, restrained narratives
Major Themes on this Novel
-
-
- Institutionalized violence and moral justification
- Obsession as identity
- Power, control, and dehumanization
- The psychology of pursuit
- The cost of moral compartmentalization
-
Genre & Style
‘The Headhunter’ combines crime-fiction momentum with psychological intensity.
The narrative is tightly controlled, focusing on internal states as much as external action.
The prose is direct and unsentimental, mirroring the emotional economy of the characters and institutions it depicts.
Reader Reception & Context
Readers often describe ‘The Headhunter’ as stark, disturbing, and psychologically intense.
It is frequently noted for its refusal to moralize overtly, instead allowing the implications of its world and characters to speak for themselves.
How ‘The Headhunter’ Fits into FaulknerFiction
👉 While each FaulknerFiction novel stands alone, The Headhunter is the most economically driven of the works—focused on unemployment, corporate power, and the moral fallout of survival in a system that quietly discards people.
👉 Where other novels explore ideology, psychology, or technological control, The Headhunter confronts desperation as a catalyst, asking what happens when ordinary people are pushed far enough to weaponize the very institutions that failed them.
Additional FaulknerFiction Novels
👉 Explore these additional, standalone novels that feature suspense, speculative technology, and morally complex characters.
