Review: The Howling

The Howling by Gary Brandner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one badass book, which is surprising since I thought it was going to be dull and lame like the movie. Amazingly, the writing is superb in this pulpy werewolf tale. In fact, the werewolf stuff is actually the least interesting aspect of this book. I really dug the characters and the ghost story town of Drago, but the actual werewolf stuff almost seems like an afterthought until that dramatic ending.

The story starts off with a brutal, infuriating scene, and I like that the concept of sexual tension and repression is an overall theme in this book. All horror stories are better when there's something underlying to be told. But again, the actual werewolf violence is kind of weak throughout, so that's the only aspect that brings this otherwise awesome book down. Other than that, I highly recommend it.

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