W. D. Gagliani

A cop seeking revenge, a string of murdered prostitutes, a psychopath who was abused as a child--add up the cliches, add a dash of the supernatural, and you won't necessarily end up with a solid novel. Wolf's Trap is too busy setting up its pieces on the board to bother moving them in an entertaining story. Too much time is spent working from the antagonist's point of view, making the Nick Lupo, the nominal protagonist, one of the flattest characters in the story. Gagliani strains show more credibility with his characterizations (especially those of the north-woods criminals thrown in late in the action), and the repetitive and obsessive concern regarding pornography, prostitution, athletic sex, and fetishism isn't provocative, but merely annoying. Leisure Books printed this under their horror line, but Wolf's Trap is straight urban fantasy. If you're looking for dread, look elsewhere. show less

This was a disturbing psychological drama, not just your average werewolf book. Two narrators tell both sides of the story; detective versus serial killer.

Meet Nick Lupo, he is a homicide detective that just happens to also be a werewolf. He is working hard to try to be able to gain control over his wolf side, and after years of having two completely different mind sets he is slowly gaining control and being able to be in wolf form and retain his human mind.
After a good friend is murdered show more and a note left at the scene directed at him, he starts to realize that something he did in his past as a wolf might be coming back to haunt him.

Flash to Martin, a very disturbed man who has some series childhood issues. After being released from a mental health facility he has set his sights on killing Detective Lupo, but first he is going to play with his food and starts killing friends of Lupo's. Martin slowly explains his history and his brutal childhood and as a reader it makes you want to give him a big hug before you lock him up and throw away the key!!

A quick read with some disturbing content. Can't wait to read the next one in the series! show less

In Wolf’s Trap, Nick Lupo is a homicide detective and a werewolf, two things that one don’t necessarily go together, but certainly an interesting combination. As you might expect, Nick has a tortured past. Some of the things he did continue to haunt him as he adjusts to his dual nature. Most notably of the things that haunt him is inadvertently killing Caroline Stewart while in wolf form when he was college. She was both his professor and lover. Now, years later, her brother, Martin, a show more crazed serial killer, is stalking Nick in a quest to avenge his sister. In reality, he’s so demented that revenge is only a small part of his deal. He starts off by killing Nick’s neighbor and sending him messages, then continues to kill those around Nick.

I liked the chase between Lupo and the killer. It was a two-sided chase as Lupo tries to hunt down and arrest or kill Martin, while Martin is doing his best to implement psychological warfare on the werewolf/detective. Lupo is a well-developed character with lots of nuances. There was a duality to his character as he straddled two worlds. The one aspect of the novel that I didn’t like was that Martin and some of the other villain characters weren’t as well-developed and lacked believability. There was good action, a well-developed story line, and good drama. For horror fans, this novel is well-worth reading, and I look forward to reading more Nick Lupo stories in the future. show less

This book starts right off looking like a high-voltage suspenseful read, even though the first scene takes place in a jam-packed suburban mall a couple of days before Christmas. Plucky off-beat protagonist Kit, a college student, has been persuaded by her consumerist roommate Irina to brave the holiday shopping crowd. A weird incident involving someone Kit calls Pervy Man ensues. He separates the two women and Irina disappears. Kit looks for her in vain. While she's looking, someone snatches show more her. Kit's taken away and held for nefarious purposes, along with a number of other women.

Meanwhile, Kit's father is losing it. Kit's uncle Rick Brant is required to step up and take charge of the situation. Pulling Kit's dad along, reluctantly, Brant investigates. And guess who they end up talking to first? Irina. The roommate. WTF? Something smells fishy. Irina herself, maybe? (Ha ha.)

Brant, a strong but suffering Vietnam war vet who suffers nightmarish memories of his time as a "Tunnel Rat" (checking for booby trapped tunnels), is more of a father to Kit than her own dad, the almost comically pathetic Ralph. Brant must also deal with other ghosts from his past, including Zimmerman, a police lieutenant on the case who has hated Brant since back in the day.

Add into the mix a beautiful female sergeant named Colgrave assigned to work the case, who wants to believe Brant, but who takes her orders from Zimmerman, who happens to be her ex-lover (how awkward).

Meanwhile, is Kit sitting by idly waiting to be rescued? No! She's planning her escape, even though the odds seem almost insurmountable.

Read the entire review at http://thebookgrrl.blogspot.com/2011/01/savage-nights-lives-up-to-its-name.html show less