Travis Heermann (1969–2024)

The Wild Boys was definitely a hit for me. It's one of the few werewolf books that I've read that actually does a pretty good job illustrating the legendary characteristics of the beast. It's not the cheesy 'good/bad werewolf falls in love with girl, blah, blah, blah' story. This is pure lupine blood-thirst.

It's FBI, secret agent level and the 'damsel in distress' is definitely a top kick-butt heroine. Even with a couple of downsides, I still can't believe how well the story turned out. The show more beginning is pure mysterious tension and the best part is, once you actually know what the heck is going on, you still feel entrapped in the story because from then on it's pure, nonstop action. Besides, the villain is nasty. The moment he was introduced, I just knew the guy was bad news. He gives off that 'I-will-kill-you-in-your-sleep' vibe that sent chills down my spine. I wanted him dead as much as most of the characters did.

So Mia, the female protagonist, is a broken heroine. She has to deal with the loss of her brother, the fact that her mother blames her for his death, and the empty spot her father leaves in their family since he's always working. She doesn't have a lot of friends and the only time she ends up making one... yeah, she finds his headless, mutilated body in the middle of the forest. Lovely. Just lovely. (Where's a sarcastic font when I need one?)
How to make matters worse? Well, wild animal attacks begin to rise. Huge, black shapes start stalking her while she's out riding her bike... oh! And three strange and utterly naked boys, who have a craving for raw meat, appear out of nowhere and ask for help.
How to make matters better? Eh, cute guy at school finally notices her.
The romance in this book was a huge miss. It came out of nowhere and it blossomed for some unknown reason. Dalton, the lover-boy, felt like a fake to me. He was the perfect 'Prince Charming' that showed up just in time. What a coincidence. I actually had my suspicions on him for about half the book until I realized he was just some love-struck kid, who played a big part later on, but was introduced in a very un-stylish manner. His relationship with Mia was cute, but I didn't get why they even had one to start with.

Mia herself was definitely a strong heroine. She was levelheaded, which is something you don't see in young adult books very often. She was sort of sensitive to her Asian background, and incredibly tough, but not unrealistically tough. I loved the way she handled some of the situations. Naked boys pop out of nowhere?

Werewolf car chase, bleeding arm, almost killed? No problem. She's got this down.
She had breakdowns, don't get me wrong. Who in their right mind wouldn't? But she wasn't the sort of person who gave up easily or spent like half the book contemplating on whether she's a good or bad person and if what she did was right or wrong. Sure, there are times when she over-analyzes things, but it doesn't get heavy.

Plot-wise, there's a lot going on. I don't want to get into it too much, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. It's nail-biting and there are quite a number of twists throughout the book. It's like a supernatural action movie. Think Supernatural plus some Teen Wolf. There are werewolves and secret agents and deadly viruses and cool fighting scenes. I loved it!

Overall, even though the romance sucked, I was completely taken by the rest of the story. The Wild Boys was definitely one of my top werewolf books of the year (maybe even ever). It's a change of scenery, sort of. The ending isn't a big deal, there aren't any HUGE revelations, but that's the best part. I felt completely satisfied by the time I got there, and I was relieved that it didn't end with a cliffhanger. Plus, the villain... yeah, he needed to go down. Hate. Him.
I definitely recommend this one to anyone who's ready for some real werewolf action. show less

**** SPOILER ALERT ****
Logan takes us on a magical mystery tour in "Junk Magic And Guitar Dreams". The author's world building and character development is top notch as we ride along with Otter as he deals with loss, grief, love, dreams and growing up. We get to see Otter's grandfather help him from beyond the grave with the bequest he left Otter. It is refreshing to see how Logan wove a wide range of music genres into the story as well.
I highly recommend this entertaining book.
In the show more interest of transparency: I was given a review copy of this book and I am voluntarily sharing this review.
It is my own honest opinion. show less

**** SPOILER ALERT ****
I read/listened to "The Hammer Falls' in Audible narrated most excellently by Charles Kahlenberg, more on him later.
I would encourage you, my fellow readers, to get this book in whatever format that you prefer, hardcopy, ebook, or audio.
In "The Hammer Falls" Heermann gives readers a finely woven tapestry of a story that balances action and exposition.
The author does a superb job of world building and character development.
For those of you that prefer to read this book show more by eye, you can skip this next bit as it's going to focus on the narrator and audio production values of the book.
Mr. Kahlenberg does a fantastic job of bringing the story and characters to life. His delivery puts me in mind of old time radio dramas of the golden age of radio.
As a long time patron of the Talking Book service provided by the Library Of Congress National Library Service, I can personally attest that the choice of a narrator is VITAL to the success of a book as a not so good narrator can destroy a "reader's" enjoyment of a book. Mr. Kahlenberg was a fabulous choice to narrate this book. Other Talking Book patrons will recognize the following as very high praise for Mr. Kahlenberg. Mr. Kahlenberg's narration of "The Hammer Falls" is on a par with that of Bob Askey.
Q: Can Horace survive long enough to save Lilly and the kids?
A: Grab this book and find out!!
In the interest of transparency: I was given a free review copy of this book and I am voluntarily sharing this review.
It is my own honest opinion. show less

Goes down easy like a cold beer on a summer day. Really fun Samurai tale. Fans of Across the Nightingale Floor or Shogun will really enjoy this. I read it in one sitting, really good fun and well written. It's somewhat derivative in tone to Hearn's work, but the book is so well written you won't mind....