The Saint of Wolves and Butchers

LaVoy deftly handles this thriller’s dual timelines, concealing then revealing elements increasing the breathtaking tension. In the 1950s, Paradise Flats, Kansas became a haven for escaping Nazis including the Mengele-esque “Rudy Goodman”. Present day State Trooper Skottie Foster is surprised “Nazi hunters” like Travis Roan with his impressive dog Bear still exist. As Roan investigates, the Purity Church, founded by Rudy, threatens Trooper Foster’s family. LaVoy's voice acting is masterfully displayed as she believably creates the psychopathic Rudy, a coldly reserved Roan, and the invested, dedicated Foster. LaVoy varies cadence, pitch, and accent to create unique voices for the entire town, most eloquently displayed during show more a communal faith healing. Grecian crafted a complex political conspiracy to rival le Carré, with two heroes struck from the molds of Child's mysterious stranger Reacher and Connelly's Bosch, a good cop who’s willing to bend the rules. Listeners will hope Roan and Foster team up for further adventures!

The improved review was published in Booklist July 2018 issue. show less

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The Saint of Wolves and Butchers by Alex Grecian is a novel which follows a man and his dog hunting Nazis. Mr. Grecian wrote several novels about the Scotland Yard, as well as a few graphic novels.

Travis Roan and his dog go to Kansas on the trail of a sadist Nazi concentration camp doctor who have disappeared for decades. As the case progresses, Roan finds that Rudolph Bormann, aka Rudy Goodman, has some powerful friends in his small town who believe he possess god-like powers.

The Saint of Wolves and Butchers by Alex Grecian is a fun and exciting read. I really enjoyed the cast of characters and their dynamics in this book. Not only of the protagonist, Travis show more Roan, and his associates, but also the antagonist, an nasty evil man, and his circle of believers, protectors and family.

The author wrote in a Tibetan Mastiff as a fully fledged character in this book which I thought he managed to pull through, even though I’ve had my doubts. If you don’t know what one of these beasts looks like, check it out, they are enormous.

The book does jump in time, but not much. Most of the novel takes place in Kansas, with jumps here and there to World War II exploring the past of Rudolph Bormann, a sadistic Nazi doctor bent on experimenting on his unwilling “patients”.

The second half of the book involves more police procedurals and action. I found the end to be a bit improbable and would have preferred it to be less “fantastic”, for lack of a better word.

I did, however, enjoy reading the book very much. I hope this will become a series continuing the adventures of Travis Roan, his massive dog Bear, and Trooper Skottie. show less

Alex Grecian leaves Victorian London behind and tries his hand at a very different type of fiction with his latest novel, "The Saint of Wolves and Butchers." This thriller, which moves back and forth between decades, is the story of Rudolph Bormann, a sadist who experimented on helpless inmates in a Nazi concentration camp before escaping to Argentina. With wealth that he stole from the Jews, this fiend, now known as Rudy Goodman, moves to the United States, buys land, and eventually establishes a church in Kansas. His marries, has children, and continues his perverted activities in secret, along with like-minded accomplices.

The heroine is Skottie Foster, an African-American trooper with the Kansas Highway Patrol who is raising her show more daughter, Maddie, with the help of Skottie's mother, Emmaline. Travis Roan, a Nazi hunter, arrives in Kansas to search for his missing father and locate the infamous Bormann. Roan's dog, Bear, is a huge and loveable mastiff. Bear can be a gentle giant or frightening force of nature, depending on whether his beloved master is being threatened.

This book does not fulfill its early promise. First, the chronology is confusing; Grecian's flashbacks leave us more bewildered than enlightened. In addition, the cookie-cutter villains are so one-dimensional that they are impossible to take seriously. Skottie, Travis, and Bear, on the other hand, are likable enough, and they face a host of physical and emotional ordeals with courage and tenacity. There are a few surprises along the way—one man whom we thought was evil turns out, with little prior indication, to be a decent human being. Unfortunately, Grecian throws too many ingredients into the mix, including abduction, torture, religious mysticism, corruption, and family dysfunction. "The Saints of Wolves and Butchers" is a grim and unconvincing mishmash of incongruent elements that fails to come together as a satisfying whole.
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This book grabs you from page one and never lets you go. It starts off with a bus ride and a Nazi Rudolph Bormann making the trip up from South America to Kansas and meeting up with fellow German Jacob Meyer who helps him set up a life in Paradise Flats. The two will form a ranch together and raise children though Rudolph, now Rudy Goodman's wife will die in childbirth with the third child. For the most part he keeps his children out of his business. Such as experimenting on humans like he did in the camps. Then he gets hit by lightning and decides to start a church where he "heals" people and starts a flock of believers of the "purity doctrine". His son Heimleich helps to run the church.

But then someone recognizes him and calls the show more Roan Foundation a group that hunts down Nazis and other assorted bad guys. They sent Ransom Roan the head of the foundation but he disappeared. So his son Dr. Travis Roan has arrived to find out what has happened to his father and to find out what this elderly woman has to say. Then it turns out the woman is dead. As are two other local people who have been brutally murdered. Someone has experimented on them before killing them.

Travis has met state trooper Skottie Foster who is the only black female officer on the state trooper roster. She agrees to go out to meet the elderly woman. Instead, they meet with her daughter and uncover a diary she left behind for her daughter detailing her experiences with Bormann when she was a guard at Ravenbrook but went to Mauthausen-Gusen to send some prisoners there as prostitutes and came under the scrutiny of the "wolf" Bormann. She doesn't read the whole thing to him which is in their special code because it's too painful but promises to read more to them later.

Travis and his dog, Bear, have come to the attention of the local sheriff Goodman, a racist against every race including his own at times, who tries to use force against him to warn him off and winds up on the ground having it used against him. But when Bear finds one of the bodies in the lake he is arrested by Goodman and his deputy Plunket who are both attacked by Bear

first. More like knocked over by Bear before Travis calls him off and tells him to disappear. They arrest Travis for no real reason other than that they don't like him and hold him for the maximum amount of time they can hold him. Skottie meanwhile has agreed to take Bear home with her to her mother's home with her ten-year-old daughter Maddy who immediately falls in love with Bear. But Travis isn't done looking into the Nazi case and now he's looking into the church angle too. And Skottie is getting pissed at being told to back off and leave this alone by everyone so she's helping him especially when things go sideways and the bad guys get serious who they'll hurt.

This is an excellent read that just flies right by and will keep you up nights reading it. I love the characters of Travis who's been through so much and is filled with so much anger and is trying to control it and keep a cool head and think ahead of the bad guy. Also, Skottie who must deal with her estranged husband who has decided to just now making an appearance and her stubborn mother and her precocious daughter who can't go a day without getting in trouble at school. The plot seems fantastical but not too much to be plausible. I really loved this book and I give it five out of five stars. show less

I've read several of this author's Scotland Yard's Murder Squad and thoroughly enjoyed them. However, this book which (I hope) is setting up a new series of a new agency that is set up to find, capture and punish Nazi war criminals.

Rudolph Bormann, now Rudy Goodman, (what a play on words this name change is) was a Nazi doctor and concentration camp administrator prior to illegally entering the U.S. in the 1950's. He has now set up a "cult" that applies a lot of the Nazi principles. This is one helluva despicable man. The things he has been doing since he's been in the U.S. are startling, jaw dropping and out there.

He's recently been discovered by a camp survivor and turned into the foundation that was set up to find these criminals. show more Travis Roan and his dog, Bear, have been charged with finding his father who had set out to check up on these allegations when he went missing.

There is a heck of a lot of action going on in this book and I was held spellbound. I sped through this book, my anger at this Nazi and his actions ran rampant. A book I thoroughly enjoyed and was, quite frankly, a little sad to see it end. I really like these new characters, Travis and Skottie and hope I do see more of them.

Also, the lightning trick at the end of the book - GENIUS!!

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. show less

This is a great, fast-paced read, full of suspense. I think I partially enjoyed it because it's set in Kansas and references a lot of towns I know. It also has a unique storyline with Nazis and a big fluffy dog. Not a cute story by any means, but if you like suspense and thrillers, you'll enjoy this one.

Decent. Not as deep or warm as Red Rabbit, some minor technical and firearm errors - but has an adorable dog as a main character, and the theocratic Nazis get justice - so those are pluses.