I don’t often lose track of time when reading but with this one I did that twice. I found this book at my local used bookstore in its very sparse horror section (always overstuffed with King and Koontz) a few months ago. I got around to reading it due to the spooky season and was not disappointed though there are some caveats.
The story and its twists are very interesting, and the mystery of the main werewolf’s actual identity and history, which he has since forgotten due to the wear of centuries on the human brain, is very compelling. The idea that werewolves are completely invulnerable, do not eat or drink, and are immortal is interesting. So is the explanation of the mark of the pentagram a werewolf sees on their victim which here dooms the marked to becoming werewolves for a very specific reason. I really liked that one as it’s a reference to the 1941 film The Wolf Man, and I like the classic Universal monsters. This is where it also starts to get a little deep into the religious angle for my comfort. However, it does keep the talk of Christian faith in the mouths of the characters just as it does with the vile hate speech of the fascist villains.
A major theme that seemed to come out of the text and underly the story and drive the plot was that faith in God is demonstrated by sacrificing your life in service of “good” even though you will fail anyway. This just seems wasteful and idiotic to me. This is made plain through the kidnapped minister, John Neville, and his wife, Louisa the cousin of the story’s neo-Nazi primary villain, Bracher. John Neville turns, too quickly, into a sniveling coward that partakes in the neo-Nazi’s experimental brutality in their werewolf research out of both personal curiosity and fear for his own life, reduced ultimately to a cowering plot device. His wife on the other hand remains a stalwart and verbal resistor against her cousin even though he threatens to kill her, regularly proclaiming her faith and Christianity. She is given the choice to possibly sacrifice herself to kick off the climax, the same choice given her husband at about the same point which she passes, and he fails. However, she has reasonable doubt that she may survive her “test” whereas her husband knows he will die if he does not fail a test of faith of which he is completely unaware. He reasonably struggles to survive an impossible situation. I think the author just decided to make him a participant in the medical atrocities in order to paint him just as dirty as the villains of the piece. I would have enjoyed a bit more characterization on Neville’s part, a little grayer, not just a black and white paintbrush which is the outlook on the world from this particular story. It is also here where the author seems to conflate the fallacy of nazis as atheistic and secular. However, werewolves versus Nazis and the classic Universal horror movies had strong religious elements as well, so I guess I can let these gripes go. The conflation of Atenism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity is also questionable (at least to me), but it does serve the story, so I guess I can let this one go as well.
Overall, I did like this book but for a few points as already mentioned. I always love pitting modern science against the supernatural but finding a solution that spits in its face and that confirms the religious sucks. I could have gone for a solution to the supernatural through science but that does not directly contradict the religious, but the book does not do that. Who knew the secret to defeating immortal, invulnerable werewolves was for them to find salvation in the lord? Blech. Would I recommend this one? Yeah, if you want a werewolf versus nazis cheesy horror story this works. ( )