The Howling is the third book in the Annie Jackson Mystery series … and sees Annie once again thrust into danger. This time she’s been tempted out of seclusion by an old foe – with the promise that if she finds a child this person was forced to abandon at birth, they will help Annie end the curse that blights her life once and for all.
The boy, now a man, dreamed of being a wolf – dreams linked to another boy centuries ago who was burned at the stake for succumbing to his wolfen urges.
The Howling is not a werewolf novel as such – but the human/wolf connection is an enduring fictional trope – and what’s not to love? In no particular order, here are some examples of this fictional device …
The Wolf’s Hour by Robert McCammon
First published in 1989, The Wolf’s Hour combines history, folklore, and myth. McCammon’s hero is Michael Gallatin, who was born into the Russian aristocracy, but was changed and raised by a pack of werewolves. Offering his ‘talents’ to the Allied cause, Michael becomes a secret weapon aimed at the destruction of Hitler and his Thousand Year Reich. This book manages to be both a historical thriller and a brilliant re-imagining of the traditional werewolf tale, by a superb author who has been criminally overlooked in recent times.
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The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan (Part one of Last Werewolf Trilogy)
For two centuries Jacob Marlowe has wandered the world, enslaved by his lunatic appetites and tormented by the memory of his first and most monstrous crime. Now, the last of his kind, he knows he can’t go on. But as Jake counts down to his demise, a violent murder and an extraordinary meeting plunge him straight back into the desperate pursuit of life.
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The Wolf’s Gift by Anne Rice
“Anne Rice reinvented the vampire legend. Discover what she’s done with the werewolf myth.”
After a brutal attack, journalist Reuben Goulding finds himself changing. His hair is longer, his skin is more sensitive and he can hear things he never could before. Now he must confront the beast within him or lose himself completely. He flees the authorities, DNA analysts and the media, while trying to unpick the mystery of the mansion where he was attacked and turned into a werewolf.
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The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore
A horror novel as well as a work of historical fiction, The Werewolf of Paris follows Bertrand Caillet, the eponymous werewolf, throughout the tumultuous events of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune of 1870–71. Some literature experts have compared this book with Dracula by Bram Stoker, identifying it as the Dracula of werewolf fiction. Apparently, inspiration for the novel came from the true story of the French general, Francois Bertrand – the infamous ‘necrophilic sergeant’ or ‘the vampire of Montparnasse’. Between 1848 and 1849, Bertrand experienced so-called brutal fits that led to acts of necrophilia and cannibalism in several French cemeteries.
What do you think? Are there other werewolf novels that you’ve read and loved and would like to share with the world?
Michael J. Malone is the author of The Howling, the third book in the Annie Jackson Mysteries series, which include The Murmurs and The Torments, published by Orenda Books.
