The Wolfman by Nicholas Pekearo
by Chadwick Ginther - Monday May 12 2008 10:26 am
Posted in: Reviews, SciFi & Fantasy, Mystery & Crime

Marlowe Higgins is a werewolf. But not the kind of werewolf that has been popularized in recent urban fantasy and pop horror novels. Marlowe can't control his transformation, nor can he control the beast that lives within him. He knows that once a month, whether he wants to or not, someone will die.

Higgins scans newspapers from all over his county, trying to find someone, anyone, who deserves to be hunted by the wolf. If he must kill, let it not be an innocent. Marlowe's wolf finds a worthy target, when The Rose Killer, a notorious serial murderer, arrives in the town of Evelyn.

The Wolfman works as well as a crime novel as it does a horror novel. Other authors -- Tom Piccirilli and Joe R. Lansdale -- have had success with blending the two genres in the past.

Pekearo writes with a gruff dirty prose that evokes both Bukowski and Lansdale. The Wolfman is full of colloquiallisms that make it hard to believe the young author grew up in New York City. The author manages to capture the spirit of the werewolf mythos, while at the same time making some admirable additions. Marlowe Higgins' wolf, for instance, eats its victims spirits as well as flesh. After one past encounter, Marlowe finds he is able to read Proust. In the original French.

Tragically, Pekearo, who worked as an Auxillary Police Officer, was killed in the line of duty on the streets near where he grew up, and the horror genre was robbed of a great new voice.

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