The Wolfen

Rating:
Summary: Strieber's Early Work Shines
Review: The Wolfen makes for a fast, easy and highly entertaining read. Strieber deftly weaves werewolf legends, NYC politics and hardbitten homicide cops into a suspenseful tale that's gauranteed to please.

Rating:
Summary: Strieber's Early Work Shines
Review: The Wolfen makes for a fast, easy and highly entertaining read. Strieber deftly weaves werewolf legends, NYC politics and hardbitten homicide cops into a suspenseful tale that's gauranteed to please.

Rating:
Summary: Don't see the movie.
Review: This is a great book that has probably suffered by being associated with a terrible movie. The movie singularly failed to capture the essence of the Wolfen, that they are intelligent human predators who cull the dregs of our industrial urban society. They are a species with high intelligence and a rich quality of life, they have opposable thumbs and can climb better than a chimpanzee. Imagine an animal with the intelligence of a chimp and the hearing and smell of a dog, armed with the teeth of a wolf and claws with opposable thumbs. Imagine that animal stalking you in the dark alleys at four in the morning as you stumble home drunk from a party, and imagine that he already knows that you live alone and that no one will miss you if you disappear off the face of the earth. From your smell he already knows that you drink too much and he has decided to discard your sclerotic liver as soon as he makes his kill. Don't bother running, you are already dead meat.

Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: Two hardened NYC detectives, with a complicated relationship, stumble across a series of brutal murders and mysterious disappearances. Assigned to the case, they find themselves on the trail of predators who have hidden themselves from men so effectively, they are mentioned only in terrifying legends. As the impossible reality dawns on the two detectives, they find themselves targeted by a pack of highly intelligent creatures that will do anything to protect their race. They are The Wolfen. And they consider humans easy prey... This is a classic take on the werewolf legend. I was 12 or 13 when the book came out and I remember it scaring the hell out of me. The novel is well researched and has a gritty modern day reality to it; from the details of police work to theories on animal intelligence and wolf behavior. Strieber's approach is very credible and very scary. I'll admit, I prefer my werewolves as traditional man/wolf hybrids, but this was a fun read and a must for horror fans.