The Hunt is On in Maberry's The Wolfman

"The hunt is eternal." -The Wolfman, Jonathan Maberry

Jonathan Maberry's The Wolfman is novelization of the 2010 movie by the same name. I've never seen the movie, so I went into this book blind and having no idea what would happen. This is also the first book I've read by Maberry and I was not disappointed. However, I find the book difficult to critique because the plot is based on the movie's screenplay, so I'm not sure how fair it is to critique Maberry's ideas when they were taken directly from something else, but I'll give it a whirl.

The novel begins with Ben Talbot's story and the poor man running desperately through the woods immediately grabbed my attention.

"Ben heard the sound of his own death. He saw the flash of claws as they tore at him." -The Wolfman, Maberry

But we soon learn this is not Ben's story, but rather the story of his brother Lawrence. And so we delve into a 19th century novel that takes place in England, which are two things that sell me immediately. Maberry's descriptions of the cursed land of Blackmoor and Talbot Hall are beautiful in their Gothic imagery. I loved getting lost in the setting and overall mood of the piece.

I loved Lawrence's characterization. Handsome, tragic, hero who fate has not been kind to and is thrown into a setting of isolation in a crumbling home? I'll read that any day. Add to the fact that our tragic hero saw his mother's dead body, violently lost his brother, and was thrown into an asylum (twice!), and hell, how can you not have some sympathy for the poor guy? To top it all off, the man gets bitten by his father, the werewolf, and transforms into a murderous wolfman and can't even remember the bloody damage he causes during the transformations. Ouch. Talk about a bad night. 

Maberry's beautiful language and descriptions drive home that sympathy for Lawrence and I found myself rooting for the guy the whole way through, even though his death was inescapable.

Foreshadowing is another aspect that was used well in the novel. Lawrence receiving the walking cane/secret rapier with the wolf's head on the handle was obvious in its symbolism and Lawrence's fate, but I loved the indication anyway. I especially enjoyed the way the rapier resurfaced throughout the story, particularly at the end after Inspector Aberline has been bit and he's holding the cane, looking at the moon, and he realizes his inevitable, unfortunate fate from being bit by the wolfman.

"Aberline raised the rapier and looked at the reflection of his own eyes in the slender mirror-bright

blade. Then he raised his eyes and stared at the laughing face of the Goddess of the Hunt." -The Wolfman, Maberry

One critique I did have was the love interest. Is it uncommon to read a book set in this time period where the brother falls in love with his dead brother's fiance? Not at all. However, I had a difficult time really investing in the "love" between Lawrence and Gwen. Even so, I think Maberry handled it well (and again I have no idea what goes down in the movie), but there was something bittersweet about the wolfman never getting the girl he thought he truly wanted. However, the scene near the end where Lawrence gathers up his determination to take down his malevolent father would have been more poignant for me if his motivation was more for the sake of Ben and their mother as opposed to for Gwen because of his father's apparent lust for the girl. I just had some trouble buying into that scene.

Otherwise, I enjoyed the novel and will definitely be checking out the movie and more books from Maberry.