Wednesday, October 03, 2007

That they aren't Werewolves is a little weak


I'm a little bit of a wimp. I tend to stay away from things that fall into the horror genre. Like most everyone else, I did go through that phase where I read a ton of Stephen King (for the record my favs are The Stand & Bag of Bones) and reluctantly watched horror flicks (the original Psycho just made me laugh)...but... generally? I don't need those images knocking around my noggin. The fact that I now live alone... ok, yeah. That has something to do with it. There's no one to check behind the shower curtain or in the closets for me. No one to hear me scream...

Anyway. This is a book blog, right? In theory. If you've had any contact with Little Willow ANY CONTACT AT ALL, you will know that she's the Christopher Golden Proselytizer. She will eventually wear you down and you will have no choice to read him. Now, I had read, oh, 13 Golden titles (Body of Evidence & Outcast series) before I "met" LW. THIS DOES NOT STOP HER*. So, I gave in and read Prowlers.

Jack's life isn't carefree or easy, but he's happy. When his best friend gets brutally murdered, then shows up as a ghost, well, Jack's life gets even harder. He must avenge his friend's death in order to save the ones he loves, because the Prowlers are on to him, and they are amassing in numbers not seen in centuries...

Dude's got it down. It is the perfect genre book. It is exactly what you expect it will be. The tone is dark and a little gritty. It's not scary, but there's a discernible tension. Honestly, a lot like Stephenie Meyer's books are (minus the romance). More... paranormally thrilling than anything else. It's very much a crime thriller, just with ghosts and werewolves (fine. Prowlers.). The thing that always makes it fun to read a Golden book is that he writes so visually. I genuinely feel as though I'm reading something that belongs on the TV screen. This (as with Body of Evidence) could totally be a show. I'd watch it (but I want BoE first).

My only real issue (if you haven't already figured it out) is that we can't just call the dang monsters werewolves. So they don't change by the light o' the silvery moon. So they never were technically human. I don't care. They change into toothy, hairy beasties. Call the spade, people. They're werewolves.

LW didn't mention that it's a quartet until AFTER I read the book. It's not a waste of time. Golden never seems to be one. It's fun.

*LW, you KNOW I love you.

5 comments:

Little Willow said...

Lucky 13!

I don't stop.

That's one of the reasons why I love the concept of Prowlers so much: because they are a twist on the 'standard' werewolf, because Golden made them his own.

Molly and Courtney want you to read the other three books. Artie totally wants you to read them, because you have to learn more about the conspiracy. Oh, and Bill? Bill wants you to read them too.

While in Boston, Chris showed me some of the real life locations from BoE and Prowlers. It was AMAZING to be right there. Oh, and Jack was there, and he told ME to tell YOU to read the books.

:)

HOUSEPLANT!

Anonymous said...

Wait, there's more than one book?

I didn't know that either.

Little Willow said...

Prowlers by Christopher Golden should be read in this order:
Prowlers
Laws of Nature
Predator and Prey
Wild Things

Jackie: Chris says thank you for this post. :)

Jackie Parker said...

I writes the truth. 'Cept when I'm lying. But even then, I can't help but fess up. ;)

Ms. Yingling said...

I'll have to look at these. If you want werewolves without too much horror, pick up LaFever's Werewolf Rising. It's been very popular.