Grant is back in form. Much better than [b:The Soft Whisper Of The Dead|363141|The Soft Whisper Of The Dead|Charles L. Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1297118834s/363141.jpg|353225]. The earliest Oxrun Station novel taking place in 1862. The suspense is maintained throughout even as the body count piles up and the list of potential werewolves narrows. Grant's prose takes a step back up from Whisper as well. Ending becomes fairly predictable even as the moronic Stockton can't seem to figure it out. Twist end is good and even caught me (things never turn out well in The Station).

Bonus: cover has a standard werewolf in a polo shirt (in 1862!) that has nothing to do with the monster in the novel who is supposed to be 10 feet tall and as white as a polar bear. ( )

Obviously in the same vein (pardon the pun) as [book:The Soft Whisper of the Dead|1527532]. Yet another classic monster rolls into town, and the bodies pile up.

And while I enjoyed this one as well, with some interesting set pieces and characters, it was very much like Soft Whisper ...a bit too much, when it came to plot. I won't spoil it, but when I found out the end, I will say I was a touch disappointed.

Then there's the fact that this book takes place almost twenty years prior to Soft Whisper. For me that caused two minor problems.

The first is, why wasn't this the first book? C'mon, Grant, let's get your chronology in order, man!

The second, though, is that it made me re-examine Soft Whisper, wondering why Lucas Stockton, the hero of this book, made no mention of these supernatural events when his son Ned came upon them in Soft Whisper, eighteen years later.

Or, oh hell, I don't know, maybe Ned might have referenced the memory of a werewolf crashing into his home when he was just fifteen years old? Something? Anything?

My point here is, if you're going to connect the books by placing the same characters in them and placing them in the same unfortunate locale as Oxrun Station, then do the work and link them better.

As for the novel itself, however, gotta say, Grant did all right by the werewolves. They were vicious, they were evil, and there was no backstory to cast them in a better light (again, pardon the pun). He wanted them bad, and he made them bad.

That alone earns the four stars. ( )

Liked this one almost as much as the first in the trilogy. It has that same wonderful eerie, gothic atmosphere that you'd expect and well rounded believable characters that hold your interest well enough. I found this second book a little slower going to start with, but it soon gets into it's stride and although it certainly doesn't hurtle to it's conclusion, it saunters quite nicely to a satisfactory ending. I like the open-ended hint at something more, something lingering that leaves you wondering if that's really it, or if we've only been led to believe it's over, but really...

I'll take great pleasure in diving straight into the third in this trilogy now, and it's one I'm particularly looking forward to. The Long Night of the Grave. Who doesn't love Mummies?

Great novel. Docked one star for the slower build up. Still a great novel though.
( )

Fun werewolf story that felt like an old Universal monster movie but with just slightly more sex and blood. The book was a really quick read and while the plot held very few surprises, it was a quite enjoyable read if you're a fan of classic monster fare. Recommended! ( )