Review: Werewoles Are Real, This Book Proves It!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 3, 2014
Robert Clark’s “Lycanthrope” is an urban fantasy story that that vacillates between unique victims/survivors and a dense police procedural, drawing on much of the werewolf mythology.  Clark has certainly done his homework, and is not afraid to show it off to the reader.Clark’s writing is fluent and easy to follow, although the plot gets bogged down repeatedly in overly pedantic conversation and police investigation.  When a group of college friends get onto the subject of werewolves, they seem to inadvertently stumble upon a way of calling (or turning one of their number) into the dangerous beast.  One by one, the friends start to die under the teeth and claws of the creature from myth, even as local police, led by Detective Gree, attempt to fathom exactly what’s going on.“Lycanthrope” starts with a basic premise that the titular characters lycanthropes (werewolves) are real, and then works forward.  He diligently details the mythology and the plausibility of all the stories from nearly every culture that contains the creatures, at times to the detriment of both his characters and his plot.  The plot itself is very straightforward, but with so many characters so quickly introduced, it’s easy to get lost in the details.  Additionally, Clark does an excellent job providing the day-to-day slog of police work.  He points out nearly every aspect of where the TV procedurals get it all wrong, but at times this also slows down the plot to a mere crawl.Clark creates and maintains a dark, sinister tone from start to finish, one that readers of the genre will certainly enjoy.  But the book could have benefited greatly from stronger editing to trim away the fat of the Clark’s impressive research into the two areas, and marry the story of the targeted college students with Detective Gree and his police work.  “Lycanthrope” is interesting as primer to the details of both sides of the story: police procedural and urban fantasy/horror.  As a reader, I would have liked Clark to boil down the number of characters into a more manageable and relatable group.  It may be hard for some readers to get past the larger and enjoy the horror and danger of the story.