Review: Very Enjoyable
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 10, 2013
Have you ever wondered if the paranormal stories aren't just stories? Maybe the shifters, vampires, and the like truly live amongst us, very quietly. I oftentimes will find myself eyeballing people to see if I can discover something not quite human. Crazy, right? If they do exist, I'd like to be a werewolf or a large cat breed. But, I sure don't want to experience the scary nightmare that Leon goes through just because he accepted a ride from a stranger and the stranger thought he was someone else. The description of the story intrigued me because in just about every single paranormal story I've ever read, the shifters can always spot their own kind, pretty much immediately, so discovering that J.L. Merrow had created a different world was something I had to see. That wasn't the only new and unusual thing to find in this world the author created, though.Leon has pretty much fallen down the rabbit hole and it doesn't look like he's coming out anytime soon. Leon is a drifter, moving from place to place, working any crappy job for money and moving on when he gets bored. He got disillusioned pretty early in life and hence has real issues with trust and love. Of course, now after he's woken up and discovered he's been changed into a werewolf, he's thinking his parents had the right idea and he should've finished college and gotten a regular job. The pack leader, Schreiber, has a small pack, only seven of them, and he seems to be just a little militant. In fact, he used to be a border guard when the Berlin Wall was still up. That mentality doesn't work very well for Leon as he's pretty sarcastic, snarky, and an overall smart-aleck, at the best of times.When Leon discovers Christoph, the man who bit him, locked in a very small silver cage with the side of his face having been destroyed by claws, punishment for having changed Leon without Schreiber's permission, Leon releases him and they escape. Christoph was changed by Schreiber because, basically, the pack needed a larger home and Schreiber liked the looks of Christoph's. Schreiber also "allowed" Christoph to keep his day job as an architect because the pack could use the extra income. Nice guy, huh?Now Leon and Christoph are trying to stay hidden and get money to get out of Berlin, or so Leon thinks, until Christoph shows him e-mail files he hacked from Schreiber with implications that a scientist created their half man, half wolf form. Christoph wants to go after Schreiber and then find the doctor and put an end to his experimenting. Leon isn't so sure about that, he's pretty convinced he's just a coward at heart, but he also can't leave Christoph alone.This was an interesting story. The writing was what I've come to expect from this author as was her protagonist, Leon, in that he was real. Real in the way anyone would be in this situation. The whole story is gritty and dynamic with such an unusual take on werewolves. I enjoyed it.NOTE: This book was provided by Samhain Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.