Wolfman

**I officially feel stupid. I wrote and saved this last week and forgot to hit publish. Only found it when I logged in to start writing about The Thing. Apologies for the lateness.**

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about The Wolfman. Compared to Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf, I don't think it quite holds up. Looking at them side by side, I didn't think either of them was particularly scary; I did, however, enjoy King's characters a bit more. So, maybe I should approach this post by saying The Wolfman is a bit below what I was expecting, especially since I enjoy Jonathan Mayberry's writing.

There are several "background" elements here that could have enhanced the monster. We have a town full of superstition and mistrust, the perfect environment for a werewolf to thrive. We have passing gypsies, which adds a flair of the exotic. We have a famous detective who chased down The Ripper. There's a mysterious death, a dysfunctional family, and a lot of intrigue. And yet, I didn't feel that level of fear and anticipation that I expect from horror stories. I will say here that, as it's nearing Halloween, I've been watching an abundance of horror films. And I think that overdoing any genre can take some of the impact away, just like adding many sequels to a story can ruin a character/monster/etc. So, my "blah" attitude about this novel may be, in part, because I've overdosed on horror in the month of October. However, I don't think Mayberry's approach is doing anything to help. Throughout the whole book, the plot was kind of predictable. The brother, Lawrence, becomes a werewolf. The gypsies, the ones who are seen as exotic, know about it. The detectives can't figure it out. This is typical of a werewolf story, and coming from Mayberry, I expected something surprising. On that front, he didn't deliver.

Reading this reminded me of a movie I just saw called Wolf with Jack Nicholson. He *gasp* turns into a werewolf, and consults a Native American (not gypsy, but close) about his condition. The Native American, of course, knows all about it. And does nothing to stop the transformation from man into beast. I'm seeing an echo in plot here, and because it was so easy to draw parallels between the two, I felt that some of the excitement was zapped out of Mayberry's tale.

I think another problem with the monster here is he is so humanized. It's hard not to feel sympathy for him, at least at some points. I mean, the gypsies even insist that he must be saved because he is noble, because he sacrificed his life for one of their children, that killing him would make them sinners. Killing a beast does not make someone a sinner, so the gypsy assertion that it is wrong to kill this werewolf automatically separates him from your typical beasts. It makes it OK to see the monster in this book as human. It makes it OK to sympathize with him. It makes it hard to really fear him. Yes, he slaughters people. But then he feels guilt, another human trait.

However, his guilt let me draw another parallel, this time to King's Cycle of the Werewolf. Lawrence says he wants to kill himself, but never does, much like the werewolf in King's story realizes he should be put down but justifies staying alive. Not exactly the same, but similar. Mayberry's characters feel more guilt, in my opinion, which makes them even more human. At least in his refusal to commit suicide, the priest in King's story became more monstrous. It revealed his evil nature. Mayberry's werewolf becomes, at times, more human through his guilt.

I think this is a shame, because Mayberry's description of the wolves themselves is badass. They came off as scary, they just didn't have the human counterparts to back that fear up. The wolves are super tall, super nasty, and supernatural. Great start for a monster, I think the story just fell flat whenever it wasn't a full moon.