"The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan
published 2011 by Canongate Books

What a great ride. I’ve heard other reviewers use this phrase when talking about a book but until “The Last Werewolf” by Glen Duncan I’ve never had reason to myself. Now I will say it - what a ride. You open the book, read the opening sentence, climb aboard and you’re off. It’s a crazy, sexy, often bloody ride, filled with scotch and second hand smoke, but worth every page. A lot of the scenery is what you’d expect - the London fog, furtive figures in the dark, vampires, eccentric old men, blood and The Curse - but done in such a way that it was as if you were traveling through a country new to you. The vampires for example came, played their part more or less as you expected, but Duncan didn’t get bogged down in their details. He added a twist, gave them their place in the plot then he drove on, leaving them behind as part of that scenery. The question of God comes up, is answered in the only way it seems a werewolf, and maybe any of us can, and still he drives on. The bad guys (and girl) have guns, money, and expensive villas. They plan and manipulate yet are always subject to the whims of supernatural creatures. Duncan even managed to combine an old world love story with a modern decadent one.

He throws the question of morality into the readers face again and again. Which has always been the thing I loved about monster tales. Morality. Frankenstein, it was never his fault who he was, you could never truly blame him for his anger and his rage. Stoker’s Dracula, so alone in the world. Even zombies (shout out here to AMC’s “The Walking Dead”). They certainly didn’t want to be brain eating monsters. They had been people, loved ones. The Fly, Invisible Man, Hulk - none of them chose to be monsters. But once they were, they had to decide how and if they would go on. In Jake Marlow’s case, You live.

“The Last Werewolf” is well written. Arching, literary sentences that swirl around the characters and the action, conjuring up the feelings of debauchery, murder, Hunger, lust, love and fear. Jake Marlow is a character you won’t soon forget. Nor are Harley or Cloquet. Not all are perfect. Tullulah probably rings the most false to me. Her part was so fast and furious it was hard to believe in her. Though her words at the end do redeem the author somewhat. Ellis and Grainer, almost too typical bad guys for me. And the ending? Well, as the road flew by I imagined several destinations, none of which I was sure I wanted to go to. The ride had to end, however. I could wish for someplace else but can’t fault Duncan for where he chose to exit.