BLOOD RED MOON

A virtuous werewolf faces off against a murderous pack of his own kind in Allen’s horror novel.

History professor Caleb Jacobsen becomes a consultant for the police, and his psychologist friend, Russell Slater, is helping authorities investigate a rash of brutal murders in Washington state. But Caleb can assist in a way he stays mum about: He’s a 180-year-old immortal werewolf. When the victims’ mutilated bodies look mauled by animals, he suspects homicidal lycanthropes aren’t abiding by the moral code Caleb follows. Sure enough, he runs across a young, hotheaded werewolf who’s killing humans as part of a pack. These serial murders share similarities to homicides throughout history, including the Civil War era, back when Caleb was still human. In the present day, the killer pack’s leader, “the Master,” has a nefarious plan underway that’s tantamount to genocide. Caleb’s lupine intuition may prove detrimental; though he’s a lone wolf who doesn’t respond to threats, the Master can just as easily set his sights on Russell as well as zoologist Marla Moreno, Russell’s cousin and Caleb’s new love interest. Allen offers a character-driven werewolf tale. He meticulously develops Russell and Caleb as besties as well as the werewolf’s budding romance with Marla. The tale introduces an assortment of villains, from the Master, who has history with Caleb, to Diane, a “werewolf groupie”—a well-drawn human woman who longs for the Master to turn her. Readers know so much, in fact, that it occasionally diminishes suspense. While there’s not much action in the novel’s first half, Allen delivers the goods later with copious wolf-on-wolf fights—exhilarating scenes bursting with teeth, claws, and violence.

An impressive cast leads this absorbing lycanthropic story.