Two of my favorite writers, Gillian Flynn and S.J. Watson, blurbed this
book, and I took that as good omen because these folks know what it
takes to create a tale that will keep a reader up late and glued to the
pages. And Maclean's declared it "a fast paced Exorcist-meets-DaVinci
Code", which sounded hilarious in a way, but, after reading it, I have
to agree.
This is a story of a man, his daughter and something very
demonic, and unnamed. The main character, Professor David Ullman, is an
expert on Milton's Paradise Lost, and has a somewhat
tongue-in-cheek reputation as a demonologist because of it. His
marriage has just dissolved, and he's left with his young and very
withdrawn daughter. So it seems fortuitous when a visitor comes to his
office and asks him to travel to Venice to "witness a
phenomenon"--bringing his daughter was fine and the money offered
staggering. But the phenomenon turned out to be beyond hellish, and was
now attached to him and his daughter. The professor is pushed into more
and more terrifying situations in order to get them free, all the while
appearing a madman to everyone else around him. This book is creepy,
breath-stealing and pretty much impossible to put down. It's not for
the faint of heart, but if you are up to it, it's a riveting read.
Then she opened her mouth to scream—and recognised me. It was what I’d been waiting for. She froze. She looked into my eyes. She said, “It’s you.”
Meet Jake. A bit on the elderly side (he turns 201 in March), but you’d never suspect it. Nonstop sex and exercise will do that for you—and a diet with lots of animal protein. Jake is a werewolf, and after the unfortunate and violent death of his one contemporary, he is now the last of his species. Although he is physically healthy, Jake is deeply distraught and lonely.
Jake’s depression has carried him to the point where he is actually contemplating suicide—even if it means terminating a legend thousands of years old. It would seem to be easy enough for him to end everything. But for very different reasons there are two dangerous groups pursuing him who will stop at nothing to keep him alive.
Here is a powerful, definitive new version of the werewolf legend—mesmerising and incredibly sexy. In Jake, Glen Duncan has given us a werewolf for the twenty-first century—a man whose deeds can only be described as monstrous but who is in some magical way deeply human.
One of the most original, audacious, and terrifying novels in years.
Jackie says: "This is a sophisticated, philosophical, sexy, violent and completely entrancing book. The story is told by Jake Marlowe, a 201 year old werewolf who is just tired of living, though he really has another 200 years in him. When he finds out that he is, indeed, the last werewolf in existence, he decides he'll make it easy for the hunters who have been chasing him all of his life. The first half of the book involve the deep thoughts of a man at the end of his life, his joys, his regrets, etc. It would be dull if Glen Duncan wasn't an amazingly talented writer with the ability to make sentences into masterpieces--this is seriously some of the best writing I've ever encountered. But the second half--it's non-stop action, violence and intrigue that will keep any reader at the edge of their seat late into the night (with the doors locked and the shades pulled--there's a lot to fear in the dark of Duncan's world). This is a bloody novel, and it is not for the faint of heart. But for those of us who love smart horror with a philosophical twist, it's darn near perfect."
