Wolf Land – Jonathan Janz
Reviewed By Steve Stred
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: FLAME TREE PRESS (March 14, 2019)
“She shivered and let her eyes rove over the partygoers.”
It pains me at just how long it takes me to read physical books these days. I can read an ebook on my Kindle in two-three days typically, sometimes in one sitting, but I typically can get in maybe 15-30 mins of actual physical copy reading a week.
Which is why it took me sooooo long to get through Wolf Land.
I was over the moon to snag 5 Flametree books in their Fourth of July sale and had been wanting to read Wolf Land for some time. So, I jumped on this one ASAP.
As you may know from reading my reviews/interviews etc, I’m a big-time werewolf fan and Janz delivers an epic tale of werewolf carnage.
We start off with a great opening, giving us some folklore to ease us in and then Janz literally throws us into the fire. The book brings us to a small town, back yard field party where the bonfire is raging and alcohol is flowing. I enjoyed how we were introduced both to the bit players but also the main characters and Janz intertwined their histories nicely.
What I loved about Wolf Land was how Janz gave us the George RR Martin treatment – no characters were safe. The ones you think will undoubtedly be around for all 300ish pages are slaughtered left and right and it worked really well to keep the reader on their toes.
I wish we were given more of the original back story/folklore, but by the end of the book, Jonathan had filled in a lot of the gaps and really gave us the origin story as well as the present-day story.
The climactic scene is an action movie lover’s paradise, with the descriptions coming fast and furious. I felt the tension build and rise as it played out and you could always feel how giddy the author was while writing much of this book.
I’ve joked on social media a bunch of times about this being the year Janz has 642 releases, but the fact he keeps putting out such high-quality stuff is very inspiring to writers but also makes for a fun time for fans and readers. If you’re not reading Janz yet, this would be a great spot to start the journey, and if you’ve been a longtime fan, but this is still sitting on your TBR, now’s a great time to bump it up to the top.
Insanely, I still have to read ‘The Siren and the Spectre’ and ‘Exorcist Falls,’ but also snagged ‘Dust Devils’ and ‘Savage Species’ in paperback from the Flametree sale, so have those two physicals to read!
Janz has catapulted himself high up my “an author I’m guaranteed to read” list and he should be on your list as well.
Wolf Land
Aside from a quaint amusement park, the small town of Lakeview offers little excitement for Duane, Savannah, and their friends. They re about to endure their ten-year high school reunion when their lives are shattered by the arrival of an ancient, vengeful evil.
The werewolf.
The first attack leaves seven dead and four wounded. And though the beast remains on the loose and eager to spill more blood, the sleepy resort town is about to face an even greater terror. Because the four victims of the werewolf s fury are changing. They’re experiencing unholy desires and unimaginable cravings. They ll prey on the innocent and the depraved. They ll settle old scores and act on their basest desires. Soon, they’ll plunge the entire town into nightmare.
Lakeview is about to become Wolf Land.
You can buy Wolf Land from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred writes dark, bleak horror fiction.
Steve is the author of the novels Invisible & The Stranger, the novellas The Girl Who Hid in the Trees, Wagon Buddy, Yuri and Jane: the 816 Chronicles and two collections of short stories; Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery and Left Hand Path: 13 More Tales of Black Magick, and the dark poetry collection Dim the Sun.
On September 1st, 2019 his second collection of dark poetry and drabbles called The Night Crawls In arrived. This release was specifically created to help fund the 1st Annual LOHF Writers Grant.
Steve is also a voracious reader, reviewing everything he reads and submitting the majority of his reviews to be featured on Kendall Reviews.
Steve Stred is based in Edmonton, AB, Canada and lives with his wife, his son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
You can visit Steve’s Official website here
Darn it. I missed the sale for this one. I love my werewolves and will be snatching this soon. Great review! This would have been great for my Thrills And Chills feature I’m doing all this month.