Well, wasn't this a dismal little piece of crap. It took me forever to finish, because I just kept hoping it might actually develop a story.

I was wrong.

I truly do not understand all the glowing four and five-star reviews for this. Did you all read a different, well-written, well-edited version that I didn't get? Because lord god amighty, this stank.

There's so much to unpack here, but let's try and pull it all out a piece at a time, shall we?

First, there's the seemingly never-ending character introductions at the beginning, where we learn way way way too much about characters that we don't even care about yet (and some will be killed off very soon...so, again, why the page-padding characterization for what amounts to a red shirt?). And, despite all this wasted effort, Janz populates the first half of the book with characters so interchangeable that it's tough to keep them all straight. Which one was Joyce? Savannah? Melody? Jessica? What about Glenn? Mike? And Weezer and Short Pump?

I truly think Barb, who doesn't show up until more like 2/3 of the way through, was the only likeable character I ran across in the entire novel.

Let's also talk about Duane aka Short Pump. He's overweight (his weight is specifically given as 270 pounds), and he's been a loser all his life. And yet, amongst all of that hand-wringing characterization we get at the beginning, and the absolutely ludicrous conversations we get between him and Savannah later on, we really get no sense of motivation for why he suddenly becomes heroic, leading man material. He's completely unbelievable.

Also unbelievable—and somewhat nauseating—was how virtually every single male in this novel was painted as horny as dog in heat. Every one. Glenn. Duane. Weezer. Mike. Melody's entire family. And Janz kept hitting that button, and hitting it, and hitting it, and hitting it. Honestly, I am the least prudish person you're going to meet today, but this was so over the top, I didn't understand why he didn't simply de-age all his characters by ten years to make them horny 17 and 18-year-olds instead of the good-christ-would-you-grow-up-and-start-thinking-with-your-head-instead-of-your-engorged-nutsack 27 and 28-year-olds.

The women aren't painted a hell of a lot better. Virtually every one of them is hot (even the ones that have been married and had six children), and every one of them seems to roll their eyes at all the walking erections that constantly come on to them. Instead of writing strong females, Janz has to write them as hot, pissed off, and wanting sex, but slightly...slightly...more woke about it than the men. One or two, sure. But it's seemingly Janz's mold.

And finally there's the story...or the lack of one. There's no real story here, only three or four major set pieces surrounded by guys trying to get laid, or people dealing with turning into werewolves, or people having the most insanely inane and boring conversations ever.

The four set pieces that come to mind are the bonfire party that starts the whole thing off (but it still takes pages and pages and pages to even get there, and even then, we have to wade through pages of horny shit before something interesting happens). The second set piece is at a drive-in. The third is at Melody's home. And finally, the park.

Pacing is non-existent in any of them. They all take far too long (seriously, the park stuff at the end just never seems to end). The story, such as it is, just sort of happens, but seemingly in a vacuum.

Riddle me this, Riddler: Fifty-odd people attend a bonfire. At said bonfire, a werewolf shows up and many people die. Yet, despite a glancing mention of going to the hospital for injury treatment for the wounded main character survivors, that's it. No fallout. No investigation. No cops. No questioning. Nothing. Hell, dudes are going to the drive-in the next evening.

And at the drive-in? More deaths. You think people would start avoiding public places? Nope, that's just crazy talk.

And then, with no warning, with nothing more than a single tossed-off line, the third act somehow involves the arrival of three female (read: super hot) werewolves. Again, there's a glancing mention of a sorta kinda bit of a reason, but really, it's just to create more carnage.

Honestly, this is just a terribly written, terribly plotted, terribly paced, terribly characterized excuse to write a bunch of violent werewolf scenes. Call it werewolf porn.

Call it whatever you want. Just don't call it good. ( )

Boy oh boy, what a werewolf novel! We're not given long until we're served up a truly scary massacre by one monstrous werewolf. At that point, that's it...you can't put it down (or stop thinking about it when you must put it down). I keep asking myself, "Is this really my first Janz read? What the hell have I been waiting for!?"

Let me tell you though. He doesn't just do gore. Oh no. There is some serious character development here. So much so that you're either rooting for the good guy, or seriously hating on the bad guy. Also, he writes werewolves the way I think they would/should be. More like a man-wolf beast rather than a wolf in the traditional sense, a la Twilight or True Blood. But it's not just the look. The charisma and self assurance that I also feel would accompany a werewolf's physique is also here. We're treated to downtrodden characters with low self esteem suddenly becoming confident and enigmatic. Never mind that they're also becoming monsters. Good stuff!

Janz has written a good many horror novels that I will be scooting closer to the top of my to-be-read stack (or the queue in my Kindle). This novel, Wolf Land, is not only a true masterpiece of werewolf horror. It is also just a damn good novel. I can't help but think of Stephen King. You get the scares, but you also get great writing. This book definitely fills the bill. Read this one...now! ( )

Wolf Land is a wild, roaring, face-ripping ride!

Sometimes a reader finds themselves looking for a book which reads like the equivalent of a B grade movie. That's the position in which I found myself last week, and since I recently interviewed Jonathan Janz for Horror After Dark, I thought this book would fit the bill. It did!

Now, when I say "the literary equivalent of a B grade movie", that doesn't mean the language or the storytelling were sub-par, because they most definitely were not. What I mean is that this is a book where you don't need to do much heavy thinking. You just need to sit back and relax and let Jonathan get you to care for these characters. Before he does horrible things to them. Horrible, horrible things.

If you're looking for a bit of relief from the stresses of daily life and you want to be entertained, look no further! Wolf Land gives you all the horrors and some humor as well. What more could you ask for?

Highly recommended for fans of gut ripping, intestines falling out kind of werewolf horror! Yeah, baby, yeah!

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