S Wolf

Starts out light and turns dark.

Warning: Contains graphic sex and language, and the threat of violence without consent.

Eighteen year old Jason Ramsey is a geek. He's cute but invisible, especially to the girl he's been crushing on for years – beautiful, popular, cheerleader Becky Johnson. Then one day he saves an old man from nearly getting run over by a truck. The strange old man is an oddball and decides that Jason should be rewarded for his act of courage and gives him an amulet but warns him to only try it on when he's alone in his room. Jason does just that and makes a startling discovery. The amulet renders him invisible (I could already see where this was going). Once he figures out how it works, his first victim test is his neighbor, Samantha.

Jason uses the amulet to spy on people. He discovers his feelings towards Sam have changed since childhood, and he deeply regrets the way he used to treat her. He spies on the girls in the locker room where he witnesses lesbian sex for the first time. He witnesses his best friend Danny getting serviced by an older woman, then he pays his neighbors, a young married couple who are rumored to go at it like rabbits, a visit. There he learns the difference between crude f*cking and making love.

When Becky calls him out of the blue and wants to go out with him, he jumps at the chance – all thoughts about Sam are forgotten, until Sam bumps into them on their date. Becky divulges a secret that threatens his friendship with Danny, and Sam is about to go out on a rebound date. Then Jason has a strange dream about a woman who wears an amulet like his. This woman tells him that he's good, he's a protector and that his second test is almost upon him. Lies and deceit cloud his judgement until the truth comes out, but it may be too late to save Sam and declare his love for her.

This was a really odd story. The story starts out light with the sexual awakening of a young man, until he realizes the person he really wants to be with has been right in front of him all the time, then turns dark when Sam's life is in danger.

Jason is the geek. No one really pays him any attention except Danny, the high school jock and man whore. Danny has had Jason's back for years. Despite Danny's penchant for pu ... screwing every girl, he has always stuck to the "bro code" – not to screw the girl his best buddy is in lust over – Becky. Danny comes across as a jerk, but does a 360 towards the end of the story. Donna has been in love with Danny ever since he grabbed her for a quickie during prom while his date was occupied. Underneath her tough exterior lurks a softie, and she turns out to be a true friend. Samantha is sweet and innocent, but I found myself feeling sorry for her throughout the story.

The idea of a teenage boy with the ability to become invisible sounded like the cliche boy fantasy, and I found it odd that a guy would even consider wearing an amulet. Yes, the characters are all young, but what that didn't bother me. Real life isn't much different. I was most disturbed by Becky's scene, but only because I already hated her by then. Becky's reasons for her deceit were ridiculous and she should have paid some price for it in the end. The author did write Jason and Sam's ending beautifully though, and it was a stark contrast to all the previous scenes which was nice.

2.5 stars for a) grossly misused amulet for purely selfish reasons (spying on intimate moments, helping Danny's future career), only to be covered up by making Jason a hero in the end and b) a lack of consequences for some characters. I see there is a sequel - [bc:Amulet 2|11742713|Amulet 2|S. Wolf|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327886483s/11742713.jpg|16692152] I don't think I can handle the angst, so I won't be in any hurry to read them anytime soon.… (meer)

First of all, this is a hugely vulgar book. If you do not care for four letter descriptions of sex then you need to go elsewhere. OK, fair warning given. With that said - this was a wonderful book. A truly original idea in the Zombie field. What if the contagion that leads to infection were a STD. The author explored the consequents of this idea in a truly hilarious fashion. There are a few slightly annoying technical errors involving the military characters but nothing that spoils the fine story. This is a laugh-out-loud funny book that has a few genuinely new ideas. I strongly recommend it to any adult reader that enjoys the Zombie concept.… (meer)