Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Wolf's Gambit, by W.D. Gagliani

Wolf's GambitNick Lupo returns in the second book of the Wolf Series.  A menace is stalking the Northwest Woods, massacring elders involved with the reservation's new casino plans.  Nick and his girlfriend Jessi are determined to find out who is behind it all.  It seems that a pack of werewolves is stalking the reservation, but who exactly is calling the shots?

The second book in the Wolf series literally gave me nightmares, it was that frightening.  I never get nightmares from reading, but this time, I did.  Kudos to Gagliani for scaring me silly, and not just with the supernatural lore.  The thriller aspect of the book is actually probably the scarier part, because that is where we meet the monsters that could actually exisit.

Again, Gagliani uses his shifts in point of view and time in a clever manner, giving us a better picture of the character of Nick Lupo, both past and present, and a more robust idea of the action taking place.  Many new characters are introduced, some of which I hope we will see more of later.  I absolutely loved the twist when we finally found out who the real bad guy was.

As with the other works of Gagliani which I have reviewed, this book is rife with violence, which makes sense to the plot, and increasingly graphic sexual scenes, which, some may argue, also serve a distinct purpose to the story.  I think some readers may find the sex gratuitous, but we are talking about werewolves, would they rather they just sparkle?  I find it interesting that the sex scenes with the good guys are passionate and intense but still romantic, while the sex scenes with bad guys are raw, and at times scary.  I think this distinction does serve a real purpose in terms of developing the characters involved.

All in all, I found the book captivating and entertaining.  I think fans of horror and thriller books will enjoy Wolf's Gambit.  I personally am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, though perhaps not at night.




A copy of this book was provided for review courtesy of the author.

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