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If you’re a horror fan who loves monster stories, then you’re probably just as excited as we are for Nat Cassidy’s latest, When the Wolf Comes Home, which hit shelves this week. You might read the title and think, “Okay, this is surely a werewolf story. I know what to expect.” But horror fiends, you would be wrong. Cassidy’s novel is going to surprise you, and so do these three wolfy horror novels. So while you’re waiting to get your hands on your When the Wolf Comes Home library hold, check out these creepy werewolf (and other werecreature) tales.
Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
Stephen Graham Jones’ Mongrels is a coming-of-age story about a young boy living with his aunt and uncle who are both mongrels, beasts who belong on the outside of society. As the young boy grows older, he must decide if he’s meant to live a life like his aunt and uncle’s or if there’s some other life waiting for him with the people on the other side of the tracks. With every passing day, the boy draws closer to the moment when he’ll find out who he truly is.
Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison
Rory Morris has reluctantly moved back to her hometown, a place with nothing but bad memories and regrets. Then at a night out at a bar, she accidentally hits a strange beast with her car and gets attacked. From that moment on, nothing is the same for Rory. She starts to feel different. She becomes unnaturally strong. She can’t stand silver. And she finds herself pulled in by the allure of the moon. Such Sharp Teeth is a werewolf story that’s as creepy as it is humorous.
Bishop by Candace Nola
In this novella, Erin and her daughter Casey have been missing for five days. So Erin’s brother Troy sets out into the Alaskan wilderness, seeking Bishop, a strange and secretive loner who might hold the key to where Troy’s sister and niece are hidden. Meanwhile, Erin is somewhere in the woods injured, and a frightened Casey searches for help. But they’re not in the woods alone. Something is watching their every move. Something that is hungry for blood.
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Hungry for more werewolf books? Check out Book Riot’s picks for the best in werewolf books (in many genres, not just horror). Or… maybe you’d love these books about women gone feral. Happy reading, horror fans!
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that had our Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz feeling a type of way. Now, even five years after it was published, Vanessa is still salty about American Dirt. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
Picture it: The United States, January 2020. A book with a pretty blue and white cover is making the rounds on the bookish internet. The blue ink forms a beautiful hummingbird motif against a creamy background, a bird associated with the sun god Huitzilopochtli in Aztec mythology. Black barbed wire, at once delicate and menacing, cuts the pattern into a grid resembling an arrangement of Talavera tiles. The package is eye-catching, ostensibly Mexican in feel, and evocative of borders and the migrant experience.
The book tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who is forced to flee her home when a drug cartel murders everyone in her family except for her young son at a quinceañera. She and the boy are forced to become migrants and embark on a treacherous journey north to the U.S. border, evading the cartel and befriending fellow migrants along the way. The book is being lauded not just as the “it” book of the season but as the immigration story. It gets the Oprah treatment and is praised by everyone from Salma Hayek to the great Sandra Cisneros, who called it “the great novel of Las Américas.”
It’s been over five years, and this book is still the bane of my existence.
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