Now on to the other side of the coin, in what does Gary Bradner do well. And in all honesty, the werewolf bits are few and far between for the first half of the book. The sex scenes are super cringe, and I really had a hard time with the characters. It's like 'whaaaat?' oh my lord! I have to say, I very nearly DNF'D this book several times. Instead of being supportive, he thinks that it is a good idea to have an affair with local temptress, Marcia because his traumatized wife 'is having a few problems'. And whilst we are on the subject, Roy is simply the worst husband ever. I am sure that in the late 70's there was the emergence of some victim support, but unfortunately Karyn never gets the chance to access any, and the way that Karyn overcomes her trauma is to enter into some kind of physical relationship with her husband, Roy and then wonder why she has no interest in sex. For one there is the way that Karyn's recovery from the brutaility that she has experienced is just plainly awful. Now, like I said this book is pretty dichotomous in a number of ways. Throughout her stay in the village Karyn hears a strange howling in the woods, and when her dog goes missing, she knows that some kind of evil lurks in the town. The village that they have moved to is a tight knit community that holds a secret. In an attempt to overcome the trauma of the incident, they move to a semi rural village on the outskirts of L. The story revolves around the main protagonist of Karyn who at the beginning of the story is the victim of a brutal rape after her husband, Roy has gone to work. However, for me it was a dichotomous book that ultimately missed its mark.

The Howling is one of those werewolf stories that gets cited as being a classic werewolf tale. One of these was The Howling by Gary Bradner. Recently, I have been reacquainting myself with some of the old horror books that I read when I was younger.

The Howling by Gary Brandner