Author: John Farris
Genre: Crime, Noir, Science Fiction
Setting: California (future)
Types of Werewolves: Bipedal
How Lycanthropy is Caused: Viral Infection, Through Tainted Blood Transfusions.
Synopsis: In the future a virus that causes Lycanthropy is unleashed upon the human population, those who contract it transform into werewolves once a month during a full moon. Those who remain wholly human are referred to as "High Bloods" and are the ruling class of society. International Lycan Control officer Rawson is searching for a missing movie star named Mallory Scarlett. He suspects that she's been kidnapped by a rouge motorcycle gang called the Diamondbackers, High Bloods who enjoy killing Lycans for sport.
Review: High Bloods was disappointing to say the least. It promised post-apocalyptic werewolf action, a disease run rampant, and a cult of werewolves seeking control, but the story only barely touched on these subjects. Mostly it was about a kidnapping/murder investigation with dry dialogue, a bunch of technical jargon, and too many secondary characters to keep track of. It started out promising in the beginning but soon went flat for the majority of the book. The main character, Rawson, has about as much personality as a wet rag and I couldn't really care much about what happened to him. His relationship with the character Bea is nonsensical and i think the story would have been improved without her. The ending of the book is pretty decent, but it just didn't cut it for me. If you're a fan of crime drama, this might be for you, but if you're a hardcore werewolf fan, I'd just skip it.
-Reviewed by: PenningtonBeast
Well I so wanted you to be wrong about this book. It sounded like it was going to be a great read. I was rather upset with your review as a matter of fact. However, you were right on with your review. I happen to love a good crime novel ( and this was kind of like an old fashioned Sam Spade type story), so the read was not a total loss .
ReplyDeleteIt seemed like a good half of the story was missing because the entire werewolf subject was all but ignored. I cannot fathom why the author would write a werewolf novel and pretty much leave out the werewolves.
Keep up the reviews. I collect werewolf novels. I have about 110 books and about 140 on my Amazon wish list. Your reviews may come in handy! lol
irisw12