Monster

The Last Werewolf 
A novel by Glen Duncan

"Reader, I ate him."

Popular fiction, especially fantasy fiction, has never been one of my major interests. Throw werewolves and vampires into the mix and I usually recoil in aesthetic horror. But as I was picking over the remnants from the Borders Books bankruptcy sale I spotted this title by the Anglo-Indian (his description) writer Glen Duncan. Duncan possesses a considerable writing talent; this book lets him have some gruesome fun with it.

The book is presented as a journal written by a 200-year-old werewolf, Jake Marlowe. It is set in a modern hedonistic world of money, intrigue and power, a world where, aside from killing and eating someone every full moon (and engaging in boredom-killing sex in between times), this "monster" is the most cultured and honest character. Duncan explores dysfunctional sexual relations in most of his books- this book is no exception- but here he adds the added element of bestiality.

Let me give this warning: If you think that graphic scenes of sex, of dismemberment or scenes of sex during dismemberment might not appeal to you, it would behoove you to avoid this title. If you can appreciate a little "ultra-violence", liberally seasoned with dark humor, literary allusions and comments on the human condition, this might be just the book for you. The plot strays into action-thriller territory near the end, but is redeemed with a surprising finale. This is definitely a more "commercial" book than The Bloodstone Papers was, and I got the sense while reading that Duncan might have written it with Hollywood in the back of his mind.