"Germany, 1945. In the waning days of World War II, the Nazis have been all but defeated. Uwe Fuchs, never a fighter, feels fortunate to have avoided the front lines as he cared for his widowed mother. But Uwe’s fortune changes when Hans Sauer, the village bully, recruits him to join a guerilla resistance unit preparing for the arrival of Allied soldiers. At first, Uwe is wary. The war is lost, and rumor has it that Hans is a deserter. But Hans entices him with talk of power, brutality, and their village’s ancestral lore: werewolves…"
Okay, I admit it, I have a soft spot for werewolves. And for whatever reason, there seem to be far fewer werewolf books out there than you might imagine. So when I see a new one, and when I see people giving it rave reviews, I pretty much have to check it out.
I'd only read one other book by Katsu, The Deep, which was interesting but not as horrific or exciting as I'd hoped, and I wanted to give the author another chance. I knew if she couldn't win me over with a werewolf story, she probably just wasn't the author for me.
Fortunately, I loved this one!
Werewolves and World War II? If that combination doesn't grab your attention, I don't know what to tell you. The idea alone reminded me of an old favorite, Robert McCammon's The Wolf's Hour, and if you've read that one, you're probably nodding your head right now. But Katsu's story was definitely a fresh, clever, and heart-breaking take on the idea.
You don't want to miss this one, especially if you like historical fiction or werewolves.
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