The best werewolf thrillers without motorbikes or erotica

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m fascinated by the dichotomy between humanity’s beauty and its penchant for visiting horror upon the world. This fascination drove me to write my own werewolf novel (and keep it true to the heart of the mythos). In no other genre/subgenre is human double-nature better explored than the werewolf one. From earliest times, these tales examined human complexity, mental illness, moral responsibility, the tenuousness of our understanding of reality. For me, a great werewolf novel is not an erotic romance or comedy urban fantasy. It’s a monster story: antsy, atmospheric, dark, violent, fraught. It's a thriller, not a swooner, with more in common with Jekyll and Hyde or Incredible Hulk than with Twilight


I wrote...

Black Marks

By Pete Aldin,

Book cover of Black Marks

What is my book about?

Jake Brennan thought the streets could hide him. He thought a werewolf’s sins could be erased.

Now Jake’s kind deeds have drawn the attention of his enemies. And he’ll need to embrace his dark side to save the woman he loves. If his dark side doesn’t kill her first...

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Mongrels

Pete Aldin Why did I love this book?

A family of werewolves tries to live large in a world that hates and fears them. Mongrels is one-part urban fantasy, one-part horror, one-part family drama, one-part Great American Novel, a coming-of-age story in its essence, a search for identity, a family epic.

This book had me laughing out loud at times and "Wow"-ing at others because of the beauty of its prose and ideas. And then there were the moments where I winced and grimaced because of the pain the main character suffered.

The violence, when it comes, is raw and brutal. The point-of-view narrative is believable as coming directly from the brain of an adolescent (but this is not a YA novel). Wonderful stuff. 

By Stephen Graham Jones,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Mongrels as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A spellbinding and darkly humorous coming-of-age story about an unusual boy, whose family lives on the fringe of society and struggles to survive in a hostile world that shuns and fears them. He was born an outsider, like the rest of his family. Poor yet resilient, he lives in the shadows with his aunt Libby and uncle Darren, folk who stubbornly make their way in a society that does not understand or want them. They are mongrels, mixed blood, neither this nor that. The boy at the center of Mongrels must decide if he belongs on the road with his…


Book cover of Carnies

Pete Aldin Why did I love this book?

This Aussie lycan tale is your classic “I’ve turned into a what!?!”

It’s wonderfully Australian and it’s decent werewolf fare. Not a romance in sight. Not a hint of alpha males riding motorbikes. Our main character faces the consequences and the mysteries that follow “getting bit.” Violent, stark, and tense.

By Martin Livings,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Carnies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The carnival is coming...

The small town of Tillbrook has a secret. One that has been kept for over a hundred years.

Journalist David Hampden needs a good story to resurrect his flagging career.

His damaged brother, unemployed photographer Paul, just needs to find some meaning in his life.

When David is alerted to a century-old carnival, the idea of a feature story is too good to pass up, so he drags Paul along to Tillbrook.

What they find is darker than they could ever imagine.

Paul becomes part of the exotic world of the Dervish Carnival, est. 1899, and…


Book cover of The Wolf in the Attic

Pete Aldin Why did I love this book?

Oh, man, can Paul Kearney write. The language in this book is so beautiful, at first, you think you’re reading a mainstream historical novel. Oh, you’re definitely not.

When this novel starts, you think there’ll never be any violence or horror in this story. Oh, there most certainly will be. Imagine a story where a Chronicles of Narnia child discovers a netherworld where people say “fuck,” change shape, and invite her to join them in doing questionable things.

Wolf in the Attic deals in part with an adolescent finding her place/identity in an unfriendly world. Set in the 1930s, the book features brilliantly-rendered cameos from CS Lewis and Tolkien. Clever and atmospheric, with a kickass payoff.

By Paul Kearney,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Wolf in the Attic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

1920s Oxford: home to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien... and Anna Francis, a young Greek refugee looking to escape the grim reality of her new life. The night they cross paths, none suspect the fantastic world at work around them. Anna Francis lives in a tall old house with her father and her doll Penelope. She is a refugee, a piece of flotsam washed up in England by the tides of the Great War and the chaos that trailed in its wake.

Once upon a time, she had a mother and a brother, and they all lived together in the most…


Book cover of Chimera Shakes: The Ontological Crisis of Jasper Hobbes

Pete Aldin Why did I love this book?

Okay, so the title already has you frowning. Stay with me here. This indie ebook novelette had me smiling, nodding, and ooo-ing. I loved the brave way the author attempted something new and, well, left field. Because this is a lot of left field…

Our main character is a hitman. Or is he? He’s a werewolf. Or is he? I loved every paragraph of this story’s prose. But it was this “what’s really going on here?” aspect that had me smiling all the way through. It reminded me of Mad Max: Fury Road—because you can watch that entire movie as a psychotic episode on Max’s part. Same with this book. Leaves you guessing until the last page while keeping things fun along the way.

By Chuck Regan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Chimera Shakes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This Bizarro tale is part Naked Lunch, part Goodfellas.

Jasper Hobbes believes he is an assassin. He also believes demons were injected into his brain by the Illuminati, connecting him to the occult machinations of the Great Wyrm. Hospitalized once again for a psychotic break, Jasper is given an ultimatum—either continue his anti-psychotic drug therapy and accept what is real and what are delusions created by his disease, or be committed to a psychological hospital for the duration of his life.

In his struggle to avoid being pulled into a spiral of delusion, Jasper battles inhuman cosplayers, public transportation to…


Book cover of Cycle of the Werewolf

Pete Aldin Why did I love this book?

Now this is classic werewolf fare. The kind you’ve watched in dozens of movies or TV series. But with that Stephen King touch.

What I loved about this novel was King’s signature dive into small-town lives and small lives’ details. The arrangement of what is really a long short story or novelette: the 12 chapters as vignettes are cute and make for an easy read on a rainy afternoon.

The magnificent artwork throughout (which, let’s face it, is there to pad out the paperback and make it look bigger in paperback). The unlikely hero who, though a little problematic, was still satisfying to me. And there are moments of typical gnarly King prose and human insight.

By Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Cycle of the Werewolf as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The classic masterpiece by #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King—illustrated by the legendary artist Bernie Wrightson!

Terror began in January—by the light of the full moon...

The first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the werewolf’s fangs ripping at his throat. The next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom. Now scenes of unbelievable horror unfold each time the full moon shines on the isolated Maine town of Tarker’s Mills. No one knows who will be attacked next. But one thing is sure. When the full moon…


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Conditions are Different After Dark

By Owen W. Knight,

Book cover of Conditions are Different After Dark

Owen W. Knight Author Of The Visitors

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Visionary Compassionate Imaginative Conspiracist Apophenia (or apophenic)

Owen's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

In 1662, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. Awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.

Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They discover their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected? They fear their choice of new home is no coincidence. Unexplained events hint at threats or warnings to leave. They become convinced the village remains cursed despite their friends’ denials. Who can they trust, and who are potential enemies?

Conditions are Different After Dark

By Owen W. Knight,

What is this book about?

In 1660, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. While awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.
Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They learn that their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected?
Faith and James fear that their choice of a new home is…


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