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Little Wolves

by Thomas Maltman (Goodreads Author)

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 360 ratings · 101 reviews

A tragic act of violence echoes through a small Minnesota town

Set on the Minnesota prairie in the late 1980s during a drought season that’s pushing family farms to the brink, Little Wolves features the intertwining stories of a father searching for answers after his son commits a heinous murder, and a pastor’s wife (and washed-out scholar of early Anglo-Saxon literature) w...more

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published January 8th 2013 by Soho Press (first published November 27th 2012)

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Jan 15, 2013 Lou rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc

http://more2read.com/review/little-wolves-by-thomas-maltman/

This story emerges from a town in a wilderness, a small community struck with a death that unearths many dark secrets that lie amongst kin and a community framework. In this town everybody thinks they know everything about everybody, but time will show that there are many lies and things that have happened with darker truths behind them and that maybe only a few are aware of as they insidiously show themselves.
Amongst the preconceived o...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Kathleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, won, real-book

***I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway***

This was a fabulous book. It was a very dark story about a current event and several from the past, but somehow the author was able to keep the tone light in a way that didn’t allow the book as a whole to feel disheartening. The book was filled with many different stories: folklore and legend, a little girl’s imagination, mythology, families feuding for generations, ancient literature, and modern day religion. I especially enjoyed the references to...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Cook Memorial Public Library rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-winner

Seth, one of Clara's students, stops at her house before murdering his best friend's father who is also the town's sheriff and then taking his own life. As she tries to understand his actions, Clara remembers the cryptic notes Seth had given her recently after class. Although she didn't answer Seth's knock, she wonders if she had been his first target and why?

This is the first event of Little Wolves, Thomas Maltman's second novel, and from this point I was hooked. The reader is drawn into the d...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Michele Weiner rated it 2 of 5 stars

A mystery that got some very positive reviews, Little Wolves tells the story of a young wife and mother-to-be who convinces her pastor husband to take a job in Lone Mountain, MN because she is sure that this is the area where her mother disappeared. The facts of her mother's disappearance are not clear to her; she dreams about wolves or coyotes or both, and being born covered with hair and rescued from freezing to death by a group of mysterious wolves or coyotes, which she seems to equate someho...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Jo at Jaffareadstoo rated it 4 of 5 stars

When a seemingly senseless act of violence shatters the isolated town in the Minnesota hills it uncovers small town prejudices which reverberate throughout the whole community and draws together two unlikely protagonists. Grizz, the embittered old farmer who is coping with unutterable grief and loss, and Clara, the pastor’s wife, who whilst searching for her own answers, finds comfort in the myths and legends of her beloved ancient literature. On the surface, these two people have nothing in com...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Patty rated it 5 of 5 stars

Little Wolves
by
Thomas Maltman

My " in a nutshell" summary...

A tragedy occurs in a small town and because of this lives are changed and a multitude of secrets are discovered.

My thoughts after reading this book...

This is one of those tremendous tragic novels that only truly gifted storytellers can master. It's a story of tragedy and sadness that mesmerized me as the reader. It's the kind of horror and nightmarish tragedy that can not even begin to enter our imaginations. This book is sad and graphi...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Mary Manahan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent!!! I see Mr. Maltman has another book entitled, "Nightbirds" I will read soon.

Although no actual wolves are in the book (Minnesota in the 1980s was wolf-free) some interesting coyotes make an appearance and are integral to the plot. And a wonderful plot it is...although marked by violence, "Little Wolves" is dark, haunting and beautifully written. The story unfurls around Clara, a graduate student, English Teacher, and pregnant Lutheran minister's wife who encourages her husband to a...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Ellen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Seth, one of her students, stops at Clara's house before murdering his best friend's father who is also the town's sheriff and then taking his own life. As she tries to understand his actions, Clara remembers the cryptic notes Seth had given her recently after class. Although she didn't answer Seth's knock, she wonders if she had been his first target and why?

This is the first event of Little Wolves, Thomas Maltman's second novel, and from this point I was hooked. The reader is drawn into the d...more

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Jan 01, 2013 ABookVacation rated it 4 of 5 stars

To see my full review:

http://bookvacations.wordpress.com/20...

I really enjoyed this novel. It’s got a little bit of everything: mythology, folklore, murder, mayhem, intrigue, and even magical realism. All in all, it wraps up to be a very well written psychological thriller focusing on the lives of two seemingly unconnected characters, Grizz and Clara.

The novel opens with a surreal event that seems unrelated to the story on the whole. We later find out just how much it connects to some of the cha...more To see my full review:

http://bookvacations.wordpress.com/20...

I really enjoyed this novel. It’s got a little bit of everything: mythology, folklore, murder, mayhem, intrigue, and even magical realism. All in all, it wraps up to be a very well written psychological thriller focusing on the lives of two seemingly unconnected characters, Grizz and Clara.

The novel opens with a surreal event that seems unrelated to the story on the whole. We later find out just how much it connects to some of the characters as certain details, easily overlooked, are divulged to the reader throughout the novel. If one isn’t paying particular attention, the pieces may not add up until quite late in the novel, but for those who pay attention to even the most minute detail, the novel itself will begin to share its secrets quite early on, whispering the truth to us as we read.

Grizz, a middle age man who has found life to be much unkind to him, enters the story upon learning that his son, Seth, has shot the Sherriff in the face at point blank range. Seth then commits suicide, throwing Grizz’s life, and that of the entire town, into disarray. Fingers begin to point, and Grizz, like any parent, struggles to understand exactly what happened and why, setting out on a quest to understand what pushed Seth over the edge.

Clara, the wife of a young pastor, moves to Grizz’s small town a few months prior to the shooting and, as the story unfolds, we learn that she has much more to do with the circumstances than even she understands, initially. Clara also struggles to connect the stories her father told her while growing up to the true events of her life, and as the story unfolds, we learn that not all is what it seems within this town of secrets.

I really enjoyed the characterization and mystery surrounding this novel. Maltman does a superb job roping the reader into the story, as well as fleshing out the characters and circumstances behind everything, and I truly enjoyed it, though, honestly, I’m not exactly sure what happened at the end. But, I have an idea that works in my head, and that’s good enough for me.
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Jan 23, 2013 Jim Coughenour rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bleakfiction

My heart always sinks when I open a novel and the first page is in italics. This usually indicates that we're going to get some evocative flashback or a dream or the secret thoughts of someone deranged. In Little Wolves it's a private fiction, a folk tale in the making. It was only after I'd read a few more pages that I realized that the novel itself was a kind of folk tale, set in a small town in Minnesota, a Prairie Home Gothic.

The novel doesn't quite live up to its materials and characters, b...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Paul Blaschko rated it 4 of 5 stars

Little Wolves was a quick read -- it's a rather short book and its plot is structured almost like a murder mystery, so I just kept returning until I was finished. It's set in rural Minnesota, and Maltman does a nice job of capturing the land and its history.

Most basically, the novel tells the story of a murder and its aftermath. Seth Fallon, a local troubled youth, walks to into town from his farmstead one day and shoots a Sheriff point-blank before going into a cornfield and killing himself. T...more Little Wolves was a quick read -- it's a rather short book and its plot is structured almost like a murder mystery, so I just kept returning until I was finished. It's set in rural Minnesota, and Maltman does a nice job of capturing the land and its history.

Most basically, the novel tells the story of a murder and its aftermath. Seth Fallon, a local troubled youth, walks to into town from his farmstead one day and shoots a Sheriff point-blank before going into a cornfield and killing himself. The narrative then alternates between the points of view of Grizz, his father, and the wife of a new protestant minister, who is eight months pregnant and who developed a somewhat close relationship with Seth while she was substituting for his English teacher long term. What follows the shooting (which is a very early inciting event in the story) is a reflection on violence and its effects on a rural community from those that it most effects.

I was distracted by some of the "lyricism" so highly praised by the likes of Peter Geye and Caroline Leavitt on the jacked -- that is to say, a couple of times I found myself thinking that the dialogue had been falsified in order to serve Maltman's stylistic choices, at others I found myself finding the style itself a little awkward and imprecise -- but, overall, I had to agree that the novel was better for such authorial choices. There was one choice, however, that left me a bit unsure, and that was the decision to structure the story as something of a murder mystery. In an interview that I recently read of Don DeLillo in the Paris Review (this was from, like, twenty years ago mind you), DeLillo says something very interesting about how some literature reminds us of our own deaths, and how some literature distracts us from it. Heavily plotted genre fiction, DeLillo says, uses bodies as plot points rather than fully developed characters, and serves to distract us from the horrific reality of death by wrapping the inexplicable events surrounding (particularly) violent deaths in a game-like structure.

Maltman's novel brought this relationship -- the relationship between death and literature (or violence and literature, really) -- to the forefront for me. I finished the novel asking myself questions of the sort DeLillo is posing in that interview. Were the conventions of the story (some of them borrowed from mystery-type genre fiction) obscuring our understanding of the horrific kinds of violence that this story portrayed? Were they neutral? Helping us to understand?

Luckily for me, Maltman is coming to Boswell Books on the 17th of January (at 7pm), so I hope to ask him these questions in person!(less)

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Aug 29, 2012 KJ Grow rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: soho-press, 2013-favorites

I began reading this book on the same morning that a gunman opened fire outside the Empire State Building, and the shootings in Aurora, Colorado were fresh in my mind. So this book, which opens with a scene of seemingly senseless violence, resonated strongly with me, and felt even a little raw. Still, the lyrical writing and the atmospheric setting compelled me to read on. I spent time in Minnesota during my college years, and was raised among Scandinavian/German stock in the Lutheran Church - s...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Sam Sattler rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-fiction

Little Wolves is a tough novel to explain. I understand why some people do not like to see the word “literary” used to describe a novel type but, for lack of a better word, I am going take the notion one step farther and will call this one “literary crime fiction” – or “literary thriller.” That is exactly what Little Wolves is: a character and setting-driven novel with a plot encompassing elements of both the mystery and thriller genres. It has an exciting story to tell, and it tells it in liter...more Little Wolves is a tough novel to explain. I understand why some people do not like to see the word “literary” used to describe a novel type but, for lack of a better word, I am going take the notion one step farther and will call this one “literary crime fiction” – or “literary thriller.” That is exactly what Little Wolves is: a character and setting-driven novel with a plot encompassing elements of both the mystery and thriller genres. It has an exciting story to tell, and it tells it in literary fashion.

Lone Mountain is one of those 1980s Minnesota prairie towns in which everyone pretty much knows the business of everyone else, a place where personal grudges are sometimes carried for decades, and even passed from one generation to the next. And when, shortly after the arrival of a new pastor and his wife, the town is shocked by the shotgun murder of Sheriff Will Gunderson by a local teen, a violent chain of events is unleashed that will finally expose the ugly core of this little community.

As Grizz Fallon, the young murderer’s father, tries to make sense of what his son has done, he learns how little he really knew about what was going on in the boy’s day-to-day world. But the more he discovers about his son and what drove him to kill, the more resistance Grizz gets from the remaining town sheriff, a man who has had it in for Grizz for a long time. Grizz, though, believes that he failed his son and, despite being warned to mind his own business, he will not rest until he knows the truth about what happened on that bloody morning.

Grizz is not the only one feeling guilty. Clara Warren, the new preacher’s wife, now believes she could have prevented the shooting if only she had had the courage necessary to do so. Clara, who has a strange personal connection to the town, encouraged her husband to take the Lone Mountain job for reasons she has not been entirely honest with her husband about. But the more she learns about her past, and its connections to the present, the closer she comes to cracking from all the pressure.

Thomas Maltman has written a complicated novel, one that can be read and enjoyed on several levels. The novel has the kind of action that most pleases thriller fans, and the mystery at its core is an intriguing one. Even better, it is filled with well-developed characters (of the hard-to-like, but easy-to-understand variety) and a complicated set of dual plots (filled with literary references) that tie together beautifully at the end.

Now that I think about it, maybe I should have called it a “literary page-turner.”
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Jan 25, 2013 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

If one of Garrison Keillor's updates from Lake Wobegon took an unexpected left turn into darkness, you would end up with something much like "Little Wolves." I read this book in two sittings, so that should speak to how successful Thomas Maltman is in drawing the reader into his shadowy prairie story. A book full of mystery and mythology, Maltman tells the tale of a young Lutheran pastor and his wife who have just moved to the small Minnesota town of Lone Mountain when an unthinkable crime takes...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Lisa B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-things-netgalley, 2012-books

4.5 of 5

My Thoughts

Mesmerizing!

I picked this up to just read a few chapters to get a feel for the book and see if I thought I would like it. Before I knew it, I was half way thru and did not want to put it down.

The author’s writing is so lyrical and descriptive. There is that undertone of evil that really drew me in and the pages just flew. This was one of those books where you tend to block out everything that is going on around you. I got so wrapped up in the story that I feel like I just came...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Imogen rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was such a well-written thriller with some of the loveliest (or should I say, grotesque) metaphors and similes I've come to read in quite some time, my favorite comparing a flight of stairs to the inside of a sick person's throat. The grammar was also impeccable--I don't think I found one mistake! The vocabulary was stunning, and when interwoven with Old English and mythology, you feel like you are sitting in the classroom of one of the main characters, Clara.

Speaking of characters, I was...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Aaron Cance rated it 5 of 5 stars

Although I'm unable to give Thomas Maltman's second book the four and a half star rating I'd like to, on account of the limitations of the rating system on the website, it's a strong enough book that the decision to waver in one direction or another was clear and easy, and I'm left with no choice but to give him five. The ultra-cool and creepy Little Wolves was the perfect chiller for the weeks just preceding Halloween, and gave the gift that very few books in its genre can offer the contemporar...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Rachael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Admittedly, I don't read much fiction. Therefore, perhaps there are stories out there that capture the mysteries and myths that run underneath the surface of our ordinary lives. But it's been a long time since I've read a story that beautifully ties together myth, family, small towns, and the struggles of everyday people. Little Wolves is that story.

I was captivated by the very beginning--a child left alone in the woods, a coyote ready to instinctively care for this mewling creature. Such storie...more Admittedly, I don't read much fiction. Therefore, perhaps there are stories out there that capture the mysteries and myths that run underneath the surface of our ordinary lives. But it's been a long time since I've read a story that beautifully ties together myth, family, small towns, and the struggles of everyday people. Little Wolves is that story.

I was captivated by the very beginning--a child left alone in the woods, a coyote ready to instinctively care for this mewling creature. Such stories flow throughout the book, stories from a century ago interspersed with stories from a 1980s small Minnesota prairie town. There's been a murder, which weighs heavily on all townspeople, but we see specifically how it affects the young, pregnant pastor's wife, new in town, and also the father of the murderer. The pastor's wife, Clara, tries to figure out why the young man would commit such a crime, and at the same time seeks to learn more about her own mysterious mother, whom she never knew.

I enjoyed the mysteries and myths that Maltman has created for this town. Clara sees shadows--are they human? Are they a figment of her imagination? The coyotes ("little wolves") on the edge of town have their own story, their own reason for being there, and they act in mysterious ways. There's more to this life than what we see at the surface. Who/what is guiding us and our decisions? Maltman captures this well.

I had to read this book in spurts over the course of about a month. I wished I would have been able to read it more seamlessly. By staying away from it for days, I sometimes had a hard time remembering what had happened. This is the fault of the reader only. It's a testament to the dense, closely woven story. If you want simple, mindless reading, this book will not do it for you. This is a book that challenges its readers, which is a good thing.

The story takes place in the 1980s and while there are a few references to that time period, I could have used a few more just to solidly ground me in that era. For example, a reference to a rotary phone threw me--wow, these are really backwards Minnesota people, I thought!--until I remembered that it was the 1980s. Perhaps references specific to fashions, music, or TV at the time would have helped, though then the writer runs into the danger of plopping in pop culture where maybe it wouldn't fit. In a way, it's a timeless story that could fit into any era.

Overall, I was pleased to spend time with this book. It does exactly what I want a novel to do. It took me to a different place and time, where mysteries are ever-present and nothing can easily be explained.

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Apr 07, 2013 Larry rated it 4 of 5 stars

A great novel that reads beautifully and is a linguist's dream. A small prairie town in MN suffers a violent murder and ties from the present and past weave together beautifully. Lies and hidden truths through several decades and families run together and come together effortlessly. Mythology, the spirit of those departed and linguistics are a beautiful part of it all.

"The dead carve out a space inside us, talking up space like a man stepping under a willow tree in the rain to sit beside the gho...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Rusty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, mystery-thriller

Little Wolves is written by Thomas Maltman who won much praise for his first novel, The Night Birds. This one, his second, is a good, good read too. In Wolves, the son of the primary character kills a friend of the father and then himself. The father carries a heavy load of guilt thinking that he has failed his son. It's not the normal mystery/thriller as everyone knew in the beginning who committed the murder. This one dwells more on the aftermath and there is more to the story than anyone know...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Heather rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, 2013

I am quite frankly flabbergasted by all of the positive reviews and recent praise for Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman. The story seemed to have multiple personalities competing for attention, without any one of those personalities successfully doing so. I suppose what was supposed to be the main storyline was that of Grizz Fallon, a father hopelessly searching for answers after his son murdered the Sherriff of their small Minnesota town, prior to walking into a cornfield and shooting himself. Co...more I am quite frankly flabbergasted by all of the positive reviews and recent praise for Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman. The story seemed to have multiple personalities competing for attention, without any one of those personalities successfully doing so. I suppose what was supposed to be the main storyline was that of Grizz Fallon, a father hopelessly searching for answers after his son murdered the Sherriff of their small Minnesota town, prior to walking into a cornfield and shooting himself. Competing with this story was that of the Pastor’s wife, who convinced her husband to move to the small town that her father lived in so many years ago to learn more about her mother. While these stories were supposed to be linked considering the woman formed an odd relationship with the boy Seth prior to the murder, the relationship seemed more than a little forced. As if the tenuous thread between these story lines wasn’t confusing enough, add in a focus on Norse mythology, as well as a fixation on a pack of “little wolves” running around town (somewhat of a misnomer, considering the “wolves” were really just coyotes).

I know all the elements of the story were supposed to blend together in some sort of cohesive fashion – and I guess they did for some people considering the high praise, but they just weren’t meshing together as they should have been for me. I am undeniably not well versed in Norse mythology. I’m not sure if being more informed in that area would have added to my enjoyment of this book or not – I suppose it is possible. However, it is my opinion that appreciation for a piece of fiction targeted at the general public should not be contingent upon expert knowledge in a given area. In this case, I think the author bit off more than he could chew, and the parts of the story that should have been most interesting (for example, understanding why Seth committed murder) were sorely underdeveloped. The ending was anticlimactic, and the novel more or less sputtered out rather than reaching a grand crescendo.

I’d love to hear the opposing positions of those who actually enjoyed this book, but I cannot under any circumstances recommend it myself.

Final Rating: 1 out of 5 stars.
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Mar 08, 2013 Dem rated it 4 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman is a haunting, dark tale and a powerful murder mystery. I don’t normally read murder mystery novels but when I do they have to have that little bit extra to keep me interested and the fantasia of myth and folklore had me from page one.

Lately I have been doing most of my reading on Kindle and am really enjoying the experience. But Little Wolves was a hardback book that I bought and boy the experience of holding and reading a novel like this really enhanc...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Luke Franklin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Has a lot going for it, though not nearly a gothic version of Haruf's work, which seems the most commmon touchstone for reviewers/blurb-ers. It's more: Prairie Home Companion (Linguists and Lutherans!) does 80s Metal Murder Ballad (Ragnarok!) I wish Maltman hadn't thanked is editor so profusely in his author's note, cause a good editor could've pointed out a lot of the problems and cut out some of ridiculous genre cliches thyat undermine the tone of stark mysterious earnestness. There's way too...more

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Feb 16, 2013 J.S. Colley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: good-read

I received a galley copy from the publisher for review purposes.

Little Wolves weaves myth, folklore, and modern-day news headlines into a haunting literary thriller/murder mystery.

The setting is 1980s rural Minnesota as a small, close-knit town comes to terms with a horrific act of violence. The story features the new pastor’s young wife, Clara, who teaches at the high school and is working on her doctorate in Anglo-Saxon literature; and Grizz, the father of the teenage boy who commits the terr...more I received a galley copy from the publisher for review purposes.

Little Wolves weaves myth, folklore, and modern-day news headlines into a haunting literary thriller/murder mystery.

The setting is 1980s rural Minnesota as a small, close-knit town comes to terms with a horrific act of violence. The story features the new pastor’s young wife, Clara, who teaches at the high school and is working on her doctorate in Anglo-Saxon literature; and Grizz, the father of the teenage boy who commits the terrible crime.

The morning of the violence Clara glimpses, through a small basement window, the familiar boots and long, oiled coat of Seth Fallon when he comes to knock on her front door. The long coat brings up images of the real-life Columbine massacre. I found this disquieting and, at that moment, I wasn’t sure I was emotionally ready to read the novel. The images seemed too visceral and near, but I’m glad I stuck with it. The rest of the novel is a thrilling, disquieting, and mesmerizing account of Grizz and Clara’s individual journeys as they struggle to deal with their personal guilt concerning the incident and their individual past connections to the town and its inhabitants.

The story is woven with the underlying thread of wolf folklore and mythology. When she was a child, Clara’s father told her tales of wolves, and her students were studying Beowulf before the incident. When he was younger, Seth saved several wolf pups from sure death, and now they roam the woods and the mountain behind his father’s farm. There are more wolf connections, but I don’t want to give too much away.

Another theme is the parent-child relationship. Clara is pregnant and, having been abandoned by her mother, must come to terms with this knowledge before the birth of her baby. Grizz must learn to live with the aftermath of his son’s actions while examining the cracks in their relationship.

I wasn't sure at first about some aspects of the ending but, after sitting on it for a few days, I realized it fit perfectly within the underlying themes of folklore, paganism, and mythology—the heroes are always bigger than life, and the monsters are always…well, “monsters.”

Little Wolves is reminiscent of Kent Haruf’s Plainsong, but grittier. I loved the poetry of the writing and the storytelling, and the author’s use of metaphor and simile. It is a great read with loads of literary merit.

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J.S. Colley I received a galley copy from the publisher for review purposes.

Little Wolves weaves myth, folklore, and modern-day news headlines into a haunting li...more I received a galley copy from the publisher for review purposes.

Little Wolves weaves myth, folklore, and modern-day news headlines into a haunting literary thriller/murder mystery.

The setting is 1980s rural Minnesota as a small, close-knit town comes to terms with a horrific act of violence. The story features the new pastor’s young wife, Clara, who teaches at the high school and is working on her doctorate in Anglo-Saxon literature; and Grizz, the father of the teenage boy who commits the terrible crime.

The morning of the violence Clara glimpses, through a small basement window, the familiar boots and long, oiled coat of Seth Fallon when he comes to knock on her front door. The long coat brings up images of the real-life Columbine massacre. I found this disquieting and, at that moment, I wasn’t sure I was emotionally ready to read the novel. The images seemed too visceral and near, but I’m glad I stuck with it. The rest of the novel is a thrilling, disquieting, and mesmerizing account of Grizz and Clara’s individual journeys as they struggle to deal with their personal guilt concerning the incident and their individual past connections to the town and its inhabitants.

The story is woven with the underlying thread of wolf folklore and mythology. When she was a child, Clara’s father told her tales of wolves, and her students were studying Beowulf before the incident. When he was younger, Seth saved several wolf pups from sure death, and now they roam the woods and the mountain behind his father’s farm. There are more wolf connections, but I don’t want to give too much away.

Another theme is the parent-child relationship. Clara is pregnant and, having been abandoned by her mother, must come to terms with this knowledge before the birth of her baby. Grizz must learn to live with the aftermath of his son’s actions while examining the cracks in their relationship.

I wasn't sure at first about some aspects of the ending but, after sitting on it for a few days, I realized it fit perfectly within the underlying themes of folklore, paganism, and mythology—the heroes are always bigger than life, and the monsters are always…well, “monsters.”

Little Wolves is reminiscent of Kent Haruf’s Plainsong, but grittier. I loved the poetry of the writing and the storytelling, and the author’s use of metaphor and simile. It is a great read with loads of literary merit.(less)
updated Oct 12, 2012 06:19am

Jan 22, 2013 LeAnn Suchy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, literary

Originally reviewed at Minnesota Reads.

I have been waiting for another book by Thomas Maltman ever since I read his first novel The Night Birds. Ten pages in, I was mesmerized by the descriptions of locusts crunching under boots in the Minnesota summer of 1876. In The Night Birds, Maltman told a beautiful story, surrounding a tragic event in our past, with grace, a flawless recount of history, and beautiful, sometimes haunting, detailed descriptions. Maltman, who studied as a poet, has a gift fo...more Originally reviewed at Minnesota Reads.

I have been waiting for another book by Thomas Maltman ever since I read his first novel The Night Birds. Ten pages in, I was mesmerized by the descriptions of locusts crunching under boots in the Minnesota summer of 1876. In The Night Birds, Maltman told a beautiful story, surrounding a tragic event in our past, with grace, a flawless recount of history, and beautiful, sometimes haunting, detailed descriptions. Maltman, who studied as a poet, has a gift for detail and I’m happy to report that this gift is just as strong in his latest novel, Little Wolves.

Little Wolves takes place in the mid-1980s in the small, fictitious town of Lone Mountain, Minnesota, where residents are still dealing with transgressions from their past. The story begins with a gruesome murder-suicide by a troubled teen. What follows is how his father, Grizz, and a school teacher he admired, Clara, cope with the aftermath and reveal town and personal secrets in this beautiful literary thriller.

I say literary thriller because I raced through this novel, but it’s not a page turner in the typical sense. This is a character driven, emotional look at small town life with characters struggling to answer why and looking to the past for resolution. It’s full of folklore, mythology, mystery, and even a little bit of magical realism, and I loved it.

One thing I loved was the setting. Maltman captures the farms, hills, and beauty of southern Minnesota, but shows the stark contrast between this beauty and the dark underbelly of living in a small, isolated town with a long, dark history. In the town we see how gun culture is strong and gun ownership is instilled in boys at a young age. We see older residents assuming new residents know who they are. We see the gossip spread by nosy, judgmental, church-going individuals. We see how tightly connected residents in small towns are, in both good and bad ways. This town, its landscape and residents, was so real.

Another thing I loved were the believable characters. Clara is new to town and searching for a connection to her past through folklore her father told her. She struggles with wanting to know the past yet uncertain about what it may mean. Grizz struggles with the same thing, though he is more damaged than Clara. It’s clear from the beginning that his past is dark and we slowly find out why he is whispered about in town. These characters are flawed and make bad, irrational decisions, yet they are good people.

This really is a beautiful, chilling read. At times I got goose bumps, other times I gasped, and I often felt sympathy for these characters. With all revealed in the end, this is the type of novel I want to immediately read again with new, enlightened eyes.

I know it’s only January, but I think I can safely say that this will be one of my favorite reads of 2013. You should put Maltman on your list of must-read authors and grab this one.(less)

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May 08, 2013 Philip Alexander rated it 4 of 5 stars

A unique and quietly powerful novel. Little Wolves is a tale of crime and troubled family history. There is also a series of vignettes, or strands of wolf myth and folklore woven into the story. Maltmann does this so deflty that it does not cloud or interfere with the book's momemtum, but rather undergirds plot and motive and adds atmosphere, and dread. Maltmann is also a superb prose sytlist. He's found a balance between craftsmanship and velocity. His story never sags(or sinks) in one directio...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Red Letter rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, mystery

Here's a peek at what our readers had to say:

Andrea "“Little Wolves” managed to make my skin crawl a few times but never to the point where I was ready to put it down. The storyline and the main characters are all pretty dark, though in a very intriguing way." B-

Cyn "Although the book continues to throw up questions long past the time we readers should have been figuring out some answers, there is a lot here to hold interest. Enough that I suspect I’m going to like it a lot more upon reading it...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Sherman rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't realize this book was a mystery when I started it but soon found myself turning the pages faster to see what was going to happen next. A father learns his son has left the house that morning and committed a crime that doesn't make sense. Things just don't add up so he is determined to clear his son's name. A book about things that happened in the past for this small community and trying to find the answers. A well written book that makes you want to read more from this author.

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Apr 08, 2013 Wayne Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Set in a fictional community in southwestern Minnesota, this was a fantastic gothic, small-town mystery written by another wonderful Minnesota writer. The novel mixes meditations on faith, small town provincialism, family secrets, and our shared mythologies into a great story. I like how Maltman explores how outcasts and outsiders meet resistance in small towns with generational histories. I was reminded of the tv series 'Bates Motel' and Flannery O'Conner's stories. The writing is wonderful. Hi...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Ann Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I would like to give it three and a half stars but I am tagging four because he is a goodreads author...I felt this book had too many highlights yet not enough pages to fulfill the need of each...in the end what stood out for me?...the shack in the woods...the grave yard by the preachers house... that's what remains with me after reading...not the 'little wolves'...I felt cheated in a way...so much potential...so many unanswered questions...what was there was delicious but it left me unsatisfied

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About Thomas Maltman

I am the oldest of twenty-six cousins and the child of an Air Force pilot. Our family lived everywhere from Lubbock, Texas to Stuttgart Air Force Base in Germany. I learned to love travel and love the stories of these places, their history and lore. These loves would serve me well when it came time to write a novel.

I am married to a Lutheran pastor and live in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. I have tw...more

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