I read an advance reader's copy of this on the plane, courtesy of the publisher and Netgalley. It was sort of disappointing, but it did keep me fairly engrossed. It starts off beautifully, with a journalist, a poetic and handsome young man named Reuben, meeting an older woman at her gorgeous spooky old mansion in the isolated redwoods of Northern California, inherited from an exotic uncle who mysteriously disappeared. Bites, wolfishness, philosophical and religious ponderings, and the more interesting pursuit of evildoers and mayhem ensue. Then it devolves into more philosophy lite and overly deliberate explications, around the wolfman dining table, of wolfman origins.

It's been years since I read the first 3 Interview with a Vampire books, but I think they had more verve than this novel. It had all the elements of a good Anne Rice novel, but put together it lacked a certain passion and liveliness. There is a love story too, but i fail to see the appeal of wolfman nooky, it was kind of odd. I think Reuben needed to be more of a tortured hero instead of a pleasant young nice guy who was basically perfectly fine with his fate. On the other hand, I have zero interest in religion, so it's quite possible others with more will enjoy this book a good deal more than I did.