I picked this up years ago at a used bookstore, probably due to its exuberant back-cover blurb: "perhaps the finest novel about werewolves ever published!" this year's "read 12 grandmasters in 2012" challenge has finally brought it bubbling up to the top of the TBR pile, and while I don't know if it's the best, it certainly is a refreshingly unique take on lycanthropy.

will barbee is an alcoholic newspaper writer, reporting on the return of an expedition from the far east. they arrive with a mysteriously heavy locked box and a discovery that will change the world, if only one of them can stay alive long enough to tell it. a more complete summary would be overly spoilery, and a large part of the fun (and horror) of this story is the unexpected angles in the plot turns.

like plenty of 50+ year old novels, this comes off a little dated. people generally don't dess up for dinner anymore, and the idea of keeping your secretary-mistress in a swank apartment-hotel seems like the seedier side of a b&w donna reed era. the prose is often a little too restrained and mannered: in a way, is is about spiraling into madness, and I think the horror would have been more immediately visceral if it was written a bit messier. that being said, the plot itself and the science (science! in a werewolf novel!) were utterly fresh and accessible. (view spoiler)[huge bonus points for the bleak ending that avoids the reluctant hero's triumphant cliche. cool!! (hide spoiler)]