The Howling by Michael J Malone (Annie Jackson Mysteries #3)
Scotland’s oldest legends are just waking up… Vowing once more to remove herself from society, Annie is living alone in her little cottage by the shores of a loch.
But when an old enemy – now locked up in a high-security hospital – comes calling, begging her to find the son that she was forced to give up at the age of seventeen, Annie is tempted out of seclusion.
The missing boy holds the key to ending Annie’s curse, and he may be the only chance that both she and Lewis have of real happiness.
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Annie and Lewis begin an investigation that takes them back to the past, a time etched in Scottish folklore, a period of history that may just be repeating itself. And what they uncover could destroy not just some of the most powerful people in the country, who will stop at nothing to protect their wealth and their secrets, but also Annie’s life, and everything she holds dear…
My Review
In the first book in the Annie Jackson series, we had flashbacks to the time when witches were strangled and their bodies thrown on a blazing pyre. In Book Three, The Howling, it’s about wolves.
Jean and Mary are sisters who have fallen out. One lives in a great hall, while the other lives in a hovel with her son Andra and two daughters. It’s the year 1707 and Andra saves a wolf cub, which he calls Laddie. He is the last wolf left in Scotland, as all the others have been killed. As Andra and Laddie become close, their souls begin to merge as one. Andra knows that if the wolf takes over he will be lost forever. Hundreds of years later, Drew has flashbacks to Andra’s life and his relationship with Laddie.
So how does this relate to Annie and Lewis? Sylvia Lowry-Law, who we met in the last book, tried to kill Annie as part of a ritual to raise a demon. Naturally it failed, Annie was rescued, and Sylvia ended up in a secure psychiatric hospital. But now Sylvia wants Annie to find her son, who was taken from her when she was seventeen.
Bernard Peters works for his grandfather, also called Bernard Peters. When ‘gramps’ is on his deathbed, he makes a dying confession, telling the younger Bernard that his life was not what he thought and there are secrets that people will kill for to prevent them getting out. And so the two searches and the seemingly unrelated characters begin to merge, like the wolves in the lives of Andra and Drew.
It’s a brilliantly written thriller, which combines fast paced chases, power hungry megalomaniacs, and a group known as The Order, with mysticism and superstition. The wolf scenes are terrifying and each time we went back to Andra, I was almost too scared to turn the page because I knew the outcome, but not the journey.
It’s different from the other two books in the series, but just as good. I have a feeling there will be another book soon as too many questions were left unanswered. Bring it on I say!
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers.
His dark psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and is currently in production for the screen, and five powerful standalone thrillers followed suit. The Murmurs and The Torments, first in the Annie Jackson Mysteries series, were published to critical acclaim in 2023. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr, where he also works as a hypnotherapist.
About Orenda Books
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
