"Triumphant Conclusion to a Werewolf Trilogy!"
SECRET OF THE WOLF is the third book in a historical
werewolf trilogy set in the Victorian era. Like the
previous installment, ONCE A WOLF, this story takes
place in the American West. However there all similarity
ends. I will admit to not being terribly sympathetic toward
Quentin when he appeared in book one, TOUCH OF THE
WOLF. Though he had suffered the same traumatic
childhood as his siblings, Braden and Rowena maintained
their dignity and kept up appearances, while Quentin had
drown himself in useless indulgences. He seemed weak, self
centered and self destructive, not at all the stuff of a
romantic hero. Ah but little do we know that Quentin has a secret, and the
fact that he?s held it together at all is a testament to
his fortitude, as we will soon learn. It is a testament to
Ms. Krinard?s talent as a writer that she has taken this
seemingly ne?er do well character and not only made him
sympathetic, but heroic and loveable as well. Bravo, here
is a tortured hero one can sink their teeth into (no pun
intended). Dr. Johanna Schell had followed in her father?s footsteps
as a pioneer in mental health. Together they had practiced
the new science of hypnosis with the hope of curing their
more difficult cases. Old age had incapacitated her father,
and they had worn out their welcome in the last town where
they?d established a clinic. Folks developed odd notions
about mental patients ? and women doctors. Now solely responsible for the care of her father and their
patients, Johanna had moved them all to an inherited
vineyard in Northern California, where she?d established
The Haven. Returning from a conference one evening, she is
rescued from attackers by a rather feral stranger. She does
not learn his identity. Later, traveling the last few miles to the clinic on foot,
she stumbles over a deeply inebriated gentleman whom she
does not recognize as the man who had rescued her earlier.
He has no memory of their encounter either. Never one to
abandon a person in need, Johanna brings him home in hopes
that she can cure his insobriety.
Quentin has no memory of how he got there, his blackouts
have been increasing in their frequency. He is deeply
afraid. He knows that danger is stalking him, and realizes
that Johanna?s treatment may provide his only hope for
survival. Dare he allow her to help him? Will she want to
if she learns his secret? How do you tell your doctor that
you are a werewolf without her thinking it?s just another
delusion? In spite of his illness and his weaknesses, Quentin is a
caring and compassionate man. He shows great kindness to
both Johanna?s father and the other patients, working his
way deep into Johanna?s heart. Unknown to either of them, Quentin?s ills go far beyond his
tendency to drink and forget. He knows he has two
personas, but who exactly is it that appears when he is
backed into a corner, when he comes face to face with evil?
What has he done during those lapses in memory? Rumors have
followed him from town to town and he is truly fearful of
knowing the answer to that particular question. Little does
he know that those lapses are a defense, begun years ago to
protect a small child from cruelty too terrible to bear, or
that buried past is about to catch up with him. This is the first of Ms. Krinard's historical werewolf
novels in which
one half of the love relationship is a normal mortal rather
than a shape shifter. It seems fitting that Quentin's
salvation comes at the hands of a woman who's species he
had been groomed to destroy. SECRET OF THE WOLF
takes a
poignant look at the lengths a human mind will go to, to
protect the soul from damage. SECRET OF THE WOLF is a triumphant conclusion to
this
werewolf trilogy. This story's wealth lies in the richness
of its characterizations. Johanna is without a doubt one of
the strongest and most compassionate heroines ever. She is
the glue that holds her world together. She stands strong
even when her patients' behavior, especially Quentin's,
baffle or even frighten her. She refuses to give in to
despair, and her love is unconditional. Quentin is
marvelous. For perhaps the first time since his beleaguered
childhood, his focus is centered on someone other than
himself, and he is willing to give up on his last hope of
saving his sanity and perhaps his life in order to keep
this special woman safe. In this he proves to be the man
that he?d always feared he?d never become. Ms. Krinard even
manages to evoke sympathy for Fenris, the feral personality
that had emerged from the young Quentin - to fight when
flight was not an option, and for the story's villain who
was a much a victim as Quentin, but whose twisted mind
could not be saved. I highly recommend this book and hope the Ms. Krinard will
revisit their world again in the very near future. Copyright 2001
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted December 12, 2001
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