Where wolves run by Jason Parent.
The dense Bavarian forest outside the town of Rattenberg has long been rumored to harbor something sinister, something wild — mythical beasts that vanish into the shadowy woods after each attack, leaving carnage as the only evidence of theirexistence. Many villagers turn a blind eye to what is happening, but those who believe tremble at the mere whisper of the word: werewolf.
There are those who stand and fight, however. Konrad is one such boy. Too poor to live in the village, he and his mother fend for themselves in their forest hovel alone for months at a time, his father preoccupied with mysterious business abroad.
After a vicious assault on their homestead, Konrad finds himself buried beneath his mother’s mutilated body, escaping death only due to his father's chance return. Alive, but taking no comfort in the presence of the man who had left him and his mother to face death on their own, Konrad soon discovers that his father’s work has followed him home…
…and it's hungry.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I do love my horror. And this didn't disappointing me. 5*.

Well this book puts werewolves smack bang in the middle of horror stories. It kind of reminded me of the fairy tales I read as a kid. Except this one has more horror. Makes you wonder what the Brothers Grimm would have written in todays world. Are werewolves horror? It's one of my favourite genres. I'll admit I like reading about cute and cuddly werewolves, but this book firmly puts them in to horror with a capital H.

It's a short story and if you love werewolves you can't ignore this book. Grab it, read it and I promise it will be worth your time. It's also a great read in between all those really thick books you got piled beside your chair. Ok, or those jamming your reader. It's short and great.

Enjoy!

Scary and gory, like an old school Grimms fairy tale. I love horror and I love werewolves, and this is the perfect novella in that regard. If you want to get into the Halloween spirit, pick this up!

With that said, the plot isn't overly unique or the characters deeply developed even for a novella, but the writing is engaging and the novella has the feel of a classic horror novel that many horror fans look for. Definitely worth a read!

Werewolves, Bavaria, gruesome violence and a twist ending comes together well for this very, very quick read, perfect to jump into when you have a spare few minutes or need a quick break from other books you may be reading.

*Huge thanks to Jason Parent, Corpus Press and NetGalley for this copy which I chose to read and all opinions are my own*

Set in the vast Bavarian forest in Germany, this story gave me the feeling that I was in the middle of an original Grimm’s fairy tale, not one of the innocent Disney versions where all the blood and gore have been taken out. Konrad and his mother lived on the edge of this forest. Full of animals and trees, this area was also home for a few days each month to something deadly.

His father was alive, but Konrad didn’t see much of him because the majority of the time he was away chasing beasts. The boy has lost all love and respect for the father that is never there.

When the werewolves come calling, his father isn’t there to protect them. His mother makes him hide beneath the floors of their house. In the hiding place beneath the floor, Konrad hears each cry of pain and every scream as his mother is attacked by the beasts. Even worse, she falls on the floor right above him after her last breath has been taken. Then he hears the werewolves feasting. Talk about a nightmare-inducing experience. The horrid sounds cause young Konrad to pass out.

The author wrote this heart-rending scene in such a vivid way that I was able to picture each horrific moment of it in my mind.

When he wakes up, his father is there. Konrad should be glad to see him, but he isn’t. He slowly warms to his father, especially after his father tells him about hunting werewolves.

This is a story about werewolves and revenge, but it is also a story about the relationship between a father who was hardly ever there and his son. Did he care more about gaining his revenge on the werewolves than he did his own son? Will Konrad be able to forgive him for his prolonged absences? And now that Konrad also desires revenge for what the werewolves did to his mother, will Konrad and his dad succeed in getting what they desire?

I enjoyed this novella so much that I read it twice. The story moves at a rapid pace. The scenes where Konrad and/or his father are in battle with the werewolves are exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat. The satisfying ending is awesome and left me wanting to read more by this author.

3 Stars!

I only recently read Jason Parent’s work for the first time recently yet he now seems to be popping up everywhere. This is not a bad thing but it is a little surprising that he had never come onto my radar before. I decided to take another journey into his dark imagination and picked up Where Wolves Run.

Legend told of creature that roamed the forest outside of Rattenberg for centuries but most believed these legends to be simple stories to scare children. Others simply chose to ignore the stories of the monstrous beings and their violent ways. They even did their best to explain away the carnage that the beasts occasionally left behind as the vestiges of more natural predators. Ignoring them did not make them less real. And just the people tried to ignore the monsters did not mean the monsters were content to ignore them.

Konrad could have told have told anyone that ignorance is not a luxury that all can afford. He was only a child but he knew the wolves that inhabited the woods were more than just ordinary wolves. They were werewolves who could hunt as man or beast and were something more monstrous than either. After the werewolves launched a brutal attack on his home, Konrad found himself pinned beneath the mutilated body of his mother. His life was saved by the return of his father from mysterious business abroad that the family had never questioned but which had now taken a terrible toll on his family. The attack on his family was not a random attack. Konrad finds himself thrust into the middle of a war in which his life and his humanity hang in the balance.

While Where Wolves Run is only a novella, Parent manages to pack a lot into the story. There is a depth to the story that is missing from most novellas. Parent quickly sets the stage for the story and creates a mythos unique to the story as a backdrop to the action and terror that is to follow. That is a lot to pack into one novella and yet Parent manages to do just this while still crafting an entertaining story in the now.


Parent throws just about everything one can ask for from a werewolf story into this novella. There is plenty of werewolf action in the story yet Parent infuses it with a lot of morality questions as well. Konrad is left to deal with the death of his mother while trying to come to grips with the reality that his father proposes to him. He is left to deal with the nature of what makes a man, or creature, a monster or a man. The problem that the story presents is that there is almost too much here for the few pages that the reader is given. Where Wolves Run is the start of a story that seems incomplete when the novella ends. I hope that Parent will revisit this story in the near future and form it into a novel that allows him to thoroughly explore the strong idea that he creates in this novella and give it a chance to be fully explored.

I would like to thank Corpus Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Where Wolves Run is available now.

Where Wolves Run is a werewolf novella that features a very complicated father-son relationship. There wasn't really much new here when it comes to the werewolf story. Sure, the author didn't bother developing the mythology behind the supernatural creatures, which I thought worked for this kind of story. The author provided their own talent with some pretty visual and violent storytelling, which helped keep my interest.

Finally, a fresh werewolf tale that reminds us why it belongs in the horror genre. A modern masterpiece.

Konrad and his mother live in a thick and forbidding forest outside of the town of Rattenberg where they are forced to fend for themselves while Konrad's father is often away on mysterious business. While his father is away on yet another trip, Konrad and his mother are attacked in their home and Konrad is brought face to face with what his father actually does for a living.
I hate spoilers so I won't say too much here about the events in the story itself. I will say that I was drawn into the story very quickly. Jason Parent has the skill of having a great imagination and being able to put that imagination into writing so well that before you know it, you are immersed in the story he is weaving. This novella doesn't just read as a simple werewolf story but has elements of gothic horror in it as well. I have read a few of his books and he is definitely one author to keep an eye on.
I received a copy from Corpus Press via Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

Jason Parent is kicking out some very impressive material here lately and Where Wolves Run is absolutely phenomenal. Set in the old country, young Konrad watches from the hiding place under the Bavarian cottage floor as his mother is torn apart by unknown hairy beasts. Trapped and unable to see exactly what happened, his father rescues and enlightens him about the events that unfolded. Werewolves. Unknown to Konrad, his father has been hunting them for years and it's time to train his son to help avenge his dead mother.

Where Wolves Run has the feel of the Lon Chaney Jr classics from the Universal Days. I loved the setting of old Bavaria and I didn't want the story to end. Parent does a great job at taking something old and giving us something new. Grab this quick read and experience it for yourself.


5 Silver Daggers out of 5


This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


You can also follow my reviews at the following links:

https://kenmckinley.wordpress.com

http://intothemacabre.booklikes.com

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5919799-ken-mckinley

Where Wolves Run by Jason Parent was received direct from the publisher. This is the first I have heard of or read this author. This book starts out as a horror novella should, with the monster wreaking havoc on those who are lesser. The novella never lets up with there being no long boring scenes or "character development" as some may call it. This is probably the best werewolf related item I have read in many years. Though the son is an ungrateful little punk.

5 stars

I was glad to find a werewolf book that was scary, not fluffy. I have read several books by this author and he just keepsvgetting better. Great for a stormy night scare.

Konrad has never had much of a relationship with his father. He's always off somewhere, rarely returning home. "Mostly he and his mother lived alone, happy."
When Konrad's mother is murdered he finally learns what Father is up to. Werewolf hunting! But does Father always know best? Konrad is not sure whether he should trust Father's ability to discern werewolves from men, or who should be put to death.
This was a short read, less than 100 pages. There was nothing really remarkable about it other than "Father" never being named and only referred to as "Father" even when not with his son, which seemed odd.
I did like the ending.

A charming (if horror-filled) throwback to the classic, un-disneyfied fairy tale classics. A short story so suspenseful that I had to keep reading. Two well-drawn characters in an impossible quandary, Where Wolves Run had me glued to my Kindle. Konrad is a young man who discovers, in a horrible way, that werewolves are real and that his father has devoted his life to hunting them. But what if his father is lying or crazy, is he going to turn Konrad into a cold-blooded killer? A chase through the forest, impossible odds and an ending that made me gasp... Where Wolves Run packs a punch that many longer novels can only wish for.

Okay, so my number one favorite genre is horror and my number one favorite monster is the werewolf, so of course I was psyched to be getting a copy of this to read. I also used to be waaaay into the creepypasta world, so the novella format didn't bother me much.

I enjoyed that Parent didn't take too many liberties with trying to change the popular lore of the werewolf and actually make them terrifying. The fake out/mindgames that was playing out was pretty well done, but could have been executed better, however.

Some of the writing felt a bit too stilted in places, but it didn't pull me out of the narrative too hard. Though, any time in such a short story can hurt.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I'm​ always left hungry for more werewolf stories, and would also be interested in anything else this author puts out.

A super-short horror that mixes the atmosphere of German fairy tales with bucketloads of gore and some damn impressive writing.

The short novella tells the story of Konrad, a boy somewhere in Bavarian mountains (or their counterpart), whose mother is killed one night by a pack of werewolves as his father is out hunting these very beasts. The youngling develops a thirst for revenge and, trained by his father, sets out to avenge the fallen parent.

Jason Parent paints a remarkably unforgiving world, filled with angry, unpleasant people that are dispatched one by one in increasingly gruesome manner. This is always a risky direction to take as too much "his blood painted the cobbles"- and "plunged his knife into flesh"-es can quickly turn a book into an overly dark and laughably serious chore. Thankfully Parent uses the violence rarely and in short bursts, but what bursts they are! With each new kill Konrad's father makes, Parent seems to take more and more delight in writing these encounters, though I would claim the first actual kill - one that occurs in a river - to be my favourite. The imagery conjured there manages to be beautiful and haunting at the same time, like something out of Emily Carroll's work (and not just because of the werewolf element).

The plot is nothing to be surprised by, largely serving as a frame for Parent's writing and the sharp, excellent action scenes, but it's pleasant enough for what it is. The very small length of the novella doesn't lend much space for character development, so Father is just this vengeance-driven maniac and Konrad is a 50/50 fearful/angry boy, who hates his dad and mourns his mother, it's all very barebones.

All in all, this leaves you wishing for Parent to write more horror, werewolf-based or not, and in a longer format, so that his characters can live up to the exciting, colourful action.

Above average, brought down by simplistic plot and empty characters, but supported by great writing.