The author also loads his story with horror story clichés to the point that I can correctly deduce who will die from the things this fellow says or does.

The werewolf lore is strictly old school, and the identity of the werewolf is obvious from the get go.

Now, I like gore and violence as much as anyone, but there are only so many meat-gets-killed moments I can take without wondering whether the author intends to take his story somewhere, anywhere. Blood and Rain can be very easy to put down because a big part of this story is basically people getting killed left and right. There are many, many, many characters here, and given how they are just mostly stick figures with names in this story, it can be a chore to try to remember who is who, and eventually I stop trying because most of these people are introduced only to be killed off soon anyway. While Joe is mentioned in the back cover synopsis, giving me the impression that he’s going to be the action hero kicking wolf rear ends here, the truth is this is more of an ensemble story. Unfortunately, this is one story that could have shaved off a hundred or so pages and may come out better for it. He doesn’t delve too deeply into the characters’ heads here, but that’s okay, he knows how to make a scene move, which is good. Well, the good stuff first: the author has a breezy, atmospheric writing style. However, Sheriff Joe Fischer takes forever to accept that there is a werewolf in town, and by that time, the body count has gone up so high, it’s pretty hilarious. Since the brutal killings take place during the full moon, some people believe that a werewolf, or some other monster that is under the influence of the moon, is behind the atrocities. Basically, a beast is terrorizing Gilson Creek, a town in Maine. Author Glenn Rolfe has a simple story here. Samhain Publishing, $5.50, ISBN 978-1-61922-909-9īlood and Rain, as you can most likely tell from the cover, is a werewolf story.

Blood and Rain by Glenn Rolfe