Book Review - Naked Brunch by Sparkle Hayter
Category Book Reviews
I'm almost done with my Sparkle Hayter read-a-thon... This one is Naked Brunch. This is not one of her Robin Hudson stories, and despite the back cover description is more serious than her other stuff. You'd think you're about to read a zany story of love and werewolves, but the zany part was pretty subdued. But don't get me wrong. I actually really liked it.
A legal secretary finds out she has Lycanthropic Metamorphic Disorder (LMT) when she morphs into a wolf and kills someone during a full moon. She's not really sure it all happened until the same thing happens the following month, and she finds another wolf in the same condition. Meanwhile, the city is in turmoil over the "Mad Dog" killings, and a private clinic (run by someone who also has LMT) tries to find her and bring her under control. A power struggle arises between the head of the clinic and the other wolf, who had been a clinic patient but faked a suicide when he was accused of killing another female wolf while staying there. Since the doctor can't assure himself that he can bring the situation under control, he decides to kill both of them.
Playing out at the same time is a secondary plot of a newscaster who is about to be fired as he doesn't have a clue as to how to report, but he picks up this story and starts to run with it. His wife, another media personality, is cheating on him and is outed in a gossip column, but he's oblivious to all the talk. The news station wants to keep him that way so that he can follow the story, and steps are taken to make sure that whole "affair" is controlled so that he isn't hurt in the process.
While the cluelessness of the reporter and the gossip column material is funny, the core story of the wolves is pretty serious and involves a lot of death and destruction (although the people who get killed deserve it). The basic plot could be really good Dean Koontz material. Definitely a different style of story for Hayter, but one I really liked.
I'm almost done with my Sparkle Hayter read-a-thon... This one is Naked Brunch. This is not one of her Robin Hudson stories, and despite the back cover description is more serious than her other stuff. You'd think you're about to read a zany story of love and werewolves, but the zany part was pretty subdued. But don't get me wrong. I actually really liked it.
A legal secretary finds out she has Lycanthropic Metamorphic Disorder (LMT) when she morphs into a wolf and kills someone during a full moon. She's not really sure it all happened until the same thing happens the following month, and she finds another wolf in the same condition. Meanwhile, the city is in turmoil over the "Mad Dog" killings, and a private clinic (run by someone who also has LMT) tries to find her and bring her under control. A power struggle arises between the head of the clinic and the other wolf, who had been a clinic patient but faked a suicide when he was accused of killing another female wolf while staying there. Since the doctor can't assure himself that he can bring the situation under control, he decides to kill both of them.
Playing out at the same time is a secondary plot of a newscaster who is about to be fired as he doesn't have a clue as to how to report, but he picks up this story and starts to run with it. His wife, another media personality, is cheating on him and is outed in a gossip column, but he's oblivious to all the talk. The news station wants to keep him that way so that he can follow the story, and steps are taken to make sure that whole "affair" is controlled so that he isn't hurt in the process.
While the cluelessness of the reporter and the gossip column material is funny, the core story of the wolves is pretty serious and involves a lot of death and destruction (although the people who get killed deserve it). The basic plot could be really good Dean Koontz material. Definitely a different style of story for Hayter, but one I really liked.
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Comments
That sounds like a really cool story. I love that "out there" kind of stuff.
A story like that could be really good, or really cheesy, but usually nothing in between. I wonder if it's been out long enough to be in the local library? I've been trying to keep myself from buying books lately and have been using the library pretty heavily.
Posted by Tom At 10:54:23 On 26/07/2004 | - Website - |
Posted by Duffbert At 11:06:35 On 26/07/2004 | - Website - |