Howling at the Moon - Karen Macinerney

In a slightly different tone from Maneater, it has to be said, this is the tale of Sophie Garou, accountant by day, werewolf by night. I was a little worried this was going to be a fluffy chicklit-esque romp with the occasional reference to werewolves. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case. Whilst waiting for her human boyfriend to propose and working towards partnership at her prestigious accounting firm, Sophie is being sent mysterious packages that threaten to reveal her true nature to the world. Throw into the mix her psychic witch mother who's just been arrested on suspicion of murder, and Sophie's pretty busy at the moment.

The primary plot - finding out who framed her mum for the murder of a local politician - is nicely blended with a few other plot strands, such as the arrival of a new werewolf in Sophie's life. Sophie herself is a halfbreed werewolf; her father abandoned her shortly after she was born and her mother has spent all Sophie's life keeping her out of the way of other wolves for fear of how they will treat her. So when Sophie meets Tom, a lone wolf on a mysterious mission, she's both curious to learn more about her own kind and afraid she's about to be torn to pieces for being a hybrid.

For me, this relationship with Tom was the weaker part of the story. Sophie's mother is desperate for Sophie to date another werewolf, which is at odds with the way she's raised Sophie, sheltering her from her werewolf heritage. That clash left me a little confused as to whether I was supposed to root for Sophie and Tom or not. In addition, Tom is dating Sophie's best friend which adds a slightly icky feel to their mutual attraction.

The best part of the story is how Sophie deals with the everyday inconveniences of her second nature. She drinks regular doses of wolfsbane tea to suppress her lycanthrope side and carried a razor in her purse just in case. It's quite fun to see her attempting to deal with excess hair in the middle of a career-defining meeting whilst overdosed on wolfsbane. There's a sense of levity to this story that you don't always see in werewolf novels.

Macinerney throws in a few hints of a wider supernatural community - vampires are mentioned, and Sophie meets a werecat towards the end, and I assume these elements will be expanded upon in the next book, but I almost don't want that. Sophie ends Howling at the Moon convinced that her human side is stronger than her wolf side, and obviously this is going to be tested by her relationship with Tom. Personally I'd be disappointed to see this series descend into a free-for-all of supernatural creatures since the central conflict is so interesting by itself, and open to plenty of exploration. Does Sophie have a place amongst other wolves, and does she even need it? She's made a success of herself as a human whilst working to suppress her inner wolf. She lacks the tortured angst of other werewolf characters in urban fantasy, which is refreshing in its way.

Although lighthearted, this is by no means a fluffy novel, and there are enough new twists on werewolf lore to make it intriguing. Sophie is a great narrator and I'm interested in seeing where Macinerney takes her story.

Maneater - Thomas Emson

For centuries the Greenacre and Templeton families wages a secret war. Man fought wolf and it seemed man won. But now that war is about to erupt once more, as Laura Greenacre and Michael Templeton collide in a bloody, visceral tale of werewolves oop North.

Can I just say - Awesome! Awesome to the max! I rarely meet a werewolf book I don't like, but Maneater is the best one I've read since Ivy Cole and the Moon. It's a grim, gritty, and occasionally uncomfortable novel that tends towards horror rather than urban fantasy. Laura, the titular maneater, is a fascinating character but she's definitely not a heroine. Seriously. She eats people. Like, alive. And yet, placed against power-hungry, bloodthirsty Michael, she's an angel. Morally dubious and ethically questionable, yes, but captivating all the same.

Emson stays away from the flashier aspects of werewolf mythology - no silver bullets or full moons here - but the simpler take on the tradition works well against a backdrop of Newcastle strip clubs and wild country estates. I'm always privately excited to read a story of this kind set in the UK, and Emson brilliantly uses the atmosphere of the northern setting to create an oppressive environment that's completely believable. All the characters are possessed with a world-weary ennui that's violently disrupted by Laura. When the action moves to London later in the book, that ennui is replaced with palpable urgency that grabs you by the throat and drags you into the bloody climax. And if the London scenes are slightly reminiscent of An American Werewolf in London, well, that's no bad thing.

What I especially liked is that Emson made no apologies for his characters. Laura and Michael aside, there were several characters who were unpleasant, nasty, broken, or just plain creepy, and Emson made them all human and convincing without pulling any punches. From rapists to hired mercenaries, they were all just as compelling as Laura.

There were a few hints that there could be a sequel - certainly there would be scope for it - but the main storyline was resolved. No happy, tidy endings for these guys, but this isn't a happy, tidy book. I don't think it will be to everyone's taste - too many grey areas and probably not enough romance for the urban fantasy market. But for a slice of British gothic violence, this book is perfect.