The Last Werewolf

Reviews / Votes

Yes, really - the narrator is a werewolf, the film rights have already been optioned by Ridley Scott and the publishers are comparing the author with Stephen King. But the novel is strangely better than these facts suggest; sexy, funny, blisteringly intelligent, and without a hint of Twilight. Jacob Marlowe is the last of his kind, and life is lonely when you have a habit of killing and eating the people you love .... Duncan is the cleverest literary horror merchant since Bram Stoker -- Kate Saunders * * The Times * * A magnificent novel. A brutal, indignant, lunatic howl. A sexy, blood-spattered page-turner, beautifully crafted and full of genuine suspense, that tears the thorax out of the horror genre to create something that stands rapturous and majestic and entirely on its own. -- NICK CAVE Loaded with beautifully constructed lunatic ravings... It is a horror that never shies from the human side of lycanthropy; it is a disquisition on the nature of werewolf stories; it is a sublime study in literary elegance. It is bloody (and) brilliant -- Robert Epstein * * Independent on Sunday * * A brilliantly original thriller, a love story, a witty treatise on male (and female) urges, even an existential musing on what it is to be human. -- James Medd * * Word Magazine * * Duncan's monstrous narrator makes for memorably rambunctious company * * Times Literary Supplement * * The Last Werewolf is written with such scandalous ferocity and such grizzly humour it feels like the literary equivalent of howling at the moon. Not since Lon Chaney and John Landis has lycanthropy been such a blast, and Glen Duncan offers more danger, gristle and lunatic brilliance per sentence than any writer I can think of. -- MATT HAIG Remarkable for its humour, eloquence and self-aware intelligence. A deeply human narrative about the nature of story itself. -- STELLA DUFFY Absolutely brilliant. A surreal, dark and unsettling tale that really did put the bite back into the supernatural. In short, I got a real kick out of it. -- Russel McLean I could say that The Last Werewolf is smart, thrilling, funny, moving, beautifully written, and a joy to read, and this would all be true. But it would also be a woeful understatement of what Glen Duncan has accomplished with his extraordinary novel. The only useful thing I can offer you is a simple admonishment. Stop reading my words, and start reading his. Trust me: you'll be happy you did. * * Scott Smith, author of A SIMPLE PLAN and THE RUINS * * A sharp, sometimes savage observer of the human condition, whose talents are as many as the legions of Hell. (On I, Lucifer) -- Matthew Baylis One of the hottest literary properties of the new century. (On I, Lucifer) * * Independent on Sunday * * Grown up, gritty and very, very sexy. If you're looking for a reprise of the cuddly werewolves of Twilight, then move along, there's nothing to see here. -- Sam Baker, editor of RED The story fights a good fight until the last page, ending with an unashamed set-up for a sequel. I hope it gets written. Duncan's werewolf is monstrously good fun. -- Alice Fisher * * Observer * * Duncan's novel deftly eludes categorisation. It's part thriller, part romance, part existential mystery, and every other page is spattered with either blood or semen. Moreover, it's suffused with cultural allusions that span the breadth of film and literary history, from Jane Eyre to David Fincher's Se7en. -- Yasmin Sulaiman * * The List * * Quirky and brilliant - and definitely not for kids. * * Kirkus Review * * Sexy, funny, blisteringly intelligent, and without a hint of Twilight. . . Duncan is the cleverest literary horror merchant since Bram Stoker. * * Times * * Top notch. * * Metro * * The Last Werewolf is like an updated version of Dracula, only for werewolves, and as rewritten by Bret Easton Ellis. -- Stephen Poole * * Guardian * * A story delivered with sex, melancholy and humour, and written in prose which is direct yet also lyrical, full of resonance and wonder. * * Big Issue * * A novel replete with cultural references... Behind the spume of the supernatural horror and action-thriller, it's an engaging story of one man's evolving perspective on his own nature, that offers us an ultimately life-affirming shift from despondency and contrition and to celebration. * * Scotland of Sunday * * [The Last Werewolf] zips along at a grand pace and the determination of Marlow's would-be nemesis sets up a nicely bleak dynamic. .. Duncan is also clever enough to make the reader feel sympathy for this ultimate outsider - until he reminds you that when he turns he is quite capable of ripping a small child limb from limb. A fine read. * * Irish Independent * * Duncan characteristically plays with the tropes of horror, while steadfastly maintaining his literary credentials. ... Duncan unravels his story with such glee that in less capable hands it could have come across as hammy nonsense. But the glee that threatens to derail the book instead spurs it on at a pace that makes it impossible not to love. * * Vulpes Libris * * Thought-provoking, pungently sexual and thoroughly eventful. * * Nottingham Post * * Carnal and edgy, with gallons of gore, Duncan's smart horror novel... reworks lycanthropic tropes with a hallucinogenic vividness * * The Sunday Telegraph * *