The Last Werewolf (Last Werewolf Trilogy)

The Last Werewolf is a Werewolf & Shifter Thrillers novel by Glen Duncan. Read summary below.

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The Last Werewolf (Last Werewolf Trilogy) Summary

Glen Duncan delivers a powerful, sexy new version of the werewolf legend, a riveting and monstrous thriller–with a profoundly human heart.

Jake Marlowe is the last werewolf. Now just over 200 years old, Jake has an insatiable appreciation for good scotch, books, and the pleasures of the flesh, with a voracious libido and a hunger for meat that drives him crazy each full moon. Although he is physically healthy, Jake has slipped into a deep existential crisis, considering taking his own life and ending a legend that has lived for thousands of years. But there are two dangerous groups–one new, one ancient–with reasons of their own for wanting Jake very much alive.

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The Last Werewolf (Last Werewolf Trilogy) Review

T. Sparks

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love your werewolf stories humorous, sexy, and bloody…
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2011

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This is the first book I’ve ever read by Glen Duncan, and he’s written eight books. Where have I been? I wonder. I have a lot of catching up to, because I loved this book. I love werewolf stories. There is something appealing about a character who is compelled to commit monstrous acts, but whose nature does not give him any choice in the matter. The werewolf is a tragic sort of beast, don’t you think?

Enter our werewolf protagonist, Jake Marlowe. Jake has just been given some bad news: as of a couple of nights ago, he is now the last werewolf on earth. This news is delivered apologetically by his long-time friend and human protector, Harley, a man dedicated to shielding Jake from “the Hunt,” a very determined group of werewolf hunters. According to Harley, Grainer, the head werewolf hunter, will have the honor of killing Jake himself on the next full moon. A complicated game of cat and mouse ensues as Harley and Jake try to prevent this from happening.

Two things set this book apart from other monster stories. First is Duncan’s writing style. Glen Duncan is not just a writer. He’s a writer’s writer. Which means not only can he write a rip-roaring tale filled with action, danger, humor, sex, shady characters and redemption, but he writes it beautifully. Reading his prose is like sipping liquid chocolate while soaking in a hot bath under a starry sky in a mountain-top retreat. A starry sky with a full moon, of course. The book is full of gorgeous sentences, like this one, where Jake attempts to describe a girl he has just noticed: “Certainly not `beautiful’ or `pretty’ but Saloméishly appealing, visibly smudged with the permissive modern wisdoms.” After only a few pages of this sort of writing, one almost doesn’t care what’s happening to the story.

The second thing I loved about this story is the complete self-awareness of the monster. Unlike other werewolf stories where the human loses all sense of himself during the change and forgets what he’s done afterwards, Jake knows exactly what he is and what he’s doing as a werewolf. Becoming a wolf is a glorious, powerful, and erotic experience for Jake, whose first-person descriptions of how it feels to be in the wolf’s skin give the reader a unique experience. We know from story and myth that werewolves have enhanced senses of sight and smell, but Jake’s unique perspective turns these senses sensual. As Jake takes a life, the blood causes him to relive the victim’s life, as though watching a film strip sped up. The experience of killing seems justified, and the reader falls in love with Jake the monster.

If some of the story elements seem predictable, then Duncan can be congratulated on his ability to make the predictable seem fresh and exciting. I won’t tell you what happens mid-way through the story. I can only say that Jake’s tale becomes infinitely more interesting, and readers will tear through the book at a breakneck pace to find out what happens. What more can one ask of a great book?

Sony

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2013

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Let me start off by saying that I’ve never read in the werewolf genre before, so I didn’t know what to expect. It doesn’t matter though because this book is special by all standards. It completely took me by surprise on all levels. I will even venture to say its a masterpiece! That’s not to say it’s not flawed, but the flaws are minimal compared to what the author managed to accomplish.

First, and foremost, the prose is top-notch. Duncan is obviously well-read and knowledgeable about his craft. He can play with words in a way that will make you stop, pause, and re-read a sentence. There’s some beautiful phrases in this book that I highlighted so I could come back and read them again. Personally, I believe the writing in this book rivals some of the literary classics that we’re taught in school. That’s not to say it’s perfect, because it’s not. In fact, Duncan’s writing can be problematic at times. He has beautiful allegories, metaphors, and similes, but sometimes he overdoes it, and could be even accused of writing purple. But it’s not often enough to distract, in my opinion. What is distracting, sometimes, is the complex and, frankly, confusing ways he tries to describe things. For example, take this sentence: “I remembered Harley’s description of him: magnificently abstracted, carries with him an inscrutable scheme of things next to which your own feels paltry” . Yeah, what? I re-read that like 3 times and I’m still not sure I completely grasped what he was trying to convey. It doesn’t occur too often, but often enough that is stands as a flaw. He can pull the reader in with his intelligent and eloquent prose, but then he also sometimes pushes the reader away with it as well. Still, I think he’s a fantastic writer.

Second, the protagonist, Jake, is everything I love in a protagonist- very flawed and not very sympathetic. But he evokes sympathy anyway because of his circumstance. He’s a prick, really. And a narcissistic, chatty, and cynical prick at that. Slowly though, you start to realize that Jack is who he his because of the ‘curse’, and the length of time he’s been on earth (200 years), mostly without love. That will make a prick out of anyone. Speaking of which, the death of his wife was written so well that I had to put the book down for a day. It was so expertly described and so visceral that I honestly pondered whether it was possible that Duncan himself could be a werewolf or know one. lol! I know how crazy that sounds, but that’s the beauty of this book. Jake really does feels like a real werewolf. There’s no sugar coating anything, and it’s terribly dark, lonely, and bleak, but too fascinating to shut out.

Another flaw though. Jake often goes off on tangents, which can be irritating. Sometimes I wondered if Duncan purposefully wrote him this way or if it was Duncan himself who was too chatty. By the end, I realize, it may be a bit of both. In fact, I think there’s a lot of Duncan in Jake. I guess that’s true of all protagonists, but here, it seems really obvious.

Third, there’s a twist in the middle of the book that’s just awesome. Just when I had gotten used to Jake’s morbid perspective, Duncan introduced a shocking surprise that took the book to another level. I won’t reveal it here, but I will say that I love that Duncan turned Jake’s perspective on its head, and shows the reader that even a 200 year old werewolf who has seen it all doesn’t know everything.

I will say that I’m not sure how I feel about the ending. It was very jarring for me. I was not expecting it to end the way it did, and I have mixed feelings about that. But I have a lot of feelings about this book. Duncan brought out some strong emotions in me and engaged me in a way that’s rare. I haven’t been this wrapped up in a story since ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’ series. So I will definitely be reading the follow up to this book, and whatever else Duncan has written. I’m a fan.
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About Glen Duncan Author Of The Last Werewolf (Last Werewolf Trilogy) Book

Glen Duncan is the author of Author Of The Last Werewolf (Last Werewolf Trilogy) Book. He was chosen by both Arena and The Times Literary Supplement as one of Britain’s best young novelists. He lives in London.