When Tobias Richard Vandevelde wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the night before, his horrified mother tells him that he was found unconscious. At Featherdale Wildlife Park. In a dingo pen. He assumes that his two best friends are somehow responsible, until the mysterious Reuben turns up, claiming that Toby has a rare and dangerous “condition.” Next thing he knows, Toby finds himself involved with a strange bunch of sickly insomniacs who seem convinced that he needs their help. It’s not until he’s kidnapped and imprisoned that he starts to believe them—and to understand what being a paranormal monster really means.
The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group
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Book Description
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A Note from the Author
Dear Amazon Readers:
In The Reformed Vampire Support Group, I took the glamour out of vampires, portraying them as sickly, pathetic, farcical characters without a lot of energy or enthusiasm. I thought it would make for a funny book. And I was tired of people with power. I’m more interested in characters who aren’t glamorous or powerful—because I’m not glamorous or powerful myself.
The only people with any vim and vigor in that story weren’t vampires. One was an elderly mother and the other was a werewolf. The werewolf, Reuben, had a kind of cameo role, but he made a big impression on me. He was restless and troubled and slightly dangerous, and I felt that he deserved more attention than he got. That’s why I decided to write a sequel that would concentrate more on werewolves than on vampires. After all, people generally prefer dogs to bats. So why have vampires traditionally come off as more alluring and interesting than werewolves?
The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group is my attempt to explore more fully the world of werewolves, who suffer not from a contagious blood disease (like vampires) but from an inherited genetic condition. Since this condition manifests itself at puberty, I was also able to look at what happens when teenage boys start running in packs. I had fun doing that. And I enjoyed meeting up with Reuben again, as well as many of those sickly vampires who’d populated the first book.
I hope you’ll feel the same way I do and get a kick out of revisiting characters who take all the mystique out of the paranormal. In fact, I hope you enjoy this book more than the first. The action in the sequel is a little more chaotic, because the characters have a lot more fizz—and because some of them are flat-out crazy. But at least they don’t spend most of their time watching TV and puking in bathrooms, like the poor old vampires!
If you enjoy The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group enough, I might even write one more, and make this series a trilogy! But I’ll have to see how my readers react to this book first...
--Cathy JinksReview
"Jinks has hold of a clever idea and a solid sense of humor."—Publishers Weekly
"The satire isnt all thats biting in this darkly comedic sequel to The Reformed Vampire Support Group (2009)."—Kirkus Reviews
Reformed Vampire Support Group
2010 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
Nominated as a YALSA Teens Top Ten
Nominated as a YALSA Teens Top Ten
"Jinks’s signature facility with plot and character development is intact as she turns to the topic of vampires—as fans can anticipate, hers are not the romantic superheroes of the Stephenie Meyers books....Throwing in delicious details and aperçus, the author works her way from the murder of one of the vampires to suspense and adventure of the sinister yet daffy variety beloved by readers of Evil Genius. The plot twists, more ornate than in previous works, ramp up the giddiness—and, perhaps, camouflage the corpses, blood and other byproducts of the genre." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Support Group is truly like no other vampire story. It is witty, cunning, and humorous, with numerous plot twists and turns. Jinks has conjured up an eccentric but believable cast of characters in a story full of action and adventure." —School Library Journal
"Jinks’s quirky sense of humor will appeal to fans of her Evil Genius series. Those tired of torrid bloodsucker stories or looking for a comic riff on the trend will feel refreshed by the vomitous, guinea-pig–drinking accidental heroics of Nina and her pals." —Kirkus Reviews
"The ill-assorted bunch of vampires in this offbeat Australian novel couldn't be further from the iconic image of the dangerous, sexy night creature....Jinks draws her characters and their unique challenges in great detail; though the adventure takes a while to get into gear, there's plenty of blood and guts (both types) to go around. One part problem novel, one part comedy, and one part murder-mystery, this alternative vampire story is for outsiders of all kinds, underground or otherwise." —The Horn Book
"Jinks takes readers on a wild ride, poking wicked fun at vampire enthusiasts of all stripes with her wryly clinical take . . . a first-rate comedy with equal appeal for avid vampire fans and those who wouldn't be caught dead with a copy of Twilight." —The Bulletin
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully Suitable,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group (Hardcover)
I pre-ordered this book back in November, 2010, immedietly after reading The Reformed Vampire Support Group. And when it finally came I was ecstatic! Good werewolf stories are so hard to come by without them being either shape-shifters or totally obsessed with packs or mating, and when I heard that a story like this was coming my way I couldn't get to the first page fast enough.
The first thing I loved was Toby's personality. It fit his age, yet gave him that 'Main Character' feel along with it. He is only thirteen, and actually ACTS his age rather than these other books that portray their teens and children as if they'd experienced everything and more. He loved make-shift bombs and bottle-rockets and playing pranks on the neighbors like any normal thirteen year old would. He was loveable, all the way up to being kidnapped, then he reacted the way a normal kid would: Panic and wanting to call his mother. Which, really, is kind of whimpish, but really what thirteen year old isn't? When you're thirteen, you don't adapt and then adjust to stay calm. You lose your mind and beg for a way out. And the way Toby handled everything fit just right. What I didn't really like was the lack of explanation for the werewolf condition. We learn that the hair grows faster, your reflexes and sense of smell is heightened, and that you Change once a month. But what exactly happens during the Change? Do they feel pain during the transformation? Do they really experience it, or completely block out every second once it starts? Toby in his ending monologue only suggests that he's done it, and doesn't explain the experience, leaving us to wonder how it goes. Neither of the books explain the transformation very well, and I long to have my transformation- the kind with snapping bones and blood curdling screams as every cell in their body morphs, not the instant switch between man and wolf. I bought this book hoping to catch a glimpse of what it was like for these people to become the beasts that lurked inside, but only heard mentions that it happens and nothing more. That disappointed me, but this book still kept me latched on even though. The dialogue was witty and funny, the characters were brilliantly portrayed, and everything felt so natural you would actually guess that it wasn't really Fiction and was truly the re-telling of a young man's struggle. I loved this book, despite its hastened ending that leaves so much open, and would recommend it to just about everyone I know as a great summer read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Your Usual Teen Wolf!,
This review is from: The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group (Hardcover)
Definitely not the werewolves your used to reading about..
The story starts with Toby waking up in a dingo pen with no clue of how he got there. When he discovers he is a werewolf, Toby goes into full denial mode as does his mother (she thinks he is on drugs!). Toby is kidnapped and taken to a sort of werewolf "fight club" complex where he is rescued and helped by vampires. A little strange, but it works. Toby starts out as a typical 13-yr old boy. Easily succumbing to peer pressure and doing dangerous things. As the story matures so does Toby. Toby's mother's lack of trust in him; wrapped with her denial was a bit hard to stomach at times. I enjoyed the first ¾ of this book The last ¼ seem a little rushed. All in all it was a good read and one I will recommend to middle school readers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Different Kind of Werewolf,
By
This review is from: The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group (Hardcover)
This was a very different take on werewolves. Toby wakes up in a dingo pen and has no memory of how he got there. When he was first approached by Father Ramon Alvarez and Reuben Schneider and told he was a werewolf, his first reaction was disbelief and denial. He wallows in denial. His mother is convinced that he was doing drugs or something like that or that he has a medical condition like epilepsy. She is in even deeper denial than Toby.
But when he is kidnapped and taken to the same fighting complex that Reuben escaped from, he has to believe that he is a werewolf. Of course, he still has to convince his mother that not only is he a werewolf but that he is being helped, rescued and supported by vampires. That's a lot for one mother to believe. At first I didn't care much for Toby. I thought he was a rather careless 13-year-old who was too easily led by his friend Fergus into doing thoughtless things. But I never doubted that he loved and respected his mother. As the story continued, Toby did mature and change. It took lots of very scary and dangerous activities to do it though. I was also unhappy with Toby's mother. I think she carried her denial too far into the story. Her lack of trust in Toby was also a little grating. Her continual searching for a more rational explanation was probably very realistic though. And her love and support did work out in the end. I think that this would appeal to adventure loving middle graders who want to read about a different kind of werewolf. Twilight fans wouldn't recognize these werewolves and vampires though.
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