Customer Reviews

Shapeshifter

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I wanted to give this book a lower score and even considered quitting it a time or two. I did neither. I didn't quit because how do you know it doesn't improve later on and I didn't give it a lower score because there were actually a few really entertaining parts to it.

It could have been a good story but the conversations between characters and the explanation of Mark's illness border on the simplistic and ludicrous. I don't think that if I were trying to convince my girlfriend that I was a werewolf that I would start discussing or lecturing on ancient far eastern mythology and how it carries over into the modern era! Hell, I thought I was back in school!

The beginning was ok and the ending pretty good. It was that middle section that sank it for me.

While I usually love books by Gonzalez, this one was a step down for me. The opening setup was quite excellent by having a troubled man's identity secretly discovered by his superior at work and recorded on videotape. The boss then blackmails his employee to do his dirty deeds as a werewolf, killing off his competition. However, in almost every scene with the werewolf, you could easily substitute the name "werewolf" for "hitman" and you'd essentially have the same effect, only with a more grisly outcome. It reads more as a crime thriller than a horror novel. I wanted to delve into Mark Wiseman's world a lot deeper than was written, but it was a fast, fun read nonetheless.

My only other problem was the incredibly high amount of coincidences in the final third of the book where our villain discovers his ex-girlfriend and our hero, Mark Wiseman, have been seeing each other, run off together, and are easily tracked down. George Fielding's piecing together clues to the murders and the involvement of everyone also seemed like a bit of a stretch, especially after just coming out of a coma. But regardless, Gonzalez is trying a something new here and I'm glad he did. Personally, I prefer his book, "Survivor", a much more visceral plunge into horror. As long as you have the stomach for it.

This was my first Gonzalez book, and I have to admit that my opinion of it is slightly perplexed. I enjoyed the story; being a sucker for werewolves I was pretty happy to be reading a werewolf book to begin with. The lead character - Mark Weisman, was your standard werewolf, a tragic figure who fights to control his cursed life and deal with the carnage he knows he is causing. He has some control over his change, but not nearly enough.

The real monster of the story is a high level executive, under the gun for committing fraud and a few other nasty white collar crimes. Bernard discovers Mark's secret and decides as only a true monster could, to use it for his own gain. (By the way there are no spoilers in that little bit, it's written on the back of the book). Add in a love interest, quite a few dead execs and a corporate merger and we should be in for quite the evening of werewolf fun.

So why did I finish this 300+ page book in 3 hours? I know I read fast, but it should have lasted me a day and a half... The writing style was very simple, I don't know if that was good or bad. The characters are extremely quick in their emotions, falling in love is an almost overnight decision... there is very little sense of time passing; I know that this book took place in about a years time, but you never get that feeling. Also there are a couple of plot holes that I won't point out here, they aren't huge, but they are there. On the whole I enjoyed the 3 hours I spent blazing through this book. As I said the writing style is extremely simplistic. If it wasn't for the sex and hint at gore (I didn't find the book overly gorey, personally) I would almost consider this written in a "young adult" fashion. There isn't a lot of glowing prose, description is minimal, in fact it isn't until the end of the book that Mark is truly described physically, Bernard is only described as "Tall" and Mark in his wolf shape is left so open that I wasn't sure if we had an "American Werewolf" style or "Lon Chaney" style werewolf. In fact the only characters who are given decent physical descriptions are the women, and that is simply that they are all blond and all have perfect legs and huge boobs.

If you are looking for a fast simple read, pick this up at a used bookstore. If you are looking for something mind altering, mood changing, or eye opening... look elsewhere.

Lycanthropic Orange Coast College student Mark Wiseman controls his urge to kill when he shifts to a werewolf; he also hides his condition from everyone until he is caught changing by a security camera while working in the Tape Library of the Computer Operations of Free State Insurance.

The firm's CEO Bernard Roberts lives for his work though he makes time even at his executive office for sex with his executive secretary Carol Emrich. He owns the videotape in which Mark is filmed shifting. The wealthy amoral mogul blackmails Mark into cooperating with his desires. He orders Mark to kill any board member supporting a merger that if agreed will lead to an audit and ultimately expose Bernard's embezzling of company funds. To further insure Mark cooperates, Bernard has evidence that links Mark to the bloody murders of the werewolf's parents. Mark's only hope for freedom resides with Carol whom he just met and can sense her attraction to him.

This is an entertaining fast-paced horror thriller in which readers initially will wonder whether the wolf will do the killings or not and whether Mark will ever be free from the malevolent Bernard. J.F. Gonzalez keeps the audience wondering how Mark will expedite himself from this mess once he decides not to kill Bernard at least for now. Though neither of the male leads showcases much in the way of any redeeming qualities as a survival of the fittest killer instincts rules; fans of in your face werewolf tales with plenty of gore will want to read this exciting story.

Harriet Klausner

It's not always easy playing second fiddle. Art Garfunkel may be a talented singer, but he will always be in the shadow of Paul Simon. And who listens to Messina if Loggins isn't around? In the world of horror, it's the werewolf never seems to get the respect of the vampire; for every werewolf movie, there are several vampire flicks and I would have to guess the ratio is even worse in books. After all, with the many horror novels I've read, there have very few that feature lycanthropes. In fact, Shapeshifter by J.F. Gonzalez may be the first.

The werewolf in Shapeshifter is Mark Wiseman, a college student who does swing-shift office work at an insurance company. Wiseman doesn't know why he's a werewolf, but every full moon he changes into a man-beast with violent, carnivorous urges. Although he has not always been lucky in avoiding killing people, he's been able to avoid capture and more-or-less control his changes. Unfortunately, one of his transformations has been witnessed by the insurance company's CEO, Bernard Roberts.

Wiseman may be the werewolf, but Roberts is the monster. The company is about to go through a merger, one that Roberts really doesn't want to happen. Cleverly, he finds out all about Wiseman and coerces the clerk into killing for hire. In particular, Roberts wants to kill certain board members who favor the merger. Wiseman is trapped into doing the crimes, realizing that he will be arrested or killed if he doesn't, with Roberts getting off completely. For the executive, it seems the perfect crime, but the coincidence of several people dying by supposed animal attacks will raise a few questions.

Having never read Gonzalez before and with little experience with werewolf novels, I wasn't sure what to expect (maybe there was a good reason that these novels were uncommon). What I got was an entertaining, fast-moving book. This is more the result of the writing than the topic; Gonzalez is good at what he does. If you've never read him, this book should be a fun treat.

I loved this book. It has everything that a good horror novel should have, and I devoured it in only a couple of sittings. J.F. Gonzalez is one of the most talented horror authors out there at this time, and for me this book only cemented that belief in my mind even more.

Typically in a horror novel the werewolf is the evil monster that must be defeated, but not in Shapeshifter. Mark Wiseman is normal guy who unfortunately turns into a werewolf during the full moon. The monster of the story is his boss, Bernard, who uses Mark's curse for his own personal gain. The characterization is wonderful. Gonzalez has created believable characters who readers can sympathize with, going through their fear, desperation and romance all within the pages.

I loved it, and I can't wait to read something else by J.F. Gonzalez.

This book was no good. By the end of the first chapter I didn't care about it. But I stuck it out. I thought it might get better. But it didn't. The last hundred pages took me a week to read because I just didn't care what happened to these lame characters. Then after I finished (even though I thought I couldn't care less how this book ended) I was disappointed in the ending.

I'm a sucker for a good old fashioned werewolf story, and this one from J. F. Gonzalez satisfies. It's fun, fast-paced and wonderuflly vicious. Grab this one and kick back for a really good fang and claw story.

Hey, I love a good, cheesy horror novel as much as the next guy (or ghoul) but this one isn't. It stinks. Very amateur writing, implausible plot, weak characters, meaningless gore - there's nothing at all worth reading here. You have to wonder why Leisure chose to re-print this dated, sub-par wolfman story in the first place. In fact, the entire Leisure line of horror has taken a downward turn with no less than THREE werewolf novels being published in the last three months.Give me a Richard Laymon psycho anyday! (Although, Leisure's recent release of Laymon's Cuts was so full of editorial errors that it almost rendered Laymon's work unreadable.) Get your act together, Leisure!