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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A solid debut, January 26, 2009
After being a fan of Lorne Dixon's short stories for several years, I was anxious to see where he could take his characters when given more space to move around, to really flex those writing muscles. He got the opportunity in his debut novella, Snarl, and the result was nothing short of impressive.
I'm reluctant to classify the book as simply a werewolf novella. Snarl picks up were every good classic horror novel leaves off, when you've ever wondered what would happen when you take any of these horror figures far from the path of predictability. Dixon breathes new life into an old idea, and makes it--as is his usual style--entirely his own.
The story follows Chev Worke, an old-fashioned American dad dedicated to his family, driving back and forth across the country to put food on the table. During one particular haul his truck hits an animal near the town of Easter Glen. It's not long before he realizes what it is of course. The beast's friends show up--pissed, hungry, and anxious to toy with Chev, sending him running down the highway as the toughest fight of his life begins to unfold.
While trying to outrun the pack, Chev meets up with Ross Eloyan and his grandson, both of whom are suffering from their own fresh wounds from a recent tragedy that has left them with no other family but each other. They, too, get tossed into the mix as they follow Chev in his escape from Easter Glen, a town that has clearly fallen under the control of this gang of motorcycle-riding, blood-thirsty half-humans. Ross's story in particular is especially brutal, and here Dixon shows his skill at giving you a deeply layered character that gets sucked into a series of choices that can only lead to more pain and misery.
Chev and just about everyone else in this story face their own similar choices, and they all reach the gut-punching realization that the world has been changing around them for the worse. All of this just adds to the tension as things spiral out of control. Even the town itself is forced into an appalling agreement with these monsters in order to avoid the bloodbath that would ensue if they didn't. Everyone is held hostage in one way or another.
At all times during this book you get a feeling that things could explode at any moment. Dixon keeps you enthralled, reminds you that everything is teetering on the edge, whether it's a fragile pact made between men and beasts or a twitching finger hovering over a trigger. And when it all comes crashing down, when the dust settles and you see who's left standing, you'll realize you never saw it coming. It's an ending that will leave you numb yet hungry for more.
Snarl is a rollercoaster of a ride. It'll raise your adrenaline, get your blood pumping, maybe even leave you queasy, but you'll be thoroughly entertained and won't soon forget the experience.
Dixon delivers here. Give Snarl a read.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An outstanding addition to the werewolf genre, January 27, 2009
There's been a push the past year or so to re-establish the werewolf as the new "it" monster; after years of vampires, the past 5 years saw zombies take over the horror fiction scene (where they continue to rise with no sign of slowing down).
Although there's been several werewolf novels released over the past couple of years, not one of them (that I've read) has been half as exciting as SNARL, a quick, action-packed novella that just might give everyone's favorite hairballs a nice little boost.
After his 18-wheeler crashes due to a strange animal running onto the road, family-man-trucker Chev finds himself running for his life from a gang of biker-werewolves. He meets up with a grandfather and his ten year old grandson inside an isolated food mart. The wolves catch up to him, but a pregnant cashier named Bella helps them escape---and brings them to the home of a werewolf hunter who lives in a home-made anti-werewolf fortress.
When Devil Ayers agrees to help our protagonists, double crosses abound, wolf attacks increase, and an all-out lupine-assault threatens to take over a small town that has broken its pact with the beasts of the night. There's even a side-plot involving the mob that leads up to a neat ending.
SNARL is an old-school horror story that's very well told by author Dixon, who brings his characters to life within a short page span and manages to keep the reader flipping the pages. I'm not a big werewolf fan, but SNARL's the most fun I've had with the things in many a full moon.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lyncanthrope Tale Twisted Around Every Turn!, March 7, 2009
I just finished reading Lorne Dixon's SNARL and I have to say, this is a fun novella/short novel by an up-and-coming star in the field of horror. Be on the lookout for this guy, because if SNARL is just a sample -- or should I say "bite" -- of what this author can do, then I'd place your bets in advance now.
SNARL is a lycanthrope story about werewolf bikers and clans and their legend in a town called Eastern Glen, and these wolves have some kind of special "pact" with the town's residents. The story starts us off with our protagonist, Chev, who is a cross-country trucker working on Christmas to make some extra cash for his family, when he runs over one of the wolves who formed this pact fifty-something years ago. After this particular pact-forming wolf is buried, Chev is thrown into a neverending, panic-fille ride around every turn, along with an old man and his terrified grandson, and a high school girl who is carrying one of the wolven biker's babies in her womb. The werewolves on the hunt are led by the rough and gritty Marek, along with two vicious shapechangers by the name of Jiri and Josef. If this were a movie, I could imagine the hairy Marek being played by Kris Kristofferson, and then there's the Wolf hunter, Devil Ayers -- who comes halfway through the book -- who I could imagine being played by somebody like Sam Elliot. Chev runs into death everywhere he goes through Eastern Glen and learns a lot about the lore concerning werewolves and why this special pact exists. There's many different sides, people forming partnerships, people shooting each other, and all the while poor Chev wants to just get home to his family. Everything hits you unexpected in SNARL, like a railroad head-on.
There were a few typos in the book and what seemed like a few structural errors through some of the later chapters where it started to drag for a wee bit, but, in today's printing industry, two or three typos is a miracle! And that doesn't take away from the important thing: the story. Why I give it five stars then? Because what makes this book so rich and fun IS the story and the CHARACTERIZATION, and readers will quickly identif with it. And this, along with the premise, is where SNARL succeeds. I'll definitely be checking out more work by this author, and hey, so should you. Lawrence Dagstine, Author, Fresh Blood.
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