Benighted (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: trank gun, lock ups, Kit Whitfield, Johnny Marcos, Five Wounds (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this impressive werewolf novel with a detective story twist, first-time British author Whitfield imagines a contemporary world whose majority are people who "fur up" at full moon; the scorned minority—called barebacks by their wolven, "lycanthropic" peers—are permanently clad in their human skin. Whitfield's bareback protagonist, Lola Galley, is a lawyer with DORLA (Department for the Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activity), an unpopular organization necessary to maintaining order in a civilized world. Lola's full-moon duties include "dogcatching," or chasing down stray "lunes," lycos in vicious, canine form. When a bareback friend loses a hand to the snapping jaws of a lune—and then turns up shot dead a few days later—it's Lola's job to defend the mauler who becomes a murder suspect. In the process of her investigation, Lola must face her own biases as a minority and unearth the secret behind the divide in her society. A nuanced exploration of prejudice, this deftly written, absorbing debut deserves a crossover literary and fantasy readership. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

The world of Benighted is familiar, but not its populace. The vast majority is lycanthropic; its members "fur up" under the full moon and become unreasoning beasts. A small minority is disdainfully called "barebacks" and despised as "cripples." The laws are strict about luning, or roaming freely, while transformed, however, and all non-lycos are conscripted into the Department for the Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activities (DORLA), which enforces the full-moon curfew by hunting roamers and bringing them to justice. Whitfield's well-limned protagonist is angst-ridden DORLA attorney Lola Galley. After a friend's hand is bitten off in a lyco hunt, and he is subsequently murdered, she takes a course of action that leads to extreme danger and shocking discoveries about herself and society at large. In the appended author interview, Whitfield states she didn't begin the book with a message in mind. The narrative feels teacherly, however, and the interview and accompanying reading-group questions and topics for discussion bolster the impression. Despite that, this disturbing thriller should appeal to more readers than just genre mavens. Sally Estes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (August 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345491637
• ISBN-13: 978-0345491633
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #159,070 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much More Than A Werewolf Book, September 9, 2006

By	Jill A. Alters (Springfield, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This story is about a world where 99% of the population are werewolves (although the word is never used in the story). The other 1% are regular humans. However, with such a small percentage of the population, they're very much considered and treated as a minority, and feel that every moment of their lives. The story is about a woman who works in the human branch of government, which is primarily responsible for making sure the werewolves don't cause utter havoc during the full moon, and has been given quite a bit of power to assure that doesn't happen. When two humans are shot with silver bullets, she undertakes to discover who did it, and ends up in a surprising and personally devastating place.

I was surprised by the depth of characterization and world building in this story. I admit I was expecting another slightly shallow werewolf action story. That's not what this is, but I certainly wasn't disappointed. Rather, I found myself emotionally involved in the characters and the love story to a degree I always hope to achieve when I read a book, but rarely attain.

So, cheers to the author for writing a great book. I can only hope the already being planned movie can live up to the story as written.

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent novel with werewolves, August 12, 2006

By	J. DAVIDSON (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(as opposed to a "werewolf novel"): this is a beautifully written novel with the structure and mood of female-narrated neo-noir. Highly recommended, but with the caveat that it's less like Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books than like Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist or Richard Paul Russo's dystopian near-future San Francisco. Dark, disturbing and an extremely satisfying read.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Benighted is Enlightening, December 15, 2006

By	Ralph Smith (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Kit Whitfield's Benighted is an excellent book that, as the author indicates, defies being stuffed into the pigeon-hole of horror or fantasy or science fiction. It is also a love story, dis-uptopia, detective story and social commentary. In fact, as the author says, it is ultimately a "novel."

The tale (yes, it's also a tale) is about Lola May Galley, a hunter ("dogcatcher") of prowling lycos (werewolves who are not self-confined during a full moon at night). Lola is also a detective and a lawyer.

In this society, the non-lyco Lola belongs to a minority underclass that provides essential services to the lycos who are privileged by law, tradition and the economy.

Lola tracks the murderers of her colleague Johnny Marcos and of her best friend's son, Nate. During this quest, she falls in love, against her better judgment, with lyco social worker Paul Kelsey and her life is at risk when a murderous lune Darryl Seligmann escapes from confinement in a hospital.

The trail Lola follows leads her, not only to the solution of the crimes, but also to a legal and moral chasm in the stratified society depicted in the novel.

What I most enjoyed was the counterpoint between the suspense of the chase ("dogcatching" in dark parks) and the sweet and playful moments between Lola and her lover Paul as well as Lola and her nephew Leo.

I also liked the eerie images of lunes, such as when Lola watches Paul "furring up" or when Lola has dreams of being a lune and recalls how lune bodies are beautiful in their form and movement. You also get a sense of the freedom there would be to be inside their skin.

Whitfield does not pound us over the head with an academic history of lycanthropy but she does inform her novel with just enough history to add a touch of depth and reality and, sometimes, lyricism, e.g. "Paul says that in Middle English there was a word meaning moonlight bright enough to see by . . . a silver fish glinting through the water was loten, a lovely melancholy girl had loten eyes."

Lola herself is a complex character, no angel for sure, but she has a depth that seizes and sustains the reader's interest throughout the novel. Although she remembers (and sometimes rebels against) the things her mother taught her, she has had a horror-filled youth in the institution where young non-lycos are held (the "creches"). She has emerged hard-nosed and unpredictable but she is a survivor for all that, effective in her work. When we see her devoting herself to child play with her nephew and in her relationship with Paul, we realize that a spark of joy has been preserved, despite all the physical and societal abuse that has been directed at her.

Somewhat as in Brave New World and 1984 the resolution of the novel points to a profound flaw in both the alternate reality created by the author and in the broader modern society in which we live. This, too, is not driven home by a sledge hammer but is portrayed more subtly through the actions of Lola and one of the bent society's henchmen, Dr. Parkinson.

If there is one weak point in the novel, it is a small one - Lola as lawyer. She is depicted excellently as a "dogcatcher" and detective but is less credible in the lawyer role that is ascribed to her.

I am not in the habit of reading "werewolf" novels but I would recommend this book as a compelling and worthwhile read for the generalist, the specialist or any one who enjoys a good tale.