The Wolfman / by Nickolas Pekearo

Not too many novelists are volunteer police officers in their spare time. But that's exactly what Nicholas Pekearo, a budding author already having penned his first novel at 28, was doing when his life was tragically cut short. A member of the NYPD Auxiliary Police Force, Pekearo was working the beat in the very neighborhood where he grew up, Greenwich Village, when he was suddenly gunned down in the street after a botched robbery. His novel, The Wolfman, is narrated by a drifter werewolf who, though a sympathyzing individual, has no choice but to prey on those around him.
 Marlowe Higgins isn't who he pretends to be. He's not even what he pretends to be. A bit of a drifter since his combat days in 'Nam, Higgins currently resides in a sleepy middle-american town (in one of the "fly-over" states) working as a short-order cook by day and spending his nights, at least those under a full moon, mindlessly seeking to devour unsuspecting victims. His condition irreversible (a family blood curse damning him to his situation), Higgins can't help but be consumed with remorse for the countless innocent lives he's claimed--memories and internal characteristics of the slain permanently inhabiting his soul long after the act is perpetrated. In an effort to alleviate his guilt, Higgins secretly acts as an amateur detective tracking vicious crimes that have gone unsolved by the police and consequently targeting the perpetrators of said crimes while in lycan mode, tricking his "inner-wolf" into pursuing the deserving criminals.

Pekearo's skill at making Higgins both believable and sympathetic is a considerable achievement, all the more so considering the novel's crossover appeal. The twist involving the town's police detective Daniel Pearce, Higgins' only real friend, is an extremely clever plot device and Higgins’ gruff, hard-boiled demeanor makes him appealing as both a werewolf and amateur sleuth. Werewolf novels in general are underrepresented in fiction, but books like this present a worthy standard for others to follow. This novel's deceased author had quite a lot of potential. (FIC PEKEARO)