The Pack By E.C. Saulness

The cover grabs you, but the title leaves you wondering if this is going to be a bland stereotypical story. Who is this E.C. Saulness and why would this person write a book about werewolf? It’s all been done before, right?

An original story without all the stereotypical aspects, The Pack is more than it seems! Right up my ally of genres that I enjoy reading, this supernatural tale really drew me in! Written in first-person, past-tense voice, this book takes you on a ride through the eyes of the protagonist. The way the author introduces this character to paint a picture of who the protagonist is on a personal level is epic! I enjoy descriptive stories that don’t go overboard on the details. You will be delighted to know in advance that this author, E.C. Saulness has the perfect balance of details for proper character development.

“Burned-out private detective, Frank Shepard, has a dangerous secret that has followed him for nearly a century. He’s a werewolf. A curse that has cost him everyone he loves. In another life he was a soldier, a brother, and a husband. Now he lives in a run-down trailer on the edge of town and drowns decades of traumatic memories in alcohol and opiates.

That is, until his old partner—the only one who knows about Frank’s werewolf nature—calls in old debts for help on a missing person’s case. Unable to refuse, Frank is forced to leave his self-imposed isolation to join the hunt. A job that quickly entangles him in a web of revenge, murder, ghosts, and fey creatures in a dark supernatural underworld. In which Frank increasingly feels that he may be the worst monster of them all...” – Amazon Synopsis.

A drug user, smoker, and dog owner, Frank struggles with something inside him around people. He seems to have a desire to avoid anyone he does not want to associate with and for good reason. Frank wants to keep calm. He wants to remain in control. A struggle within himself, Frank Shepard fights back an alter ego that fights for control over his body: The wolf inside him. This internal struggle along with a horrifying past feeds this story with intrigue and excitement. Cursed to live as a werewolf, Frank works with a Private Investigator named Mack, using his supernatural talents to get the jobs done. The suspense builds in dramatic scenes such as Frank’s encounter with a woman named Rita. He fights against the will of the wolf within him who wants to kill Rita. Frank constantly resists the urge to kill another woman. Who was the woman that he killed before? You will get no such spoilers from me since I feel it is a major aspect of the suspense build-up.

“The wolf dreams first of the hunt, always the hunt.”

This was one of the first quotes in the book that I dare share that doesn’t spoil anything that struck me with power. It gives the readers the intimate knowledge of what drives the wolf within; the wolf, the mighty beast and hunter.

“I’m not ready to face myself.”

Frank Shepard lives a cursed life that is more than just being a werewolf. There is much, much more to his curse. This powerful quote drives his pain home. He is forced to live in anguish. We understand more as to why he abuses alcohol and drugs, not just to suppress the beast inside, but to numb the pain he lives with.

“Francis.”

“It’s Frank now,” follows the beckoning of this name over a third the way through this book and everything makes sense at this point. With so many flashbacks, many may become confused. My analytical mind loved how this book was structured with the well-placed flashbacks to explain key points to the how and why of everything.

The synopsis on Amazon doesn’t do the book justice in my opinion. This is more than just a stereotypical werewolf story.

This book took me back to a show I loved in the 80’s. Werewolf was a television series that came out in 1987 and was canceled in 1988. I imagine that if revised, should go something like the book of E.C. Saulness. I would love to see this book adapted to film. It is simply that good and would make an excellent mini-series to say the least. My ranking overall would be very prominent Four-Stars out of five.