PopSyndicate.com

I haven’t read many werewolf novels.  I usually try to avoid them.  Horror fiction that involves monsters usually relies on cheap clichés and tired conventions.  Thanks to Anne Rice and Laura K. Hamilton, the vampire genre is pretty much ruined right now.  Outside of a few novels based on role-playing games, the werewolf genre has been under exploited.  When Sharp Teeth appeared on my desk, I was skeptical at best.  Then I saw the quotes from David Mamet, Nick Hornby and Scott Smith.  I decided that it might be worth giving it a shot. 

There aren’t many novels written in verse and I’m pretty sure none of them feature werewolves.  Toby Barlow’s first book is an excellent read that explores werewolves in L.A. through a long form verse poem.  I know it sounds arty and pretentious but Barlow’s simple, straight-forward style is a fun, easy read.

Anthony is a non-werewolf Latino who gets a job as a dogcatcher in East L.A.  On the surface it’s a simple job of catching dogs and dropping them off at the pound.  Underneath, it’s a world o drug-running, dogfights and co-workers who disappear.  The man he’s replacing captured a few dogs and sold them to a dog fighting ring.  He’s been missing every since. 

Lark is the pack leader and he has assigned the bitch to a new assignment; get in close to a dogcatcher so we can get a couple of men working there.  Shortly after beginning her assignment, Lark’s pack is ambushed and he goes on the run trying to figure out who betrayed him.  A new pack is trying to take over the werewolf scene and a rogue cop is dragged into the middle of it all. 

It’s next to impossible to summarize Sharp Teeth.  Every character gets their own storyline that all come together in the end.  By the time the S-70 Blackhawk helicopters start firing on warring werewolf factions, the novel has achieve epic proportions.  The book is more about gang warfare than werewolves and horror.  The use of the making the main characters lycanthropes means that this is a horror novel but don’t expect graphic violence or lots of gore.  This could have just as easily been about two rival gangs. 

Anyone that might be turned off at the thought of reading a 308 page poem shouldn’t worry.  You’ll find none of the Shakespearean verse or Dantesque phrasing.  Barlow keeps it modern with slang prose and very free verse.  There is nary a rhyming couplet to be found.  The free verse is more a gimmick to set Sharp Teeth apart from the rest of the crowd.  It doesn’t hurt that Barlow can play with the pacing through the verse to create tension where he needs it and linger when it’s appropriate.  When Lark is hiding out in dog form, the paragraphs are longer while final battle is broken up into quick moments.

Sharp Teeth is the debut novel from Toby Barlow.  It’s a great debut.  While a bit gimmicky, Sharp Teeth does have bite and delivers and fun memorable read. 

4