Book Review: Canyons

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Canyons     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
P. D. Cacek
Class/Genre:   Fantasy   Horror   Werewolves
Tor, Dec 2000, $23.95, 304 pp.

If it looks and acts like a wolf pack hunting humans, it can only be a werewolf brood settling near Denver. Already residing in the Mile High City is the leader of another werewolf pack Lucius. He tries to act as human as possible. He lives in an apartment, works as a bartender, and dates female Homo sapiens. He hides his heritage in order to protect his pack. However, his identity is in danger of exposure when he saves a woman’s life from a gangbanger.

He picks the worst person to save at least from a werewolf perspective as Cathy “Cat” Mosell works for the Quest, a tabloid so sleazy that its peers avoid it. She saw his transformation from man to wolf and reports her up close and personal observation to her editor. He runs a front-page expose claiming a dangerous werewolf runs loose in the city. The newly arrived werewolves are vermin challenging Lucius’ more civilized crowd. With half the city already after them and now a deadly rival wanting supremacy, Lucius seems to have too much to deal with yet still wants Cat as his own.

This horror story looks deeply inside the heart, mind, and soul of a werewolf in such an in depth manner that readers will believe that this novel is a character study. The audience learns how the lycanthrope think and feel especially about their own species and their natural enemy humanity. In this wonderfully written work of fiction, P.D Cacek brings credence to the existence of lycanthropic creatures by making CANYONS a howling successful look at “reality”.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner