Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel

Although the cheesy but great werewolf is based on this novella, only a few elements remain. This is a tight story and a fast read. I love the way the chapters are laid out in months, the the illustrations are incredible. If you enjoyed Silver Bullet, you’ll love this. If you found the film awful, this is essentially the same story told much better. Highly recommend

I had seen the film Silver Bullet some fifteen plus years before reading Cycle of the Werewolf and didn't know the latter was the basis for the former. Nonetheless, despite miraculously remembering the gist of the story from watching the movie nearly two decades earlier, I still very much enjoyed this piece—including the illustrations. It is a quick read, but like all of Mr. King’s work, a thoroughly entertaining read that will leave you wanting more.

This story is extremely short but I think it’s one of King’s scarier works. It’s basically 12 interconnected short stories about the werewolf slaughtering people and animals. People start to piece it together on who the wolf is and how to set it free. I really liked the illustrations but they were also shown before the written scene which spoils it for me. I got this on sale and it was worth the price but idk if it’s worth paying full price.

Something evil is stalking the residents of Tarker's Mills Maine. It comes once a month when the moon is full. It picks it's victims without prejudice first a railroad worker during a January blizzard. Next in the month of February its a lovelorn girl in her bedroom. Every month the locales live in terror wondering which one of them will be next. For ten year old Marty Coslaw the worst comes when the fourth of July is canceled because of the terror that's come to Tarker's Mills. Bound to a wheelchair since birth Marty loves nothing more than the Fourth of July fireworks, and them being cancelled is the last straw. Thankfully his uncle comes thru with a secret stash of fireworks for Marty. But while Marty sneaks out at night to enjoy his uncle's gift something is watching him. Ready to make him the next victim. My Thoughts: I was hoping to able to curl up with a good old fashion werewolf tale. But found to be wanting with this one. It was very short, I know it was purposefully written this way just highlighting the time of the month when the moon is full but this left little time for character development. I thought we would have that when the character of Marty was introduced. He gets the most development but it is not much. At first it was interesting wondering who in this town was the werewolf and once we found out I was hoping to get more on the werewolf legend. How did he become cursed? Are there more of them in the world? But the story is too short and we get none of that. I would love to get a full fledge werewolf story from Mr. King in the future but that seems unlikely. One of the high points of the story are the illustrations by the legendary Bernie Wrightson. Bernie had a flair for the weird and horror making his illustrations scary and beautiful at the same time. Each chapter would open up with a two page black and white drawing usually setting up the season that the story takes place, then one gorgeous fully painted illustration highlighting the climax of the chapter. And then a small black and white closing illustration at the end of the chapter. While I was a little disappointed in the story the price of the book is worth it for the Wrightson artwork alone. On a side note there was a movie adaptation in 1985 called Silver Bullet starring Corey Haim and Gary Busey. I haven't seen it in a long time but I do remember it being pretty good.