THE WEREWOLF PI SERIES
Written by Wayne Turmel
Series Overview: There is a wonderful sense of adventure and intrigue that paces out through 3 books very differently, but all 3 have a familiar flare and nice overall tone that will endear you quickly to the plight of Johnny and his band of misfits and malcontents. Johnny himself has an interesting panache to him that tends to border on not giving a fuck that foster and turns into curiously astute moments. All of these really lend to a great overall arc of growth, acceptance, and in some capacities fearlessness for Johnny. He reminds me of a combination of Indiana Jones, Jack Gittes, and John McClain. The cast of reoccurring characters that surround him or maybe better stated penetrate his life, bringing a nice balancing nature to establishing a quid pro quo, but that doesn't always end up being in the best interests of those with expectations about or for Johnny and/or his adventures. When you have a character of that ilk, you can provide adventure around him rather easily but the names and faces we become accustomed to really give the reader that much more to follow and be invested in and we all start to have our favorites. Another strong element here, and maybe the strongest by Wayne Turmel, is the background and foregrounds in which Johnny and the cast play. The richness developed from Johnny's perspective of the places he has to be and the places he has to go gives us such a vivid backdrop and a very sense of groundedness that sometimes can wander away in stories like these. Still, here it enhances and enchants the storytelling that much more.
BOOK 1:
Johnny Lycan & The Anubis Disk
What's electric about this 1st book is not what you read at the time you read it but how it becomes a reference point and an establishment of the tone and pacing that you are going to get consistently throughout the next 2 books while maintaining a uniqueness about it that makes it its own thing.
I love the beginning of Anubis better than the other two. Wayne decides to put us right in the middle of the turmoil of Johnny's life and how meaningful the seemingly arbitrary opening fight leads us into what would become, maybe, one of the most pivotal moments in the entire series. Right away we get a little world build, a little sense of who Johnny is, what he faces, and why he even does what he does. It's smart storytelling.
I love the "big bad" here because it allows you to learn more about Lycans (a theme in the first 2 books especially) in a way that doesn't slow the pacing down. Instead about halfway through the book when the guys figure something out about what they are facing, it's this neat little reveal that plays right into the pacing and in fact, it pushes it forward more. I like clever deduction prose here, because it doesn't ever stray from the character or theme. It's a nice tightrope walk that pays off for the reader and also creates the unique, overall tone of this book as more in the noir-ish aspect of Urban Fantasy.
There is also a nice establishment of fringe characters that will play roles, and bigger ones even, in the next 2 books. Wayne skillfully tiptoes using Johnny's POV so it doesn't disrupt the established flow with a flood of origin and backstories. The sprinkling of what we need to know, told in the guise of Johnny, all lends itself well to the momentum of this book and again gives it that kind of air of mystery that this book really fosters.
Everything about this 1st book is very akin to appreciating it more as the series progresses and as I read the other 2 books I found myself going back and rereading a moment or two from the first one, especially when I was delving into the 3rd book, but its not a bad read if this is all you read in this series by any means.
BOOK 2:
Johnny Lycan & The Vegas Beserker
The Urban Fantasy lean here is much harder than in Anubis. The Big Bad is supersized, wish I could say more but that's why you got to read it. Let's just say if you follow any type of Urban myth it just might get touched upon here in this one.
There is a really cool Captain Kirk like moment that I think sets up the 3rd book nicely and it shows that while Johnny is getting closer to gripping onto what this all is, he is still relaying a lot on what got him in these positions in the first place. The climax here is my favorite of the 3 books.
BOOK 3:
Johnny Lycan & The Last Witchfinder
When a shift happens often the author of a series will either ride that into the ground or push into a new direction, here in a very interesting choice, Author Wayne Turmel kind of makes us a lovely stew with what worked so well in Anubis and what was being established in Berserker. I love the return to roots aspect of this book and the bringing the characters we know and love all together one last time. There is a lot of character development that I think plays very well within the context of the story arc and it also helps us lean into what we love about each of them.
Again pacing is paramount and with The Last Witchfinder we get sucked in fast, even more than we did with Anubis and certainly than with the more slow methodic Berserker. The callbacks are fun here and the newly minted adventurers with time and many adventures under their belts make this feel like an even smarter version of Anubis.
If this is truly the end of this series, then I think there was no more fitting way than doing it the way Wayne does it. It's almost too perfect there. This has a nice bit of letting the setting of Chicago shine, almost like a rock band taking an extended encore.
The difference in Johnny through the books also gives us this nice richness that I think makes the 3rd book a lot more less douty than the 1st one especially, but still has the charms that we have come to enjoy. The 2nd book I feel like was a real turning point for this series and the 3rd one doesn't lean into that, it kind of explores the idea that you can never go home again. I like that as wrap-up idea and it works very well here.
This is the best written of the 3 books because I think there is swagger that Wayne exhibits and a comfort level with knowing not just his characters and stories but his audience, as a lot of this book plays as a love letter to them. At least that's how I felt.
This is a magical ride that doesn't come to an abrupt stop but rather cruises into a nice rolling stop at a crossroads. Now its up to us to imagine what's next for Johnny and his crew and I think a lot of us who have read all 3 books have our thoughts but also let's sit in the hug this Shaggy has given us for a little bit.
GRAB THE BUNDLE OF THESE 3 BOOKS HERE
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