I snagged a copy of Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie's debut installment in their new Wolf Springs Chronicles while working Mountains and Plains this year. It had actually been on my radar, so it was pretty cool to come across it at the Random House table.
The premise reminded me a bit of that old Lou Diamond Phillips show, Wolf Lake, which sadly got canned pretty early on. I thought it was a cool show. It probably would get a fair shot these days. Ah well.
Anyway, in the book, Katelyn McBride is sent to live in Wolf Springs after her mother is killed in a fire. Her father has been dead for a few years and her paternal grandfather is her last living relative. For the California girl, the tiny Arkansas town is a nightmare. What's worse, her grandfather lives out in the woods, miles from town. Her new home comes with warnings never to go out alone at night and Kat soon learns why. A girl from the local high school was mauled to death not long before Kat arrived. Then another girl is killed.
Of course it's werewolves. But, the build up to the big reveal in this one is perfect. The right blend of suspense and backstory, and enough to leave you hanging (at a very unfair point in the story, I might add) in agonizing anticipation of the second installment.
Agh! Talk about keep you coming back for more. I am dying to know what happens next. I loved the menacing tone of this story. The air of the town and the secrets that it harbors (many of which the reader still doesn't know by the end of this first in the series).
Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the fact that the teens seemed real. That might be my adult perspective -- obviously the real test is a teen's opinion -- but I definitely put this one up there with other teen titles I've enjoyed in my beyond teen years. And it still reminds me of Wolf Lake :)
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