Instead of walking around weaving a pad with a pencil in his ear and stars in his eyes, reciting off verses on love, flowers, and the universe, he curses this ‘gift’ and feels as if he must write poetry because it’s a part of him, not because he wants to. He is a natural poet by heart, and this is a constant regret to him. He also is kind-hearted and a bit too nice and naïve, as is made clear from chapter one. His strength is in other areas, but on the outside he’s a man not able to provide for his family, make much money at his job, handle the billing in a reasonable manner, or gather up much motivation to change. His wife and young son, knowing what has happened, enlist in the aide of an old Indian, determined to save their loved one before either his life is snuffed out…or his sanity.īob Duke is an interesting character because he, as a protagonist, isn’t the usual strong-willed type you read about. His mind is still human and although slowly wolf instincts take over, he rebels against the change in his being and vows to save the day by becoming human again. Hauled off to the pound, experiencing the fear other doggies do awaiting the dreaded ‘room’, all chaos ensues from there.īob the man, and Bob the wolf, go through many changes in the novel, roaming from different horrible locations, trapped inside the body of a wolf. Since Bob isn’t the most rational sort of being, who clearly doesn’t think things through all the way and acts on impulse at times, he ends up in a heap of worse trouble when he bites a visiting, gossipy neighbor who insists on insulting his ‘tail-wagging’ capabilities.
Unfortunately for him at the time, one night he completely changes – in front of family and therapist friend. Awaiting him is a pile of mounting bills, unpaid debts, eviction notices, marital pressure, possible homelessness, therapy, his young son reading Kafka like it’s a guide, and, oh, yeah, dreams of becoming a wolf. The signs are hard to ignore, but the man does his best when he gets home to wifey and son. The next day he briefly wonders if he imagined the whole thing. The plot may not even sound that horrorish - see, I can invent new words =) It reads out more of a drama, the horror being the forcefulness of the situation Bob Duke finds himself in, the uncertainty, and his rebelliousness against the change attacking his body.īob Duke becomes a wolf one night at a hotel on a business trip.
You also don’t have a constantly shifting creature raging against his inner impulses there’s no moon watching here, no silver bullets to be dodged, and no strange herbs to devour to fend off any curses. Nope, you don’t have furry man-beasts sniffing out human flesh here, folks. The First thing that should be noted, gotten out of the way first, is to emphasize this is no ordinary werewolf novel.
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