Mongrels

March 21, 2016
In this lyrical but meandering novel, Jones (After the People Lights Have Gone Off) delicately portrays the coming of age of a young boy growing up in a family of werewolves. Throughout the novel, the unnamed narrator and his aunt, Libby, and uncle, Darren, both werewolves, wander the present-day American South working low-wage jobs while always wary of the dangers of staying in one place for too long and being recognized for what they really are. The narrator's voice is heartfelt and absorbing as he learns the rules of being a werewolf while always wondering whether he will become one himself, a question that drives the story to its moving conclusion. There are jailbreaks and various battles, including one with a bear, alongside several encounters with other werewolves. While the episodic structure sometimes causes the novel to feel as aimless as its characters, it's still an often moving portrait of a family struggling to survive in a world that "wants us to be monsters."

May 15, 2016

Having been raised by werewolves after his grandfather's death, the boy knows he's different. Taken on the road by his Aunt Libby and Uncle Darren, he and his adoptive parents never settled in one place for long, staying on the outskirts of towns and society. After traveling across the South for ten years, Darren and Libby sense the time is approaching when they'll be able to determine whether their nephew shares their "mongrel" nature. Weaving werewolf lore, a coming-of-age tale, and wrong-side-of-the-tracks tropes, Jones (After the People Lights Have Gone Off) has written a riveting story about fierce family ties amid the monstrosity of a bloody lineage. VERDICT Horror fans will dive deep into this strong literary work, with its dark humor that is sure to attract readers of all speculative genres.--KC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2016
A boy raised by werewolves chronicles the hurt and confusion of growing up strange. Prolific postmodernist writer Jones (After the People Lights Have Gone Off, 2014, etc.) continues his deep dive into genre fiction with this messy coming-of-age novel that attempts to blend Southern gothic, the country nuance of Daniel Woodrell, and the blood-and-guts horror of John Horner Jacobs, with mixed results. Our unnamed first-person narrator tells the story of his upbringing among a traveling pack of werewolves. After his grandfather dies in a grisly transformation, the boy is left with only his Uncle Darren and Aunt Libby to look after him. On the cusp of adolescence at about 12 years old, he can tell he's changing but not what he's changing into--his family is convinced he's just late in turning into one of them, but he remains unsure. The novel has little unifying plot other than a series of interconnected vignettes and the boy's running commentary on the nature and character of werewolves. It's a lot of this: "We're werewolves. This is what we do, this is how we live. If you want to call it that." The most compelling moment comes when the boy meets a girl, Brittany Andrews, who wants him to turn her into a werewolf, but this subtle plot is cast away, too. In some ways, it's a love letter to the American South, and Jones' portrayals of rural Americana ring true in many ways. Horror enthusiasts will also dig the graphic mythology here--transformations are as bloody and visceral as anything this side of An American Werewolf in London. But in trying to strip bare the language and view the world through an adolescent lens, the book largely apes the experience of growing up--and is likely to leave readers confused, frustrated, and impatient. A Holden Caulfield analogue dropped into an old horror movie with a soundtrack by Warren Zevon.

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