Luther Martin is a werewolf. Not many people know it–his estranged father, a Lutheran minister, does; so do the wife and daughter he managed to run off in a fit of rage. But to the rest of the world, he’s just an ordinary man–the quiet little man next door.
That is, until Matt Mikalatos, the self-appointed Neighbourhood Watch Man, stumbles across the secret. It takes Matt a little while to figure it out–after all, he’s being chased by a horde of zombies at the time, caught up in the fleeing crowd just when he was in the middle of busting mad scientist Dr. Culbetron and his android assistant, the Hibbs 3000–but once he does, he commits wholeheartedly to helping Luther find a way to escape his own monstrous nature.
The answer, of course, is in becoming a Christian. The problem is that Luther, a Lutheran, has already tried that.
The story that ensues is all at once an allegory, a comic-book romp, and a deep, sensitive exploration of true transformation. With monster hunters and vampires and mad scientists, psychologists and pastors and churches full of zombies, it’s laugh-out-loud funny even as it makes us look more closely at the reality of human nature, the hope of true transformation, and the non-answers we all too often settle for.
Once again, Matt Mikalatos–yes, the same one who features as the story’s narrator and one of the main characters–has given us a novel that uses humour and compassion to make us look in the mirror and face what may be painful revelations. The look is well worth taking.
(Yes, I know I forgot to post this yesterday … my apologies!)
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