Friday recommends...

Published 8 Jaunuary 2013
Soho Press

Little Wolves 

by

Thomas Maltman

When a seemingly senseless act of violence shatters the isolated town in the Minnesota hills, it uncovers small town prejudices which reverberate throughout the whole community and draws together two unlikely protagonists. Grizz, the embittered old farmer who is coping with unutterable grief and loss, and Clara, the pastor’s wife, who whilst searching for her own answers, finds comfort in the myths and legends of her beloved ancient literature. On the surface, these two people have nothing in common, and yet shared tragedy will let loose emotions and secrets which have been long buried.

Beautifully written, and filled with snippets of mysterious mythological analogies, the story starts with a seemingly unrelated piece of folk legend, but it pays to take notice of this beginning, as it is far from superfluous to the story. As the novel progresses, there is a lyricism to the narrative which keeps you turning the pages, and yet, it is far from an easy book to enjoy as there are some dark and dirty moments, particularly towards the end of the book that had me on the edge of my seat.

Combining murder, mystery and mysticism Little Wolves is a difficult novel to categorise as it falls into several genres, but fundamentally it is the story of how lives are influenced by past events and the realisation that the passage of time does not lessen the effect of either grief or fate.

I enjoyed it.

4****

My thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for a digital copy of this book to review.