Many if not all FrontPage readers
are no doubt familiar with the political/cultural commentary of writer Andrew
Klavan that has appeared in City Journal, the Wall Street Journal, the New
York Times, and elsewhere. Many are familiar with his political videos and
appearances on Glenn Beck, Hannity and Red Eye. Perhaps you even know that he has been tapped to
script an upcoming movie about the
Gosnell abortion horrors. But if you’re not familiar with his novels as
well, don’t waste any more time reading
this review. Go instead to the nearest bookstore, if you can find one anymore, and
check the shelves between Stephen King and Dean Koontz; or go online to order
his books. Either way, prepare to be entertained.
If you are familiar with Klavan’s
internationally bestselling crime novels (for which he has been nominated for the
Mystery Writers of America’s prestigious Edgar Award five times, winning twice),
the films like True Crime and Don’t Say A Word that were made from
them, and his Young Adult thrillers including the bestselling Homelanders series, then read on about
his newest novel. [Full disclosure: he is also a friend of mine]
As I have written before about Klavan, he writes page-turners of unusually high
literary quality, bursting with grand themes and big ideas but centered on
sympathetic characters. He will carry you into dark depths but with a
surprisingly comic touch, and the ride is always gripping and entertaining. And
that has never been truer than with his latest book, Werewolf Cop.
Considering its title, I don’t think it requires a spoiler alert to
reveal that the book is about a cop who becomes a werewolf. Zach Adams and his
partner Martin Goulart are the chief detectives in an Extraordinary Crimes task
force in pursuit of an international criminal mastermind – German-Russian
billionaire Dominic Abend, who himself is in pursuit of a mysterious dagger of
supernatural power. Zach is warned by creepy European Professor Dankl that if
Abend finds the dagger before they do, the world is in deep, dark danger.
As one character tells Zach, “We ain’t fighting against flesh and blood
no more. We’re fighting against principalities. And powers. Against spiritual
forces in the heavenly places. This is a battle against good and evil, Agent
Adams.”
Zach initially doesn’t buy all this weird nonsense, but he feels
compelled to dig deeper. His meeting with Dankl turns into a terrifying and
deadly confrontation with evil on a scale most people have never imagined, much
less experienced – and he comes away infected with it. The book then goes into
overdrive as Zach races against time to stop Dominic Abend while also wrestling
with his moonlight transformation into a beast of ravenous fury – not to
mention trying to keep his marriage intact.
As always in Klavan’s novels, there is more to the story than just the noir
atmosphere, the sexual tension, and the twists and turns of the plot. His
protagonists are up against not only their antagonists but their own humanity
as well. His books aren’t simply about the good guys taking down the bad; they
are about men who must come to terms with their own weakness and sin, and that
spiritual depth is where Klavan excels and what gives his crime thrillers a
unique dimension.
In Werewolf Cop, Zach’s struggle
against the evil he has literally internalized is more than a matter of life
and death. As another character tells Zach, “evil can only be thwarted where
people are willing to sacrifice themselves to fight it – to sacrifice not only
their lives but their very souls.” That’s a daunting prospect, but what Zach
has in his corner is “the courage to do what had to be done” and “the
mysterious force of human will, like a tiny rudder steering a great ship,” that
he needs “to wake from the dream of the wolf’s desire.”
As if that epic contest weren’t enough, Zach has another battle on his
hands: he is wracked with guilt for a lone affair he has kept secret from his
wife and the mother of his children – a secret that is in imminent danger of
being exposed. And yet in this conflict lies the seed of victory against the
evil that possesses him. That seed is an even more powerful force than the
human will: love.
Don’t make the mistake of passing on this book because you’re not into
novels with an element of horror and the supernatural. Give it a chance – the
mystery, the harrowing action, the fully-drawn characters, the sexual and
spiritual tension, and the skillful prose will draw you in.
Klavan is politically conservative but not a politically conservative
novelist, if I may make that distinction. He isn’t hurling ideological bricks thinly
disguised as crime thrillers. He understands, as too many other conservative
artists do not, that conveying conservative values is simply a matter of
telling good stories that address very human themes: the courage of the
individual against corruption and control; the very personal role of faith in a
fallen world; the power of forgiveness and love; the existence of evil and its eternal
conflict with good.
It isn’t necessary for a writer to be overtly political while trafficking
in these themes, or to shoehorn in any heavy-handed messages. All the writer
has to do is, like Klavan, be adept at keeping the reader turning the pages and
caring about the characters. The values inherent in the tale will then resonate
with the reader on their own.
(This article originally appeared here on FrontPage Mag, 6/17/15)
