by Glen Duncan
The woman is Talulla Demetriou.
She’s grieving for her werewolf lover, Jake, whose violent death has left her alone with her own sublime monstrousness. On the run, pursued by the hunters of WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena), she must find a place to give birth to Jake’s child in secret.
The birth, under a full moon at a remote Alaska lodge, leaves Talulla ravaged, but with her infant son in her arms she believes the worst is over—until the windows crash in, and she discovers that the worst has only just begun . . .
What follows throws Talulla into a race against time to save both herself and her child as she faces down the new, psychotic leader of WOCOP, a cabal of blood-drinking religious fanatics, and (rumor has it) the oldest living vampire.
Harnessing the same audacious imagination and dark humor, the same depths of horror and sympathy, the same full-tilt narrative energy with which he crafted his acclaimed novel The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan now gives us a heroine like no other, the definitive twenty-first-century female of the species.
BONUS MATERIAL: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from Glen Duncan's By Blood We Live.
The woman is Talulla Demetriou.
She’s grieving for her werewolf lover, Jake, whose violent death has left her alone with her own sublime monstrousness. On the run, pursued by the hunters of WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena), she must find a place to give birth to Jake’s child in secret.
The birth, under a full moon at a remote Alaska lodge, leaves Talulla ravaged, but with her infant son in her arms she believes the worst is over—until the windows crash in, and she discovers that the worst has only just begun . . .
What follows throws Talulla into a race against time to save both herself and her child as she faces down the new, psychotic leader of WOCOP, a cabal of blood-drinking religious fanatics, and (rumor has it) the oldest living vampire.
Harnessing the same audacious imagination and dark humor, the same depths of horror and sympathy, the same full-tilt narrative energy with which he crafted his acclaimed novel The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan now gives us a heroine like no other, the definitive twenty-first-century female of the species.
BONUS MATERIAL: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from Glen Duncan's By Blood We Live.
Reviews-
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May 2, 2011
At the start of British author Duncan's fine supernatural thriller, centuries-old lycanthrope Jake Marlowe learns he has become the last known werewolf on earth. Soon Jake is on the run from not only WOCOP, an antioccult agency that wants to hunt him down for sport, but also vampires, who have discovered that a werewolf bite can desensitize them to the ravages of sun exposure. After escaping horrible torments at the hands of both parties, Jake is shocked to discover that he may not be the last wolf standing, and that it's crucial he survive to propagate his species. Duncan (A Day and a Night and a Day) keeps the pages turning with hairbreadth escapes that have Jake globe-trotting for dear life from Europe to the U.S., but the true allure of his tale is the poetic and evocative prose by which Jake relates his transformations, kills, and thoughts. Savvy and exceptionally literate, this is one smart modern werewolf tale. 100,000 first printing. -
May 7, 2012
Decidedly not for the squeamish, Duncan’s disturbingly raunchy sequel to his 2011 supernatural thriller, The Last Werewolf, finds newly turned werewolf Talulla Demetriou hiding out in a remote hunting lodge near Fairbanks, Alaska, mourning her dead werewolf lover, Jake Marlowe, by whom she’s pregnant. After Talulla delivers boy-girl befurred twins, vampires kidnap her newborn son as a sacrifice to bring back their mythic progenitor. With baby daughter Zoë in tow, Talulla sets out after the vampires in a quest to regain her son that will bring her in contact with more of her kind. Once a month she changes into a nine-foot-tall monster who lusts after her victims before killing and eating them, but in between gorges she fancies herself Moll Flanders, “immoral, shallow, hypocritical, heartless, a bad woman.” From time to time Talulla endures tortures that would have been more powerful if suggested rather than wallowed in. The philosophizing may strike some readers as painfully facile, even for a werewolf. Agent: Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider. -
Starred review from May 1, 2011
Duncan continues the long tradition of werewolf literature in this harrowing novel of lupine transformation.
In the 21st century the victims of werewolves' bites have been dying rather than transforming, so when the penultimate werewolf is eliminated, Jake Marlowe becomes the last. Jake is on the hit list for WOCOP, the World Organization for the Control of Occult Phenomena, and he expects to be eliminated by Grainer, whose family he had killed and devoured during a full moon a while back. Helping Jake is his friend Harley, whom he had saved from a homophobic attack some 30 years before. Jake realizes the stakes are high when Harley's head is delivered to him...so obviously no help will come from that quarter. We find out that Jake was born in the early 19th century and became a werewolf through a brief and fluky encounter with one while on a trip to Wales. His transformation led him to kill and eat his beloved wife Arabella. (Duncan gives us much more information about werewolves to devour—for example, that their libidos become hyperactive during the time of the full moon.) Although Jake fully expects to be eliminated, he makes every effort to escape from the various, mostly inept hunters WOCOP sends. And then something unprecedented and earth-shattering occurs—his acute sense of smell leads him to find another werewolf, this one a female named Talulla Demetriou. Together they go on the lam, but Grainer continues his pursuit—at least until Ellis, Grainer's protege, tries to strike a deal with Jake, for Ellis would like to kill Grainer instead. It seems as though having at least one werewolf alive gives Ellis a reason for living.
Duncan's writing is quirky and brilliant—and definitely not for kids.
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
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Starred review from March 1, 2011
Yes, this novel by the keen-eyed, edgy Duncan (A Day and a Night and a Day) features the last living werewolf. And, yes, there are vampires here, who crave Jake for reasons that won't be revealed. But don't give this book to Twilight groupies; the frank tone, dark wit, and elegant, sophisticated language will likely do them in. Jake Marlowe knows he's alone in the world because his only friend, Harley, who's tapped into WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena), has learned that the penultimate wulf was just killed. When Jake discovers his singular status, he's ready to die himself; he's lived two centuries with his burden and knows that he's targeted by a WOCOP higher-up whose father he killed and ate. Then something big happens to change Jake's resolve. Duncan does not pretty up Jake, instead making his monthly transformation and desire for sex, blood, and death ("fuckkilleat") unadorned and brutal. But he also makes Jake's drive to survive our own, even as he shows us Jake's--dare one say it--humanity. VERDICT An adult rendering of a legend that's currently running amok, this work is smart, original, and completely absorbing. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 1/3/11.]--Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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April 1, 2011
I just dont want anymore life, writes Marlow in his diary. He is the last of his kind, a werewolf with no pack, and feeling suicidal. Hes being hunted by the werewolf division of WOCOP (World Organization for the Control of Occult Phenomena), so why not turn himself in anyway? The head of the WOCOP intends to kill him by the next full moon, not as a man, but as a beast. Both haunted and hollowed by the atrocious hunger to feed on human flesh when the curse changes him, Marlow has his reasons to end it. That is, until he discovers someone else, aside from the usual suspects, seems to want him, too. Though shelves appear to overflow with supernatural fare like this, a space should be cleared for this violent, sexy thriller. Marlow does quite a bit of contemporary philosophizing in an almost noirish fashion. However, as a character with such a long life span and no more will to live, hes still surprised by life and quite charming. The wrench Duncan throws midway through the plot will leave the reader and Marlow gasping in shock. This title proves to be the answer to Twilight that adults have been waiting for. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A 100,000-copy first printing, national media appearances by the author, and extensive print and online advertising guarantee a curious readership.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.) -
The Times (UK)
"The horror genre at its best--wildly imaginative, written with wit and intelligence, wickedly entertaining."
- Dallas Morning News "Irresistible . . . As with The Last Werewolf, Duncan writes with caustic edge and pop-culturally relevant humor . . . His gorgeous prose makes these books more than just werewolf-genre flashes in the proverbial pan."
- Heidi Julavits, New York Times Book Review "The arch relationship Duncan establishes with his readers--along with his scathingly intelligent psychological insights and flat-out killer writing, his companionably high-mannered narrative voice, and his mad plot chops--makes Talulla Rising a high-calorie blast . . . Duncan's throbbing, fornication-crazy plot defies easy encapsulation, but is best described as a gleeful three-way between Raymond Chandler's entire oeuvre, Anne Rice's vampire novels, and Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. Proust, as usual, is watching from the corner . . . Duncan delivers with intelligent humanity a monster we want to track and befriend, even knowing she would happily eat us alive."
- The Guardian (UK) "Duncan's writing does more than transcend genre fiction: it creeps up on it in the dead of night, rips out its heart, then eats it. There is something liberating about a novel like this. As well as offering a new vantage point from which to consider the old questions of life, it also provides a welcome fantasy in which there is not just extreme sex and violence, but also smoking, drinking, and a lot of very fancy hotels . . . Who wouldn't want to be part of their world for a while? . . . As well as being thought-provoking, it's all great fun."
- NPR.org "Duncan's antihero is an apex female predator . . . She's smart, confident, and a caring mother. She's also a ferocious man-eater . . . The spectacle alone is worth the price of admission."
- CNN.org "Adventurous readers who are looking for a break from the usual beach read should consider this alternately horrifying and humorous, imaginative and energetic novel."
- Richmond Times-Dispatch "Duncan is an immensely talented literary novelist, and with Talulla Rising, he has again proved you don't have to be driving with a learner's permit to enjoy a good vampire-versus-werewolf book."
- Bloomberg News "Last year Glen Duncan brought fresh blood to the monster market with the moonstruck hero and toothsome prose of his novel The Last Werewolf . . . In Talulla Rising, Duncan again creates an oddly engaging world defined almost exclusively by the abnormal . . . Duncan can be awfully entertaining."
- Library Journal (starred) "A bone-crunchingly, page-plungingly good book (necessary reading just for the language) that limns the primal darkness within us but is ultimately about love . . . Highly recommended."
- Cleveland Plain Dealer "A lusty, visceral, bloody tale [told in] capable, muscular prose . . . This is enjoyable stuff . . . Duncan's werewolves are never cartoons . . . Talulla has the wit and pluck to entertain us."
- Word magazine (UK) "[A] terrific anti-Twilight werewolves-versus-vampires saga continues . . . This is pulp fiction but of the highest order . . . It all takes place in a wonderfully constructed universe of hipster philosophy, hard-bitten humour, just enough arcane mystery, and a whole load of Tarantino-Technicolor sex and violence. As before, there's substance beyond the flippancy, an unlaboured consideration of the beast within us all, and though beneath the wolf's clothing lies the purringly efficient machinery of a really good thriller, it goes way beyond genre writing."
- Kirkus Reviews "Both brainy and vicious."
- Susanna Moore "I like now and then to be reminded that I am a companion of the Wild Beast, and Glen Duncan ensures that I never forget it. He writes brilliantly of the presence of evil in its most contemporary disguise, with its heady temptations of heedless abundance, hunger, and satiety. Never again will it be possible to think of werewolves as mere metaphor. This fierce, witty, and erotic novel is full of surprises, both provocative and illuminating."
- Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) "The sequel to Duncan's excellent The Last Werewolf, Talulla Rising returns to the dark and humorous world that
