Author: Jonathan Maberry
Narrator: Ray Porter and Dina Pearlman
Publisher: Audible Originals
Publication Date: October 2021
Genre: Fantasy / Urban Fantasy
Buy The Book: Audible | Amazon | BN
Description: Gary Bruce is a slacker of epic loserness. Can't keep a job. His friends are as bad as he is. No girlfriend. No direction.
Gary Bruce is also a werewolf.
Desperate for any kind of success, Gary decides to out himself on You Tube. The moment this ordinary guy goes full-on fur, fangs, and claws, the world can't get enough of the biggest thing on social media, he's on every talk show, book and movie deals fall in his lap, and for the first time in his life he gets invited to all the best parties.
But celebrity is a special kind of voracious monster. And when Gary's star begins to lose its luster, he has to decide how far he'll go to stay relevant in a world that discards has-beens in favor of the next big thing.
Fortunately, Gary has a plan....
My Thoughts: Audible has struck a goldmine with their original stories, in my opinion. This one is less than two hours in length, but is thoroughly entertaining, funny and shocking.
Gary Bruce is a slacker, a loser, someone you would expect to be living in their mother’s basement in his fifties and the type of guy most girls want to avoid on the online dating apps. But Gary does have one thing going for him. He’s a werewolf and he decides to out himself by filming his change and posting it on YouTube. Of course, the initial reaction is huge, though most of the comments are assumptions about the use of a morphing software app for special effects.
Once Gary proves it’s real, he’s an overnight celebrity. People can’t get enough of him, he’s invited to talk shows, there are book deals, movie deals in the works, medical professionals want to examine him to figure out how this is possible. There are even werewolf groupies and he has an agent.
The funny thing about overnight fame and glory is it can be short-lived and over-rated and Gary finds himself caught between staying relevant to the public and possibly losing his humanity completely or embracing his life and taking charge of his own destiny on his own merits.
New to me author Jonathan Maberry’s writing is clever and witty while also depicting the trauma one would expect a werewolf to suffer, especially once they have been outed. The narration by Ray Porter and Dina Pearlman was fantastic and kept me riveted on what Gary’s next move will be. I enjoyed that while in wolf form, Gary speaks with a throaty, growl of a voice and the performance of these parts really add to the story, making Gary one of the most interesting characters I have come across in fiction.
My Final Verdict: Werewolf fans will definitely want to sink their teeth into this story, but I think it will appeal to fans of urban fantasy genres and readers who like to root for the underdog…or underwolf.
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