Ravenous by Ray Garton

A corpse gets up and walks out of the hospital morgue. Minutes later, a policeman is killed outside the same hospital ... and partially eaten. Something deadly has come to the coastal California town of Big Rock - something that's leaving mangled and devoured bodies in its wake.

Sheriff Arlin Hurley refused to believe the wild talk of werewolves. Then a tuft of wolf's fur was found on one of the victims. But there's more than one werewolf on the prowl. It's quickly becoming an epidemic, the curse passed on not through blood but through sex. As the sheriff and his men set out to stop the spreading terror, they'll learn that many of the old werewolf legends are myths. The reality is far worse.

One word ~ Wow! The quote on the front of the book says "Razor-sharp and gut-punch brutal", very true. A very brutal story, not to be taken on lightly as an urban fantasy book in the slightest. The werewolves in this book are your stereotypical Hollywood monsters, they'll go after anyone and eat them up.

I liked the idea of the virus being transmitted via sex instead of a bite, it leaves you trying to work out who's going to turn before the book tells you and it all becomes very convoluted as you try to figure it out and link everyone together.

Big Rock is just a little town that ends up with a big pest problem and of course no-one figures it out until it's too late. I mean, come on, who believes in werewolves?! It's not exactly the first port of call for any sheriff and Sheriff Arlin Hurley is no different, despite what the evidence is telling him.

You don't get to know characters in depth since it's told from multiple POVs but they're well written in that short space. I've never read anything by Ray Garton before but he's definitely a good storyteller and keeps you hanging on right until the last word (literally!)

Well worth a page turn if you like your horror stories.


Rating
3.5/5


Book Depository: Ravenous
Amazon UK: Ravenous