| Author: Toby Barlow | |
| Rating: 9 (Brian's Scale) | Reviewer: Brian |
| Pages: 320 | Orig Pub Date: January, 2008 |
| Binding: Hardcover |
Sharp Teeth. Wow!
An ancient race of lycanthropes has survived to the present day, and its numbers are growing as the initiated convince L.A.'s down-and-out to join their pack. Paying no heed to moons, full or otherwise , they change from human to canine at will -- and they're bent on domination at any cost.
Caught in the middle are Anthony, a kindhearted, besotted dogcatcher, and the girl he loves, a female werewolf who has abandoned her pack. Anthony has no idea that she's more than she seems, and she wants to keep it that way. But her efforts to protect her secret lead to murderous results.
Sharp Teeth is a novel about werewolves in L.A. told completely in free verse. That condensed summary might scare some off and will excite others. You can randomly turn to any page and immediately see that it's not like most books published in todays market. A fundamental question becomes 'is this a gimmick or a legitimate device that serves the story well'?
Sharp Teeth never for a moment becomes gimmicky, and like the best examples of verse epics, it has a frequency that is easy to tune into. It's got such an easy rhythm to it that you never get pulled out of the story with thoughts of form or layout. So any potential readers who thinks that they might be put off by a free verse novel shouldn't have any worries.
One thing that the free verse form does allow for in its telling of a hardboiled story is an ultra streamlined pace that results in a lean and mean narrative in the best sense. Digging below the surface however what we find are all the elements of a great crime fiction story. There are drugs, murder, betrayal, revenge and gangs. All of these, at times familiar, tropes are married with a new modern, urban werewolf mythos that gives them a fresh face and really stretches the boundaries of what a hard-boiled/noir story can be. A lot of what we know from popular werewolf stories, if not everything, is scrapped so we can't even rely on that. Barlow manages to use our familiarity with crime fiction stories and werewolf stories against us here.
but it's the creatures at the edge,
licking the corner of the ruby pool,
that hold your curiosity.
So get this straight
it's not the full moon.
That's as ancient and ignorant as any myth.
The blood just quickens with a thought
a discipline develops
so that one can self-ignite
reshaping form, becoming something rather more canine
still conscious, a little hungrier.
It's a raw muscular power,
a rich sexual energy
and the food tastes a whole lot better."
What really gives the book an extra dimension is Barlow's ability to create complex, human, relatable and sympathetic characters with just a few brush strokes. It's obvious that he really cares for his characters and as a result we do to.
Sometimes he wants to go in
wrap her in his arms, hold her
until her blue eyes turn their focus away
from whatever haunts her
to find him again there
kneeling beside her, patiently removing the thorns.
Strong love can hold on to anything fairly given,
he knows this.
He has held her in Pacific waves
standing against the tide that pulled firmly at their sides,
"See," he said. "We're stronger than this."
She looked in his eyes.
She was almost there
but not yet."
Make no mistake about this book about werewolves, there are some broad reaching themes addressed here about the human condition. We are personally invested in the love and loss; hurt and happy; confusion and chaos; and life and death of these characters because we can see a bit of ourselves in them. Sharp Teeth is a special book that encompasses a very broad spectrum from action scenes that blew me away to swift violence that surprised to quiet and devastating moments that made my heart ache.
--Brian Lindenmuth
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