Path of the Wolf: A Novel of Horror Raven Tale Publishing
May 30, 2022
Kindle
470
amazon
An egotistical artist…his neglected wife…a captive loup-garou…
Commissioned by the church fathers to do a painting of St. John in the Wilderness, François de Montaigne believes he’s found the perfect model when he discovers Giovanni di Casalupo confined in a cage at a gypsy camp.
It takes some doing, but he convinces the gypsy leader to sell the boy.
François’ plan: To use the loup-garou in the painting that will ensure his fame, then rid the world of a monster.
When François’s wife is charged with caring for the beast, she discovers an intelligent being beaten into brutishness and seeks to restore Giovanni’s humanity. With Isabeau’s help, the loup-garou overcomes his bestiality.
Thrown together by François’ cruelty, the two form a secret, sympathetic bond, leading to a passionate love. When a plague sweeps the village from the battlefields of warring France and Italy, the lovers attempt an escape.
What follows is a clash of superstition versus justice and jealousy over reason, bringing lasting fame to one and eternal infamy for the others.
Review By Aethena Drake
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
Considering himself a man of importance because of his artistic skill, François de Montaigne’s arrogance and single-minded focus on his work compelled him to bring home a potentially dangerous loup-garou to serve as a model for his paintings. When François charges his wife, Isabeau, with caring for the feral creature, Isabeau discovers that there is more to the loup-garou than the label given to him by religious superstition. Giovanni’s feral nature evolves into something different as a bond forms between Isabeau and her charge. With every interaction, I found myself becoming more deeply engaged in the connection developing between the two maltreated souls who seem to gain strength individually as the learn more about each other. Every new chapter introduces a new threat that could destroy the fragile peace that Giovanni and Isabeau find in each other’s company.
While the reader is sitting on the edge of their seat anticipating potential disaster, the realistic depictions of fifteenth-century France add an extra element of horror that overshadows this story. War, disease, unethical religious leaders, and historical superstitions contribute to the mounting tension. The dreadfully realistic social convention that allowed Isabeau’s family to offer her as a wife to François, against Isabeau’s wishes, doesn’t diminish her independent nature. Despite the callous manner in which her family and her husband treat Isabeau, she is a caring and determined young woman who finds herself pushing against the constraints of her environment. The author does a wonderful job of constructing characters who resonate with the reader and also those who make the reader want to throw a book at them. Both the villains and the heroes were so interesting that I found myself a bit disappointed that not all of them were present for the entire story. After a multitude of harrowing moments, the edge-of-the-seat tension is resolved, but maybe there is room for another story with those characters who didn’t have a chance to hang around for the entire story.
The Path of the Wolf is an excellent read if you are looking for a historical paranormal romance filled with tension and laced with elements of horror. Before you reach the end of the story, you will be hunting down the author’s back-list and possibly double-checking your calendar for the next full moon. I certainly was…
