Saturday, May 05, 2018

Urban Waite: Sometimes the Wolf

I really liked Urban Waite's first novel, The Terror of Living. It's a tough crime novel, a bit reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy, but standing still very much on its own. I haven't read Waite's second novel, The Carrion of Birds, but I happened to pick up his third novel, Sometimes the Wolf, not long ago, and now I decided to read it.

I don't know what happened. The book started out strong and well and I got the hang of it. The story about a bad cop getting out of prison possibly looking for the loot of 200,000 dollars and his son working as a sheriff in a small town felt interesting.  Then somewhere on page 150 or so I realized I didn't anymore know what was going on and what the persons were after. There had been too many days when I'd only been able to read only a few pages, and that started to show. I pushed through, since the book was well-written, but even in the end I couldn't really tell what had happened between. The ending was strong, though.

I really wanted to like this. Hell, I would've liked to know what happened in the book! I'm sure it's totally my own fault - it's been really hectic around here for some time now, and I've also done some travelling, which is never good for reading. As I said, the start of the book was really strong with interesting characters and a good plotline.

Nevertheless, next I'll pick up Waite's The Carrion of Birds. It was translated in Finnish, as was The Terror of Living, but I believe Sometimes the Wolf won't be, which is a pity.

4 comments:

Roger Westcombe said...

I had a similar experience, except my followup to 'Terror of Living' was his 'Dead If I Don't', which I found much less original and interesting, and couldn't finish.

jurinummelin said...

So, it wasn't necessarily my fault? You never know with some books.

Roger Westcombe said...

I do go back later to a book that initially fails to work for me if I believe in the author. 'Terror' was so great I will revisit all his others, including this one.
'Terror' reminded me of an earlier favorite, 'The Noble Enemy' by Charles Fox. He wrote a second book, about oil, and I could never get through that one either. Sophomore jinx?

jurinummelin said...

Never heard of Charles Fox, will look into him.