by Jeff Strand

Part Horror and part farce, this is a fun read, if perhaps with a little too much gratuitous gore on occasion.

A couple of thugs with a reputation for competence are hired to take a man in a cage to a location and told he's supposed to be a werewolf. They don't believe it, but they follow the rules given to them anyway, for all the good it does them. Naturally they lose control of the situation and chaos ensues.

Despite their criminal faults, George and Lou become likeable characters that garner sympathy as they get deeper and deeper into a no win situation. They even start to develop some conscience and blame themselves for the werewolf's murderous spree. Their attempts to recapture a creature that can't possibly exist are the stuff of dark comedy, though there are serious moments.

The story has plenty of action, almost non-stop, all the way to the end. Trying to guess who will survive to the conclusion becomes almost a game, like reading a George Martin book.

Overall very well done. I would consider reading this author again, though what I see of his other works looks pretty squicky.

Book source ~ NetGalley

Chief Warrant Officer, Thomas Crocker of SEAL Team Six and his team are on the way for some mountain climbing training in Islamabad when they are given a mission. Intel puts a known terrorist at an address in Karachi, Pakistan. They are to go in, locate, and bring Abu Rasul Zaman out alive.  Except the mission goes sideways and after the smoke clears they’re told Zaman isn’ty one of the bodies left behind. He’s escaped. Mission failure. It eats at Crocker as he and his team are dismissed to go do their climb. When he meets up with a Norwegian diplomat on the mountain things take a turn that’s unexpected and now the clock is ticking. Will Crocker and his men finish the mission after all?

Full of action this is definitely a thrill ride with a side of mystery from beginning to end. However, it lags a bit in spots, it’s a tad repetitive in areas, and if you love descriptions of weapons then you’ll definitely love this story. Because each and every weapon is listed each and every time they gear up. In addition, I am not really a fan of Crocker. He seems to be more than a touch obsessive-compulsive about working out and pushing himself – even to the point of hurting himself. Extreme and more than a little alarming. His personality is also a tiny bit sketchy although he gets the job done, I can say that about him. Eat your heart out, John McClane. There are some POV problems, not many but enough to pull me out of the story. Otherwise, this is an adrenaline-loving, white hat vs black hat, save the girl, tale from beginning to end.

Remy Boudreaux had loved and lost before, and decided never to do it again. Life is much easier spent in pursuit of easy hookups. Then he returns to his hometown of New Orleans for a week of training with the NOPD SWAT, and follows a tantalizing scent through half the city, only to end up in a crowded club, face to face with his highschool best friend (and crush).
Triana Bellamy had a major crush on her friend Remy back in the day, and she doesn't think twice at experiencing what she's been missing in the years they've been apart.

When things start moving too quickly, Remy pulls away, and Triana is devastated. But she soon has another problem to keep her mind occupied. Someone is demanding her mother hand over a wolf-pendant necklace, and the PI she's hired might've stumbled on information that might solve her father's murder...


This book was much more romance-focused than the previous ones, or maybe it just struck me that way, but I didn't mind, since I happened to like this specific romance. Especially since it was the hero's turn to be a stubborn ass, refusing to let himself love his heroine in fear of her getting hurt (and in the end she got hurt even when they weren't together).
I loved both Remy and Triana, him with his scarred heart and fears of being cursed, and her with her inquisitive mind and pride that prevented her from begging for scraps from a man who supposedly didn't care.
It was a little heartbreaking reading about their struggles (Remy really was an idiot), yet reading about their connection was simply adorable. I loved them to bits.

Then there was the suspense. It might not have been as prominent as in the previous books in this series, but it still packed a punch, especially once it became clear that all the little dangling threads were connected. The villain's motive for getting the (apparently insignificant) necklace was a little out there, but the story was set in New Orleans, where things like werewolves and other beings that go bump in the night (not to mention naked men calmly strolling down the street) barely raise an eyebrow.
And the action, mostly that last scene of wolves chasing the car during a tropical storm, was gritty, intense, and vividly depicted.

The story also had the requisite heaping of secondary characters who either provided comic relief and sarcasm (Remy's pack mates—even Cooper made an appearance) or important information on the werewolf lore and werewolf hunters (Triana's mother and the villains).
That last "prediction" why the Pack is suddenly gaining members (either in the form of soul-mates or additional betas and omegas) was rather chilling, but I'm looking forward to the direction this series is taking.

Remy was home in New Orleans with three other SWAT officers - Max, Jaden, and Zane. They were all werewolves. Gage was  their boss and pack Alpha. He had sent the men to cross train with the local tactical unit- New Orleans term for their SWAT unit. When in a bar with the guys Remy smells a tantalizing scent he can’t resist and started to follow it. His friends followed as he left the bar and started walking down the street . All the other guys denying the had smelt anything special. Then five blocks in and still going Remy realizes the scent is from a female. It was a spicy flowery scent  finally Remy found the bar it was coming from. Then he saw her on the dance floor with three other women. Then Remy realized he knew her from HS when she had been skinny and awkward and always looked down on the floor. But they had still been friends but now she was grown up and a beautiful woman. that was Trina but Remy didn’t know if she would recognize him . Remy hadn’t talked to Trina since HS graduation and he had changed a lot when he became a werewolf. He’d never felt anything like he did when smelling Trina’s scent the animalistic urge he had to track her down. Trina thought Remy was the sexiest man she had ever seen. Trina lived and worked in Houston and was home for the week to visit her mom. Remy was drawn to Trina in a way he didn’t understand.

I loved this story . It was great . It had a great plot and great pace. The book kept my attention from the first page until the last and I didn’t want to put it down. I loved how it was more than just a romance but had action and suspense in it. Including all that went with Trina trying to find her father’s killer and New Orleans cops trying to bring down a drug king and all else in this book.I loved the ending and everything about this book and I highly recommend.

My original WOLF HUNT audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I imagine Jeff Strand’s elevator pitch for Wolf Hunt being along the lines of ‘The Sopranos Meet The Wolfman.’ If this intrigues you, then it’s really about all that needs to be said of Strand’s funny, bloody werewolf romp. Frankly, it’s all I would have needed to be hooked straightaway. If this does not intrigue you, then I’m afraid I can’t help you.

George and Lou are not exactly made guys, and deny even being mobsters at all, but they are clearly some well-connected thugs who have little problem breaking thumbs over debts owed to their bosses. They’re tasked with transporting a bad dude named Ivan across Florida to a crime lord, with Ivan locked in a cage. Strand sets up his story in a fun way, with a lot of dispute over Ivan’s credentials as a werewolf and plenty of is-he or isn’t-he back and forth (George and Lou aren’t buying it, and Ivan has fun stringing them along). Things quickly go south, and after saving and accidentally kidnapping Michelle, the thugs are in a race to stop Ivan before he can wreak all kinds of carnage across the Sunshine State.

Strand does a beautiful job balancing wit with werewolf violence, and one early scene in particular stands out as being a gruesomely effective showcase to Ivan’s psychopathy, while also solidifying the bloody courtship between he and George. Although Wolf Hunt has a number of gory instances, there’s a certain lightness to the work as a whole thanks to a lot of humorous banter and a handful of characters that are actually fun to spend seven hours with.

Besides Stand’s quirkiness, a lot of this fun is owed to narrator Scott Thomas, who seems to be enjoying himself quite a bit and effortlessly brings the material to life. He provides each character with a distinct voice and speech pattern, which makes it easy to discern who is saying what during stretches of dialogue, and keeps the listen fresh throughout. Thomas hits all the right notes and delivers an excellent performance. The production values are fine, too, and Thomas’ work comes through without a hitch.

If you’re looking for a genuinely fun and comedic horror listen, Wolf Hunt definitely stands out from the pack.

[Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com]