Well, that was unexpected. I have never been as much of a werewolf person as I am a vampire person, but this book was something else entirely. I feel like that distinction doesn't even really belong here. The best description I think I can give is that this book is American Gods (Neil Gaiman) for the occult. The search for meaning, the philosophical explorations and, at base, the brooding, was the real gem here. The story was good - there was lots of sex, violence, intrigue - but that wasn't the real story. I feel like what the author really touched on here was the werewolf as a metaphor, at the extreme, for a takeover by the basest parts of the human experience. And how those parts of us get rationalized. And maybe even, in the most romantic light, how a searing love can redeem those parts. Yes, this book has vampires and werewolves, but that's not what it really was...and Jake's voice gave a perfect narration to the more subtle journey the reader took. This was a book for writers and philosophers - the people that seek the soul of things. Beautifully crafted. And really, for an author who looks like he does [see inside jacket cover for reference] I think it would have been a crime for him to write about anything else.