The Wolfen
A sub-category of the horror genre is that of the man-killing creature that has co-existed with humanity since the dawn of time. Usually, horror writers delve into the supernatural for creatures that Go Bump In the Night. Whitley Streiber, in his novel, THE WOLFEN, tells a compelling yet strangely believable tale of a race of intelligent carnivores that split off from their canine ancestors milennia ago and have feasted on the dregs of human society: the weak, the old, the lost, and the sick. As the novel opens, two police officers are killed and consumed while guarding auto wrecks. As their police brethren investigate, two of them, detectives George Wilson and Becky Neff, realize that the two cops were not killed by a stray pack of wild mutts. Their investigation gradually reveals that the killers knew what they were doing and were equally determined to keep evidence of their existence a secret. The plot boils down to a race between the Wolfen's trying to kill Wilson and Neff before they can reveal the existence of the pack and the detectives' attempts to convince the world that the nightmare has already begun.
What makes the book a solid read is not only the fluid writing of Streiber, but also his vast knowledge of canine habits and intelligence. The best parts of the book are not the hide and seek confrontations between the detectives and the pack but the scholarly discussions of wolfen history, anatomy, and mythology. Early in the novel, Wilson and Neff find a pawprint of a wolfen and take it to a canine biologist for analysis. The biologist studies it for a while and says, "It can't exist. Too perfect a mutation. No defects at all. Plus it's at least three steps ahead of its canine ancestors." The doctor's incredulity fades as he rethinks his objection, so he goes out to find them and is torn apart for his troubles.
Whenever any writer of horror succeeds in convincing his reader that his premise could truly have happened, it is not because of his knowledge of the topic or even his technical skill at balancing a confrontation between the creatures and those who oppose them. The real test of making a monster leap off the page at the reader lies in the writer's ability to give a face and a voice to the creatures. If the creatures are seen only as lethal and bloody killing machines, then the reader cannot empathize with them. Streiber avoids this difficulty by presenting the Wolfen as killing but taking no pleasure in their killing. In fact, he goes to great pains to exhibit a long-lived species as doing merely what they have always done. The Wolfen are described as having an efficient social hierarchy, a supportive inter-family relationship, and a sense of teamwork when confronting human beings. In short, they are seen as roughly four-legged versions of human beings who do what they have to do to survive, but unlike humans, the Wolfen are not given to post-killing rationalization for their bloody deeds. It is this gentle pairing off and comparing of the habits, mores, and attitudes of both competing species that lends the novel its peculiar power. Perhaps the inner lesson of THE WOLFEN is that the killing of any species for survival can be justified on that basis alone, and if humanity claims that right for itself, then it can hardly fault the Wolfen for doing the same.
(Calfderno, Wed 9 Jul 2008, 17:41, Reply)