eBook Thor: A Novel download

A clever twist on the werewolf genre in a story told from the point of view of a very large German Shepard named Thor. The author really gets into the head and behavior of the protective family pet who must deal with the frustratingly confusing world of his human family's rules and yet somehow defend them from a werewolf who has come to visit. It's a great setup and is brilliantly executed and this book will have you taking a second look at your own dog with a deeper level of understanding. The authors clearly dig extensive research of dog behavior. Thor is a fully fleshed out character and its fascinating to get this story through his eyes but the humans are not neglected either, Even though the dog is the star you get to know his family and hope that they will all survive their encounter with a savage wolfman who himself is a well defined character in the story.

A good read and I highly recommend it. And though its quite a bit different in many critical ways I also recommend the film based on this book called Bad Moon. In its own way its just as good as the novel.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

My experience with this book reminds me why reading groups are so much fun.

This is not a book I would have chosen to read on my own. The premise sounds so....hinky, (a story told through the eyes of the family dog), I almost decided to sit this one out. But then a friend of mine gave it a 5 star rating, so I figured I HAD to at least give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised!

Thor protects his Pack from any and all predators, no matter their form-human or canine. But when Uncle Ted comes to visit, (Thor's favorite person that is not part of his Pack), Thor starts to act weird, watching Ted wherever he goes, sometimes watching him all night long. Why? You will have to read this to find out.

I think this book would appeal to animal and/or dog lovers. The author did a good job of making the reader believe that he or she is right there in Thor's head. A lot of canine behaviors are explained, and though one or two of Thor's thoughts did not ring true, most of them did.

So I was pleasantly surprised and I liked the idea of the dog's POV. Why am I only rating this 3.5 stars, you ask? Simple-typos and missing words. Way more typos and missing words than I care to deal with. It was the strength of the story that carried me through this one and I am glad I stuck with it.

To sum up, I liked this book and I think it has a lot to offer. It doesn't easily fit into the genre of horror or dark fiction, (I think it's more of a thriller), but I liked it just the same. If it weren't for the typos and missing words, this tale would have easily earned at least 4 stars. I would read more by this author in the future, in the hopes that he now has a better proofreader.

In 1996, a unique horror movie came out about a single mother and her son who had taken in the mother’s brother, who was secretly a werewolf. The movie, Bad Moon, was intriguing because of its hero, the family German Shepherd. Though the movie, starring Mariel Hemingway and Michael Paré, was a box office flop and critical failure, I really enjoyed it. Granted, the gratuitous nudity at the beginning was a little overdone, but the plot was solid.

Years later, I found out that the movie was based off of a book. Thor is actually out of print in hardcopy form, but you can still get in on Amazon as a Kindle book for under three bucks. And the book is worth it.

***SPOILERS***

The story is told (mostly) from the point of view of the titular character. Thor sees his family as a pack, with the mated heads of the pack (Mom and Dad), the three children and, yes, even a kitten. Thor sees himself as the guardian of his pack whose job it is to defend them (even little kitty) against all threats. We see how devoted he is to this role when he is willing to make himself a “bad dog” in their eyes to protect them. You see, Mom’s brother, Uncle Ted, has come to stay with them and his clothes have the smell of the “Bad Thing,” an unnatural predator, on them. This, and the fact that Uncle Ted is an extended member of the pack, causes confusion in Thor.

Ted is a werewolf.

Smith skillfully made Thor a well-rounded character, not an easy task for a non-anthropomorphic dog. The scenes where Thor fights the werewolf had me fighting to keep from cheering out loud (not a good thing when I read at work). The emotion was perfectly placed and I was in tears when the story reached its heart-warming conclusion.

The story did have a large number of typos. Actually, I lost count of them. Considering the fact that this was NOT an indie novel, I was rather shocked. And, to be frank, this story is NOT for children. Language and sexual content keep it well in the realm of grown-up reading. But the plot was good and the storytelling was really ejoyable. For an adult reader who likes horror, I’d give it five stars.