Crazy Moon (Lou’s Bar & Grill Book 1)
Welcome to Lou’s Bar & Grill where the house special looks like a bargain but will cost more than you think. Lou and his staff have everything a person could want, and they know the best way to present it to you.
After being stood up, werewolf fanatic Laney McMurphy went to Lou’s to forget her sorrows. To her surprise, Lou offered her a place in the local pack. To progress within the pack’s ranks, she’ll have to give in to her wild side. And most importantly, she’ll have to indulge her wrath. Each victory means a step up in rank. What she knows about wolves will help. What she doesn’t know just might get her killed.
Peter’s Review:
Every since reading Blood for Blood by Ben Wolf, The Last Werewolf Hunter: The Complete Series by William Woodall and Devil’s Pathway (DAWN: Warriors of Valor Book 1) by Vicki V. Lucas, I have become more curious in seeing how Christian authors treat the subject of vampires and werewolves from the Christian/biblical worldview. These authors have treated this subject very well, all very plausible and well grounded in the Biblical perspective from this worldview.
I came across Crazy Moon by Frank B. Luke from him being one of the newest authors who joined The Crossover Alliance that I am involved in. I knew this to be a short story, all 23 pages long, so was not surprised it took close to an hour to read.
I found this to be a fun read! Yes, there is the killing that goes with werewolves and vampires (not graphic) but that is avoidable with this subject matter, but I was more interested in the spiritual side of this plot. In one sense I was disappointed in that there is none to see except that it outlines the contract established between the devil (yes, satan) and the main character, Laney, and that by agreeing to become a werewolf, this means she has sold her soul to the devil and an eternity in Hell. It would have been nice to have had it balanced a bit more with the other side of this spiritual doctrine, that is, whether there is any chance of redemption such as is portrayed in the Blood for Blood novel, The Last Werewolf Hunter series and alluded to in The Devil’s Pathway novel previously mentioned.
At first I was annoyed that this had not been established but then realised that there is only so much that can be packed into a short story of this length. Based on this, I do hope that Luke investigates this more in future shorts in this series. It would be good to see what Luke comes up with from this Christian/biblical worldview.
My only criticism is that despite Laney intrigued and fascinated with everything to do with werewolves from the media, and its folklore, she is portrayed as accepting too easily Lou’s offer of becoming a werewolf without much thought of the spiritual side of it. As Luke explains,
Just the standard contract I’ve been offering for centuries. Your soul upon death for becoming a werewolf until then.
I knew it, she muttered. If you’re the Devil, there’s a catch.
Everything is spelled out in black and white. Laney, whether you sign or not, upon death, you will enter the afterlife and go to one of two destinations. I am amassing an army for the war that will follow the end of the world. If you take my offer, you can be an officer in that army.
The contract looked solid, and she couldn’t spot any loopholes for him to exploit. She signed her name with flourish.
I am also hoping that Luke expands more of this plot line in future shorts. If he does, then this series shows encouraging scope in both these plot lines from a biblical worldview.The other reason I say this is that Luke is described in his bio as writing,
……fantasy and science fiction to explore God’s truth in fantastic ways. He finds such story-theology connects with readers on both cognitive and emotional levels.
Strongly Recommended.
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Peter Younghusband has been an avid reader from as early as he can remember. Since becoming a Christian in his early 20s, his passion for reading led to specifically Christian fiction and this has developed into reviewing them on his blog. He loves reading new author’s novels or author’s who have not had many reviews or exposure and giving them much needed encouragement where appropriate.
