The Pack-Jason Starr

The Pack
Jason Starr
Ace, Jun 7 2011, $26.95
ISBN: 9780441020089

In New York City, Simon Burns expects a promotion as a senior account executive when his boss Tom Harrison says he needs to talk to him. Thus he was unprepared to be fired as he saw no warning idiot lights. To make matters worse, Tom refuses to either speak any further to him nor explain why. Fuming over his boss’ slight, at his family’s Manhattan apartment, he informs his wife Alison who’s not the least bit upset with his news. Instead she tells him to be a stay at home house-husband raising their toddler.

Neither Simon nor Jeremy seem to fit in at the various playgrounds they go to except one in Battery Park. There he meets Michael the leader, Charlie the fireman and Roman; they have a tight pack but welcome Simon and Jeremy. One night Simon visits Michael’s loft, but wakes up in Mendleham, New Jersey. He does not remember a thing after drinking beer at Michael’s place, but feels stronger and has a much more powerful sense of smell. On the day he awakens on the other side of the Hudson, a wolf mauled Tom. Michael has the pack as his alibi Michael invites his friends to his loft for steak and suds. Michael’s father explains to him what will happen if he goes, but he fears his friend is too strong for him.

This is an unusual fascinating horror thriller starring a milquetoast who becomes a virile stud. Alison believes she knows what is going on, but her theory proves wrong as the sense of foreboding grows while the secrets of the pack are slowly provided to readers. Mindful of a younger Jack Nicholson’s Will Randall in Wolf, Simon is easy to understand as a likable person who goes from outsider to insider when the joins the Battery Park Pack, but fears he may harm his beloved wife and son.

Harriet Klausner