The Wolf in the Garden

Time-Lost

by Alfred Hoyt Bill

Here is a marvelous werewolf thriller set in upstate New York in the days close after the American Revolution. A series of bizarre and horrifying events besiege the village of New Dortrecht with the advent of the French Comte de Saint Loup and his hound DeRetz. A giant wolf, possessed with evil intelligence and savage fury, sates its desire for blood in a series of horrifying and supernatural killings.

THE WOLF IN THE GARDEN is destined to become a classic werewolf tale. First published in 1931, this long-forgotten novel may be the finest werewolf thriller ever written.

(Source: back cover)

Genres: Werewolves, Fiction, Horror Thriller, Horror

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very early and unusual werewolf novel set in a small New England village in the time shortly after the end of the American revolution. It's surprisingly horrific for its time, though rather predictable when all is said and done. (How come you never see the Frenchman and his big dog at the same time?) It was published in 1931, a full decade before Curt Siodmak codified much of what is now accepted as established werewolf mythology and was never much recognized or celebrated within the horror genre. (I wonder if Siodmak might have read it and been influenced?) The prose has a charming antiquarian lilt, and there's a nice romance element (as all werewolf tales must have), too. I have the 1972 paperback with a keen Virgil Finlay cover from Donald M. Grant wonderful Centaur Press.

[Randy Money · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small village, post-American Revolution, receives a French aristocrat fleeing the excesses of the French Revolution, and bringing with him his enormous wolfhound. At about the same time, several deaths in and around the village announce the unprecedented appearance of a murderous wolf.

Solid, well-written example of a thriller from the 1930s, complete with a beautiful damsel in distress, an earnest hero, a ruthless villain, the cruelty of whose past and future planned debauchery is discretely implied over and again, and Mr. Sackville, village rector and Van-Helsing-in-residence.

If you are a reader who heeds trigger warnings, they would apply for attitudes toward race and women (some of which stems from the story's setting in time as opposed to the novel's date of publication), and the wolf does not only attack humans.

[Jim Dooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason that I don’t quite understand, I’m not a fan of werewolf stories. So, I was confused when THE WOLF IN THE GARDEN by Alfred H. Hill was recommended to me as “a werewolf thriller quite unlike all of the others” and one that I “needed to read.”

Hmmm.

Well, I ordered a used paperback copy originally issued in 1972 by Centaur Press (which was being offered by the specialty store, Creepy Classics) and crossed my fingers. When it arrived, it was obvious that the publisher was concerned about conserving page space because the print was very small to the point that I felt I’d need a magnifying glass to read it. (I didn’t, but a pair of reading glasses that I kept for such occasions was necessary.)

I almost put the book aside as one of those “purchased, but unread” titles that reside on my bookshelves. But, fortunately for me, I took a closer look. First of all, it was originally published in 1931. The Guy Endore classic, THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS, was released in 1933. This, of course, also predated the Universal Classic monster film, “Werewolf of London,” which was released in 1935. (THE WOLF MAN didn’t come out until the end of 1941.)

Hmmmmmmm.

Finally, I looked at the back cover description. The story was set in upstate New York shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary war. That did it. I was hooked.

What I discovered was a tale that evoked a bit of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES liberally seasoned with the gloom and eerie feeling of WUTHERING HEIGHTS. The characters were drawn beyond surface characterizations, and there were plot twists and developments that genuinely surprised me for a book published in 1931.

Hill apparently acquainted himself with extensive European werewolf lore to use in creating THE WOLF IN THE GARDEN. MIssing are all of those Hollywood creations such as a human only changing into a wolf by the light of a full moon. It does retain that a victim can become infected with lycanthropy by being bitten, but it relied on the folklore belief of how a wolf co-resided within a human. (I’ll avoid an explanation as it is quite startling.) There’s even an intriguing use of a Haitian ceremony evoked as protection during a critical period.

It is likely unnecessary to say that I looked forward to each reading session (ignoring the small print eye-strain), and that I was highly satisfied with the ending. In truth, I am shocked that no one has optioned this book for a motion picture!

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Dracula but with werewolves" is an accurate elevator pitch, and you can see Bill recycling story beats. But the Comte de Saint Loup is his own monster that appears to have a fevered relish in the chaos that he sows, some of which is done simply for the passion of it. Even his master plan appears to have a short-sighted goal that he will shortly become bored of.

It has that pacing where de Saint Loup's nature is immediately obvious to the reader ("WEREWOLF THRILLER" above the title of the Centaur edition) so that reader is left waiting for the characters to catch up. I'm not really a fan of how this works, as it detaches the sense of discovery and surprise: instead you're sympathizing with the plight of the characters and unease at what you know is certainly going to happen. It does leave you wondering why these protagonists are such idiots, especially when in a late moment the brain of this piece points out that de Saint Loup and his wolfhound De Retz are never seen together.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished The Wolf In the Garden and was surprised to find virtually no discussion of the novel across the entirety of the internet. I love colonial era horror, Revolutionary War-era history, and 1930s American literature, so when I discovered this book in my quest for a good werewolf story, I knew I'd hit the trifecta.

My first comment on the story is how remarkably similar it was to Dracula, which was only 40 years old at the time The Wolf In the Garden was originally published. You have your affluent outsider (Dracula/Saint Loup) new to town with some obvious evil energy, shape-shifting, strong influence over some of the main characters. Your case of male leads fighting to protect the female lead. Character parallels in John Harker/Robert Ferrier, Mina Harker/Felicity, Van Helsing/Sackville. There's even a carriage chase at the climax. However, I think The Wolf In the Garden is a little more palatable for modern tastes in its brevity. There is still quite a bit of exposition, but nowhere near the level of Dracula. And it even features a treasure hunt as a side-story. Goofy as it may be, it added a level of intrigue to the werewolf mystery.

For a book written in the 1930s, I really enjoyed the descriptions and imagery around the action sequences. The first encounter with old Peter's "ghost" and Squire Killian and Robert, the wolf attacks which we were able to witness as readers, the final chase and confrontation in the garden.

Narratively, I enjoyed the telling of the story from Robert's perspective far in the future (which we only learn around 3/4 of the way through the story). He seems to be honest about his recollections and often admits that his thoughts in the moment may not have been exactly as he's currently describing them many years later.

I admit I was a little confused at Saint Loup's motives at the end, taking Felicity to New York and then back to his home. Was all of the buildup really just for an evening of depravity?

I'll finish my initial thoughts on this book with my main criticism, which is the way Alfred Hoyt Bill handles the topic of slavery within the story. And by that I mean basically brushing it aside and treating it as normal within the context of the time and hardly pointing out any of the atrocities surrounding it. This may have been a true depiction of the 1790s in New York - a few "servants" as they called them then around the village, mostly brushed over. And it may have been a common way to handle the discussion of slavery in the 1930s. But the treatment of Vashti, Hebe, Henry, and Barry as tertiary characters to be ordered around and treated poorly by the main characters hurt the story. And the casual mention of Felicity as the proprietor of over 300 slaves within the context of explaining why she wasn't a stranger to sex because she'd seen many slaves give birth was impossible to count against her character (or any of the characters for that matter). It was especially ironic to consider the many humans enslaved to Uncle Barclay and Felicity and still try to take Robert and the rector seriously as they describe and fight against the evil that is Saint Loup, paying no mind to the evil that is slavery in their daily lives.

[Mark Krey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an original and unique werewolf thriller set in an era not typically associated with werewolf fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Characters in the book are colorful and stand out, each with their own flair. Very few characters are two dimensional or filler characters. The story truly succeeds at feeling eerie at times which is an accomplishment for tales of lycanthropy seeing as how they often rely on gore and outrage to produce the scare.

[Mangamaximis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good classic villain werewolf story. Though we all now who it is from the moment you meet him. It is how you confront something you are not sure of but feel it in your gut something is evil about them. It was fun to read the characters piece the clues together.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not terrible, just terribly predictable.