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Hitwolf #1
Hitwolf
It is 1969; Newark, NJ. Former Green Beret Jim Slate comes home from Vietnam to live a quiet, peaceful life. His wish is cruelly denied him when he is kidnapped by Michael Monzo, a local gang boss who wants to rule the entire city. To do this he must bring down his rivals. Monzo recruits an occult practitioner who can turn an ordinary man into a vicious werewolf and then control his actions by the use of a magic amulet. But to carry out this heinous plan, he needs a subject. And so Jim Slate is snatched and turned into a "Hitwolf". But Slate is no one's puppet and, despite the curse put on him, he will not be controlled. After he manages to escape his master, Slate disappears into the thousands of acres of New Jersey woodlands known as the Pine Barrens. But Monzo has no intentions of losing his pet killing machine. Now the manhunt begins to capture Jim Slate...dead or alive!
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First published July 3, 2014
7 people want to read
About the author
Fred Adams Jr.
44 books9 followersFred Adams, Jr. ("Dr. Phreddee") has been a published author since 1971 when he began selling fiction to magazines and non-fiction pieces to newspapers. Since his retirement from Penn State University's English faculty, he has written eighteen novels, two nonfiction books, and over twenty commissioned novellas and short stories for anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 9, 2018
Hitwolf was a wonderful surprise for me. I enjoy action thrillers and when I learned about the publisher I decided to try one of their books. I chose this one, by author Fred Adams Jr., merely because it was close to Halloween when I began to read it, but that was fortuitous because I loved this novel.
In the early 1970's Two stories quickly converge. A mafioso gang member becomes a werewolf and later bites (and thus adds to the werewolf population) Slate, a special operatives soldier. Though the Mafia boss wants to control Slate as the ultimate "hit wolf" the former soldier is able to escape. In this book there is exciting action as rivals come at each other.
What I loved about this book is that it contained just through right, light touch, of sorcery. There are two sorcerers in the novel who have the ability to cast spells and even control the werewolves, but they flavor an otherwise gritty "street" story. It is rare that the genre's of fantasy and thriller can be combined well, but Fred Adams Jr. does it well.
For me I look forward to reading other works by the offer, as well as the sequel to this winner.
In the early 1970's Two stories quickly converge. A mafioso gang member becomes a werewolf and later bites (and thus adds to the werewolf population) Slate, a special operatives soldier. Though the Mafia boss wants to control Slate as the ultimate "hit wolf" the former soldier is able to escape. In this book there is exciting action as rivals come at each other.
What I loved about this book is that it contained just through right, light touch, of sorcery. There are two sorcerers in the novel who have the ability to cast spells and even control the werewolves, but they flavor an otherwise gritty "street" story. It is rare that the genre's of fantasy and thriller can be combined well, but Fred Adams Jr. does it well.
For me I look forward to reading other works by the offer, as well as the sequel to this winner.
September 1, 2015
This book, based in the Vietnam War era, pulls us into the slimy underworld of the New Jersey mafia and the ongoing war between two of the mob families, run by Michael Monzo and Martin "Mardi Gras" Stubbs, respectively. But that's not all - Stubbs has gotten hold of a werewolf that he uses to kill his enemies. His werewolf bites one of Monzo's men, making him a werewolf too.
Enter John Slate, former mercenary and current construction worker, who happens to be in the same dive bar with Monzo and Pegg, the wizard who controls werewolves with an amulet. A biker gang comes in and starts a fight, and Monzo is so impressed with Slate's fighting skills that he kidnaps him and turns him into a werewolf to add to his arsenal.
The mob wars escalate with the addition of werewolves, needless to say. Slate is a little too smart to be held captive for long though.
Although this is not the type of book I would normally pick up, I can truly say that I read it from cover to cover in practically one sitting. There is a lot of gory violence, but since it is fantasy it didn't really bother me as it might in another genre. The characters are interesting and well-developed, and the story moves along at a rapid pace with a cool ending. This book will not disappoint!
Enter John Slate, former mercenary and current construction worker, who happens to be in the same dive bar with Monzo and Pegg, the wizard who controls werewolves with an amulet. A biker gang comes in and starts a fight, and Monzo is so impressed with Slate's fighting skills that he kidnaps him and turns him into a werewolf to add to his arsenal.
The mob wars escalate with the addition of werewolves, needless to say. Slate is a little too smart to be held captive for long though.
Although this is not the type of book I would normally pick up, I can truly say that I read it from cover to cover in practically one sitting. There is a lot of gory violence, but since it is fantasy it didn't really bother me as it might in another genre. The characters are interesting and well-developed, and the story moves along at a rapid pace with a cool ending. This book will not disappoint!
March 20, 2015
Thinking back, I hesitated over giving 5 stars or 4 stars but I lean more toward having loved the book than just liked it. Intense and fast paced and quite interesting, great cultural wisecracks. Spartan writing to the point of one and two word sentences, but well used and placed. The only thing that I wasn't too keen on is a few times it seemed like there were a few too many characters and I became confused and had to go back a page or two and reread.
Slate reminded me of Jack Reacher, only I liked Slate better, another reason to go with five stars. Reacher got on my nerves pretty quickly as he seemed too prone to gratuitous violence just for the shock value. The violence in Hitwolf seemed more justified and was at times even more fantastical and brutal, but was just more fun. And yes, I will admit to being a little squeamish and skipping over gruesome details occasionally. Overall, a most enjoyable dose of pulp with a creatively dark premise.
Slate reminded me of Jack Reacher, only I liked Slate better, another reason to go with five stars. Reacher got on my nerves pretty quickly as he seemed too prone to gratuitous violence just for the shock value. The violence in Hitwolf seemed more justified and was at times even more fantastical and brutal, but was just more fun. And yes, I will admit to being a little squeamish and skipping over gruesome details occasionally. Overall, a most enjoyable dose of pulp with a creatively dark premise.
December 17, 2015
This was very slow to start, but the last forty pages were amazing! I was ready to read more about Slate, his team, and learn his back story, but it never happened. I would recommend the book, but I would also suggest skimming the first half until it rally starts to develop somewhere in the middle. I would like to read another book about this team, as long as it demonstrated more development than the beginning of this one. This had a lot of build up before the book had its hook. If I'm not hooked by the first twenty pages, it takes a recommendation to stick it out, and this book required that for me.
February 7, 2017
Unexpectedly good.
This is not the kind of novel I normally enjoy. It takes place basically in the '70's. Did anything good happen in the world besides the first 'Star Wars' film during the '70's? Debatable.
Seriously though it was a fun novel.
It had some interesting turns (wouldn't go so far as to call them twists) and was well written and narrated.
I'd recommend it for fans of werewolves and a bit of the ole ultra-violence.
This is not the kind of novel I normally enjoy. It takes place basically in the '70's. Did anything good happen in the world besides the first 'Star Wars' film during the '70's? Debatable.
Seriously though it was a fun novel.
It had some interesting turns (wouldn't go so far as to call them twists) and was well written and narrated.
I'd recommend it for fans of werewolves and a bit of the ole ultra-violence.
May 11, 2024
Unexpectedly good.
This is not the kind of novel I normally enjoy. It takes place basically in the '70's. Did anything good happen in the world besides the first 'Star Wars' film during the '70's? Debatable.
Seriously though it was a fun novel.
It had some interesting turns (wouldn't go so far as to call them twists) and was well written and narrated.
I'd recommend it for fans of werewolves and a bit of the ole ultra-violence.
This is not the kind of novel I normally enjoy. It takes place basically in the '70's. Did anything good happen in the world besides the first 'Star Wars' film during the '70's? Debatable.
Seriously though it was a fun novel.
It had some interesting turns (wouldn't go so far as to call them twists) and was well written and narrated.
I'd recommend it for fans of werewolves and a bit of the ole ultra-violence.
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October 28, 2016A very nice short book, packed with rich and detailed people
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews