The Happening

Well, this was another fantastic read in the werewolf genre! As the sequel to “Saamaanthaa” and the second installment in The Wolfshadow Trilogy, “The Happening” picks up in 2007 immediately after the conclusion of the last book. It follows the same characters and basic premise but goes in a completely different direction storyline-wise. Where “Saamaanthaa” explored what it was like to become a werewolf from more or less a first-person narrative, “The Happening” takes a look at the bigger picture of the early days of a werewolf “epidemic.”

That means we get some new characters and perspectives in addition to seeing where all the returning characters ended up after the events of the previous book – in particular, the rise of the new werewolf Zooey and her anarchist bent. Without spoilers, I’ll say that this is a fun look at the “what if” scenario of an active werewolf outbreak. You could almost imagine that this is more or less how things would go down if it happened: the fear, the media lies, the chaos, and the denial. Sound familiar?

I really enjoy that you get a little bit of everyone’s POV in this one. It was a bit of a departure from how the first book was conveyed, but it added a lot to the story and kind of had a “Game of Thrones” vibe in which you looked forward to reading every character’s chapter. You’ve got the werewolves and their various struggles with their condition (some love it a little too much, others resist it, and some have been living with it their whole lives). But you also get a glimpse into the lives of the “norms” fighting the outbreak, be it the militant assassin, the scientist, or the director of the agency tasked with handling the situation on a national level while also keeping it as quiet as possible. I loved them all.

D.T. Neal excels at world-building and character development. You really feel for all of the characters, even if some are more villainous than others. I’d again liken it to George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” series in that every character is complex and made up of so many shades of gray (kind of like real people). Neal also manages to infuse quite a bit of dark humor, which I enjoyed immensely. I maintain that this should be made into a TV miniseries – especially given the public’s recent encounter with a viral pandemic. It’s not that the books aren’t enough, it’s just that this story is complex and many of these characters and scenes would be amazing to behold on a big screen.

The way Neal approaches this genre is refreshing. Lycanthropy isn’t just a Medieval folklore thing out in the woods somewhere that occasionally affects one hapless main character. It’s modern and maybe even a little hip and relevant. It’s approached scientifically and through the lens of social media, as it very much would have been in 2007 when the events of “The Happening” took place. It also spreads like a virus, meaning it’s everywhere and everyone is now dealing with it in some way.

I can’t wait to read the third and final (hopefully not?) book in this trilogy!

—Becky Stephenson on GOODREADS