*
“Gagliani has cemented his place in werewolf legend with a muscular and smart series that deserves a much bigger audience...” (HorrorWorld)
Some of What They Said About Wolf’s Trap
“The best werewolf novel since The Howling!” (J.A. Konrath, author of Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary and many other “Jack Daniels” thrillers)
“One of the best werewolf novels of the last ten years.” (Gary A. Braunbeck, author of In Silent Graves, In the Midnight Museum, and Keepers)
“A top-notch lunar-challenged hero, a villain bent on painful revenge, a deliciously developed plot… I read the last half in one sitting on, appropriately, a night with a full moon. Bravo!” (Elaine Bergstrom, author of Shattered Glass and Nocturne)
“... [a] suspenseful story that mixes serial murder with werewolves ... Another small press title worth chasing down.” (Don D’Ammassa, writing in Chronicle; Dec 2003)
“... snares the reader right from the first page ... first-rate entertainment will keep you reading deep into the moonlit night.” (Tom Piccirilli, multiple Bram Stoker award winner and author of The Last Whisper in the Dark, The Coldest Mile, and The Night Class)
“Gagliani has brought bite back to the werewolf novel... [Wolf’s Trap] will grab you by the reading jugular and keep you clawing the pages until the story’s exciting conclusion.” (CNN.com Headline News Book Lizard review by James Argendeli)
“Cops, werewolves, serial killers, violence, and sex! You get it all! W.D. Gagliani’s Wolf’s Trap, is a cross-genre delight…” (Michael Laimo, author of Deep In The Darkness, Dead Souls, Sleepwalker, The Demonologist, and Atmosphere)
“I was caught in the jaws of the trap and could not escape until I finished page last.” (Robert W. Walker, author of the Instinct and Edge Series and many other thrillers)
“W.D. Gagliani’s Wolf’s Trap catches you by the throat and shakes your senses hard. Highly recommended.” (James A. Moore, author of Under the Overtree and Bram Stoker Award-nominated Serenity Falls)
“Wolf’s Trap is a riveting, disturbing, gut-wrenching – and entertaining as all
get-out – journey into the darkest part of the human soul, and I loved every page!” (Jay Bonansinga, author The Black Mariah, Sick, The Killer’s Game, and Oblivion)
“Wolf’s Trap rocks! … [it] will grab you by the scruff of the neck and shake you till you see stars!” (Tamara Thorne, author of Thunder Road, Bad Things, and Candle Bay)
“… if you like fast-paced horror with elements from outside the genre – and especially if you like werewolf fiction – Wolf’s Trap qualifies as an engaging read.” (Cemetery Dance)
“Shall I say it was a ‘howling’ good read?” (P.D. Cacek, World Fantasy Award winner and author of Canyons)
What They Said About Wolf’s Gambit
“Wolf’s Gambit is that rare accomplishment in horror of a sequel that not only surpasses the power of the original but turns your expectations against you at every turn. W.D. Gagliani has taken the central conceit of Wolf’s Trap and used it as a springboard for his most unpredictable, accomplished, and rewarding novel to date. His writing has never been crisper, his suspense never more nerve-wracking, and his dry humor so consistently refreshing. If you think you know what you’ll be getting, trust me, you’re wrong. Gagliani is fashioning an epic werewolf cycle here, one filled with terror, passion, violence, surprisingly affecting sensuality, and enough fantastical twists and turns to satisfy even the most jaded horror reader. Put your preconceptions aside and get ready for one hell of a ride.” (5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner Gary A. Braunbeck, author of In Silent Graves, Coffin County, and Far Dark Field)
“A great big bloody beast of a book that enthralls the reader on multiple levels. Vicious, gory, sexy, fascinating – part-supernatural thriller, part-police procedural, pure dynamite!” (Edward Lee, author of City Infernal, Brides of the Impaler, and The Golem)
“If you’re looking for the same-ol’-same-ol’ werewolf story, W.D. Gagliani’s Wolf’s Gambit is definitely not for you. Gagliani … masterfully weaves sensuality and horror throughout… Wolf’s Gambit is one book you won't put down.” (Deborah LeBlanc, bestselling author of Water Witch)
“Wolf’s Gambit is the equivalent of a North Woods rollercoaster – with each brutal twist the body count rises, but you never want the ride to end! This one goes for the throat over and over again, and as you slip through the slayings with Detective Lupo in a desperate race against time, the pages seem to turn themselves! I couldn’t put it down!” (John Everson, author of Covenant, NightWhere, and Sacrifice)
What They Said About Wolf’s Bluff
“Wolf’s Bluff is arguably the best novel in Gagliani’s werewolf series. It’s creepy, sexy, fast-paced and brimming with humanity.” (Gary A. Braunbeck, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of In Silent Graves, Keepers, Things Left Behind, and Far Dark Fields)
“Wolf’s Bluff will keep you biting your nails right up to its blood-drenched final. Gagliani sets a relentless pace from the first page and never lets up.” (John Everson, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Covenant, Sacrifice, Siren, and NightWhere)
What They Said About Wolf’s Edge
“In Wolf’s Bluff Gagliani once more proves that werewolves are scary as hell. The book is fast, vicious and thoroughly satisfying.” (Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Wolfman, Patient Zero, Rot & Ruin, and The Dragon Factory)
“Gagliani has cemented his place in werewolf legend with a muscular and smart series that deserves a much bigger audience...” (HorrorWorld)
“Wolf’s Edge is an exciting page-turner full of suspense, mystery, and thrills. Don't miss it!” (The Horror Zine)
What They Said About Wolf’s Cut
“Wolf’s Cut is a stellar addition to Gagliani’s Nick Lupo series. An impressive and addictive read... cements Gagliani’s place at the top of the new wave of horror/crime fiction.” (Dreadful Tales)
“With his series of Nick Lupo books, W.D. Gagliani has done more than pump a little oxygen into the tired werewolf thriller. He’s resurrected the entire genre and added a rush of nitrous oxide excitement. Do yourself a favor and pick up Wolf’s Cut, a nice addition to this superior series.” (Gene O’Neill, author of Dance of the Blue Lady and The Blue Heron)
“W.D. Gagliani’s Detective Lupo series is the best of the werewolf genre. Top-notch writing, nail-biting suspense, and a ferocious mix of serial killers and werewolves... Gagliani continues to deliver fast-paced horror that will get your heart pumping. Highly recommended.” (Brian Moreland, author of Dead of Winter and The Devil’s Woods)
“Being Italian and a former cop I can relate to Lupo on many levels. The whole series is a big hit at our store with several of our staff. We can’t wait for the next book. Keep howling!” (Tony D’Amato, Chief Armorer of The Gun Store, Las Vegas, NV)
“Let out a howl, because Lupo’s back, and badder than ever!” (John Everson, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Covenant, Violet Eyes, and NightWhere)
*
An excerpt from Wolf’s Trap:
PROLOGUE
Cincinnati, March 2
He headed for the park again.
He went just about every day, when the weather was nice, but only once every few weeks did he feel the tingle that told him something special would happen.
Today he felt the tingle, and he smiled.
It was warm, but he wore his parka anyway. The mushy ground seemed to spring under his step, still wet from the last snow, but the benches were dry.
He pulled himself into character, easily enough.
He was so happy. He was going to see a girl.
He’d been seeing her every day for a couple of weeks now, and had managed to say “hello” in his own shy way. And Susan had just as shyly told him her name when he’d pressed her for it a few days before, after she told him she liked to watch him feed squirrels. Maybe it was the way the small, furry rodents climbed all over him, looking for peanuts a
nd corn kernels, that first attracted her to him. Or because he was a nice, quiet person. He dressed well, spoke well, and made her feel safe with his subdued manner.
And maybe his priest’s collar made her feel even safer.
When Susan had come up to him that first day, he’d had to admit that she was cute. Just plain, really, with a heavy dose of cute. Brown hair, grey eyes, normal nose (maybe a little bony) and no make-up except lipstick. That had made him perk right up. When she smiled, she was no longer plain.
He was a smile man, pure and simple.
And she did smile, seeing all those squirrels waiting their turn to jump up and search through the folds and pockets of the young priest’s parka.
“I didn’t realize they were so tame,” she had said.
He pretended to see her for the first time. “Oh, yes,” he said, “they’re pretty used to me.”
When he looked at her, he often looked at just her lips. He did that, he explained, because he was a little deaf, though not enough to require a hearing aid. He told her it helped just to see her lips forming words. It didn’t hurt when the lips he “read” were so stunningly perfect.
He smiled at her, his priestly smile.
“They’re so cute,” she said, smiling back.
He nodded, silent because one chubby squirrel was checking out the top of his head, tiny paws grabbing onto his shoulder. When it was done, it scurried down the back of the parka, and a different fellow climbed up. He put another peanut in his hair.
“You must be a regular,” she said, and he was happy to see that she wanted to keep talking. So they chatted about squirrels and rabbits and their feeding habits, and he told her that he'd been feeding them every day. He noted that when she smiled her eyes sparkled.
“Well, I have to get back to work,” she said after a while, real regret apparent in her voice.
“Where do you work?” he asked. An innocent question.
She told him a lie and he smiled. “Very nice! Maybe I'll see you again.”
“Yes,” she said, “maybe.”
So he continued going back to the park, his starched collar in place. The next day she didn’t stay long – she had a lunch date – but she said hello and watched him feed a pudgy squirrel. She laughed and called him Piglet. He looked at her as she laughed. She really did feel safe, and that made him happy.
She didn’t come the next three days, and he wished he had taken her picture. He had a camera in his bag, but it might have been difficult to explain why a priest would want to photograph a pretty girl. So he spent hours sitting in the chilly early spring sunlight, throwing nuts to the gathered squirrels with little angry gestures.
She was back the following Monday, calling out a cheery hello that startled him. He looked at her eyes for a second, then her mouth. She smiled; then he smiled, too. The squirrels were insistent, though, and he had to concentrate on the feeding. She took a brown bag out of her spacious purse and sat on the next bench. That was when she first told him her name.
He told her his name, and she said, “Martin, that’s a nice name.”
“Father Martin,” he corrected her, “though I’m between parish assignments right now.”
He fed hungry squirrels, and she ate a sparse lunch, throwing out crumbs that the furry creatures scooped into their tiny mouths. Then, while he watched, she refreshed her bright lipstick before smiling and waving goodbye.
His hands itched, and he scratched them until they almost bled, the camera lying screaming and unused in his duffel bag. If only he could have planted an excuse, a reason, to photograph her.
But, no, a priest couldn’t get away with it, not this day and age.
Martin felt a sharp pain behind his eyes. Susan’s face blended into Caroline’s, and he knew that her memory was weighing on him again, causing his vision to blur and his hands to itch. Her loss was the catalyst, the reason for his visits to the park this month, and for his visits to the airport last month. No, it was the moon’s position, he thought, pushing the pinprick pain aside once again.
He knew it was almost showtime. His great crusade, his life’s work. Everything he’d done up to now was just a warm-up, an opener, a prelude. He was ready now – almost ready – to make the blood flow.
“It won’t be long, Caroline,” he thought. “Not long at all.”
Now, as he spread peanuts on the bench and called the squirrels, he spied Susan approaching on the path from the parking lot. She was right on time – had her lunch hour planned to the minute – and she waved as he looked up. In one hand she carried one of those colorful reusable lunch sacks and in the other a clear bag of goodies for the squirrels.
He smiled and waved, too, and wrestled his bag closer, making sure the flap was closed. He didn’t want her to see his surprise too soon. It was time to move on, and the expectation surged through him like high voltage. He always enjoyed the culmination of his plans. He always enjoyed the moving-on part, and this time he had something even bigger to look forward to.
He patted the bag. One thing at a time. Finish one series of actions before beginning another.
He had planned this well. He planned everything well.
He smiled at the thought of it.
When he looked up at Susan, he knew that for the first time she could see into and beyond his bland eyes. Past his smile. Into his darkness. She hesitated, her steps first slowing and then coming to a halt.
It was too late. Understanding crossed her features just as his hand came out of the bag.
Continued in Wolf’s Trap (Samhain Publishing),
the very first Nick Lupo Horror/Thriller!
Wolf's Deal: A Nick Lupo Novella (The Nick Lupo Series) Page 14