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Urban Waite has been getting some buzz as a writer to watch, often being compared to Cormac McCarthy, Dennis Lehane, and Elmore Leonard, and his latest novel, SOMETIMES THE WOLF, shows both why he has earned those comparisons and why he has earned a following of his own. In Waite's world, there are no easy answers - to some extent, there are no answers at all - but taut dialogue, language that borders on poetry even as it describes murders and mayhem, artfully drawn settings, gripping tension, and believable, complicated characters more than make up for the lack of a tidy ending. In fact, such an ending would be a disappointment: this is real life, and life doesn't come in a neat little package.
Life is, however, filled with flawed characters, and Waite delivers those in spades. Twelve years ago, Patrick Drake, a small-town sheriff, was convicted of drug smuggling. At the opening of the novel, Patrick's son Bobby, now a deputy himself in the same small town where his father once served, is on his way to bring his father home from prison. Staying with Bobby is a requirement of Patrick's release, and Bobby and his wife Sheri have agreed to the terms in spite of being in a bit of a precarious position marriage-wise. But Patrick's actions both in and out of prison have far-reaching consequences, both for his relationship with Bobby and for life itself when two cold-blooded killers threaten Bobby, Sheri, and Patrick's father Morgan. Waite expertly spins the tale of these flawed, intertwined lives, keeping tension high by switching quickly among perspectives, filling in backstory while moving the plot forward, and making the threats throughout chillingly believable, but he also deftly portrays deeply complicated relationships of fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends and colleagues.
In the end, while exceptionally inhumane actions fill the pages, the overwhelming take-away is one of what it is to be human. Atmospheric, poetic, and hard to classify, SOMETIMES THE WOLF is a page-turning thriller that invites the reader to savor the language and contemplate deeper issues than those on the surface of the plot. But with all its literary leanings, it's still a great story well told.
§ Meredith Frazier, a writer with a background in English literature, lives in Dallas, Texas
Reviewed by Meredith Frazier, November 2014
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