Wolf’s Edge

Generous helpings of gore fail to substitute for atmosphere and characterization in Gagliani’s fourth Nick Lupo horror/thriller (after Wolf’s Bluff). Lupo, a homicide detective and secret shape-shifter, struggles with the aftermath of a previous dustup with a corrupt mercenary-contractor outfit, Wolfpaw, that left his girlfriend traumatized and addicted to gambling, and got an Internal Affairs officer interested in sinking Lupo’s career. Assigned a series of blood-drenched murder cases with lupine connections, Lupo is secretly shadowed by evil werewolf Mordred, former Wolfpaw employee Geoff Simonson, and oversexed werewolf Heather Wilson. As Gagliani bounces between present-day Wisconsin and the 1940s Italy of Lupo’s grandparents, revealing the Nazi genesis of the evil werewolves, his overly baroque plot is often neglected in favor of horrific set pieces, incomplete references to previous books’ events, and the dubious sexual obsessions of the cartoonish villains. (Jan.)