Blood and Rain

Rolfe (Boom Town) does little to update this stale werewolf story. A series of brutal killings ripped apart the life of Joe Fischer, a small-town New England sheriff. Seven years later, he reopens the unsolved case when bodies once again turn up under the full moon. This time, however, the werewolf has brought an unwitting accomplice, and the pair begin devouring the village whole. Rolfe draws on the work of Stephen King, particularly “Cycle of the Werewolf,” but divides his attention among an unwieldy cast rather than emphasizing the traditional mystery of the werewolf’s identity. By spreading his focus so thinly, Rolfe unfortunately reveals that his characters aren’t that interesting; Fischer is the only character who receives enough development to invest the reader in his fate. The bulk of the book is devoted instead to awkward segues, pop culture references from 2004, and one cringe-inducing teen sex scene. Rolfe hits his mark whenever he buckles down to describe a killing, but there’s far too little action to carry the rest of the limping plot along to its foregone conclusion. (Oct.)