The Hunter from the Woods

The titular hunter of these six paranormal espionage tales is Michael Gallatin, a dapper lycanthrope recruited by the British Secret Service (in 1989’s The Wolf’s Hour) to take covert part in the struggle against Nazi Germany. McCammon has a sure touch with plot-driven narrative and his hero is engaging, but his writing can be laughably sophomoric (“Her globes were absolutely huge north of her equator”) and the stories are frequently flawed. In “Sea Chase,” a romance is introduced but goes nowhere. “The Great White Way” hinges on a sudden, disconcerting shift in a major character’s allegiance. Much more troubling is “The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs,” in which Gallatin falls madly in love with a German agent who turns anti-Hitler Germans over to the Gestapo to be tortured. Gallatin may overlook his lover’s hatred for “undesirables,” but readers are unlikely to follow his lead. (Jan.)