It took me a moment to get into Kiss of the Wolf although I already had read enough of Shepard's shorter stories to know I liked his writing style. I think the problem was my inability to connect with his characters early on. Indeed, even by the end of KotW, I still felt that these people were living in an alien world with alien values and perspectives.I related to the son best of all, and even then it was sparse.That said, I understood and felt myself savoring the experience of being a part of their world.Shepard has an innate mastery of sharing his character's inner lives in a way that makes them seem real. At least that's the effect I have noted in his short fiction. With KotW I felt the form messed with his talents (he has a strong use of 1st person POV, but his 3rd person felt somewhat dry and disconnected to me).It was still a fun enough book to read. After Part II, the flow of the emotional struggles our "heroine" Joanie experiences drew me in. I cannot see myself as getting into the situation she was in at that point, but I could certainly see myself trying to deal with them. Shepard brings us that close to his characters...
A page-turner, for sure. The abrupt, disturbing ending was a surprise, left me upset. Nina was right about Bruno, after all. Poor Audrey.
