Wayne TurmelRezensionen

As fun as the previous two, but the trilogy is now mostly concluded. There is space for further options, but I understand the author is likely to try other universes.

Jonny is pretty much settled into his new life - his role as enforcer/collector and PI for the old man is working out well. He gets to visit interesting places, has some available cash and Shaggy gets to play form time to time too. His nearest and dearest aren't quite so settled, but it's all acclimatising ok. Eventually good things come to an end - from the fight at the end of the last book a video has emerged and now suddenly Jonny is known, his face is clear. And so he gets a visit from a reporter - fortunately just part fo the paranormal gossip scene for the moment, but it's clear things will have to change. The next exposure comes when a new force enters town. The Last Witchfinder has risen again and his fundamentalists look very poorly on magic users. Jonny is publicly exposed whilst helping defend a local paranormal fair. However TLW actually wants one of the old man's books, and so there is both a professional and personal reason for Jonny and Shaggy to go hunting.

It's all over the top, but it remains fun and doesn't try to take itself too seriously - a neat balance to strike. I won't miss the lack of further sequels but they're worthy entries of the genre.

I received this book from the author through Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review.
This book is about Johnny Lupul in this third book about the Werewolf PI, where a 500-year old witchhunter Matthew Hopkins returns from the dead to create trouble. This book contains twists and turns and plot twists.
Even though this was the first book I had read in the series, it was pretty easy to get into the story and how the werewolf-part worked, but there were certain parts that referenced to earlier books, but it wasn't in a way that distracted me from the book. I quite enjoyed reading this book!

Disclosure: An electronic copy of this book was provided for review by the author, via Library Thing.
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This third entry in Turmel’s Werewolf P.I. series again pits shape-changing protagonist Johnny Lupul against bad guys who are out to lay hands on a powerful paranormal item from the collection of his eccentric employer – this time a grimoire which can supposedly be used to bind demons, and the Head Bad Guy in search of it is none other than a 500-year-old witchfinder by the name of Matthew Hopkins.

Or so it seems.

Whoever (or whatever) Hopkins is, he controls a small but growing cadre of modern witch-hunters – determined to “rid the earth of witches, demons, and idolaters”, but for the moment they are satisfying themselves with protesting, picketing, and occasionally vandalizing psychic fairs and other events they consider demonic. Lupul’s attempts to deal with Hopkins and his group is complicated by the fact that an internet reporter with a paranormal-themed podcast has laid hands on a video of Lupul transforming and fighting another supernatural opponent.

Turmel keeps the action fast and throws several twists into the plot as Lupul and his friends battle their way through the text. There’s plenty of gore, help from some unexpected sources, and a major turnaround in the direction of the plot before everything is resolved. What may be more important is that he also opens the door for a completely different direction for the character. Johnny is being urged, by several people who care about him, to investigate something far more personal than ancient artifacts. Go to Romania, he is told. Find your people.

Fans who have followed the full Werewolf P.I. series – Johnny Lycan & the Anubis Disk, Johnny Lycan & the Vegas Berserker, and now Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder – will definitely want to read the author’s note at the end of this book. And maybe ask Grandma Mostoy to take another peek at her tarot cards to see which path is going to open up next.

Johnny Lupul is a werewolf private investigator sent to Las Vegas to investigate a case and stumbles upon some witches, a psychic pawn broker, and an enemy with a mysterious secret. Johnny must resist changing into his werewolf form or reveal his secret. Johnny goes to Las Vegas to retrieve an item for his boss in Chicago that supposedly was fake but turns out to be the real thing. I really enjoyed reading this paranormal urban fantasy novel. I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Disclaimer: An electronic copy of this book was provided in exchange for review by publishers Black Rose Writing, via Library Thing.
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This second entry in the Werewolf PI series cranks up the violence level but skimps on the background that made the debut volume (Johnny Lycan & the Anubis Disk) stand out from its urban fantasy peers.

This time around, Johnny is dispatched to Las Vegas to pick up yet another arcane artifact purchased by his eccentric employer, only to find that the person who was beaten out at auction for the goodie is not willing to give up so easily. The item in question is an egg-shaped crystal which may or may not be an alien artifact; in any case, it proves to have some unusual powers. The would-be buyer sends some pretty serious muscle out to grab what he couldn’t purchase, including another not-quite-human creature, the Berserker of the title. There’s a whole lot of fighting (with and without the assistance of Johnny’s werewolf persona), a few modern-day witches, a brief romance, and the discovery of a possible way to control the beast with which Johnny shares a body.

So in that sense, the universe being developed for this series does get a bit more fine-tuning. This reviewer simply wishes that Turmel had been able to figure out how to include a bit more of the background he set up so skillfully in the first volume. A reader coming in without that background is apt to flounder a bit, trying to identify all the players without a program, so to speak.

The series continues to be an interesting take on the paranormal / superhero genre, and readers will just have to wait for the third installment to see how Turmel is going to give new readers a leg up on understanding the ground rules for Johnny and Shaggy.½

Fun. A much delayed sequel to the initial volume and potentially the start of something that could be quite interesting and worth following.

Johnny has now got himself established, nominally as a PI, but in reality he has 1 paying client and old man searching out treasures that he hope will extend his rapidly diminishing life. The first book sought out a local one which turned out to be curse. This one Johnny is sent to Vegas to collect an item that has already been bought at online auction. What could possibly go wrong? Of course the competition resort to underhand means to attempt to retrieve that which they couldn't fairly obtain - and even worse they seem to have some knowledge of werebeasts.

Johnny remains somewhat over the top - but the world building is attractive and well paced releasing more details history and back story, with hints that future books may also develop the characters rather than just becoming an endless progression of ever harder fights. Worth keeping an eye on.½

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Turmel’s writing flows very smoothly and keeps the story going. It was refreshing to read a story from the werewolf’s point of view, and his being a good guy as well. I am looking forward to reading more from Wayne Turmel.

Disclosure: An electronic copy of this book was provided in exchange for review by publishers Black Rose Writing, via Library Thing.

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Johnny Lupul is just your average young guy making a living as an enforcer for a prominent Chicago bookie, until he comes to the attention of an ϋber-rich recluse with a morally-questionable obsession – and thank goodness for that because where would paranormal superhero types be without them?

Because, you see, Johnny Lupul is also a werewolf. Turmel makes this perfectly clear in a media res opening that would make Mickey Spillaine proud: “The Russian tasted like borscht and cheap cigarettes.” Thus begins sort of a werewolf noir, in which Lupul is charged with recovering a bronze disk stolen from his employer. Just your average looted treasure -- probably a reproduction, in fact, but “don’t get any blood on it”. And Anubis? He was only the Egyptian god of the dead, in charge of leading souls to the underworld. Nice guy, but you probably wouldn't want to piss him off, what with him having the head of a jackal and all.

Thus is launched the main plot, which moves along nicely and is peopled by several interesting supporting characters as Lupul figures out (a) who has the disk, (b) how to get it and ultimately, (c) how to keep it from working its malignant magic on him. (Maybe it wasn’t a reproduction after all.)

There’s also the disturbing revelation that Lupul isn’t the only werewolf in Chicago, and that one of them is definitely trying to kill him. After the issue of the disk seems to be resolved, the story veers into werewolf-vs-werewolf territory, and Lupul reveals a surprising gentleness and some thinking chops as he tries to locate, isolate, and deal with his foe, as well as with an assortment of quirky humans who populate his world. It seems at this point that the Anubis Disk has faded into the background, but it does make a reappearance as part of the climax, though Turmel sort of glosses over just what it was that brought it back in Lupul’s temporary possession, and what that is going to mean in the future.

Because this is definitely set up as the beginning of a series. In fact, there were references to events in Lupul’s background that made this reviewer go looking for a prequel, just to clarify the issue. No prequels, but the author’s note at the end promises a sequel.

Turmel has given some thought to lycanthropy, noting that “it’s not like you’re perfectly normal, minding your own business and then ‘Oh, crap, it’s the moon. Aaaaooooo’.” According to Lupul, it’s a cycle with mental and behavioral transformations as well as physical ones, and it’s not done casually or without cost. Turmel deals with practicality as well (like what happens to ones clothes when one transforms), whether the wolf-form (Lupul calls him “Shaggy) retains any consciousness of being human (and vice versa) when one physical form is in ascendance. It’s an interesting look at a fantasy trope that too often goes straight for the shock value and doesn’t linger over details.

There are a few bumps in the road. First is Turmel’s inexplicable choice of the title. “Johnny Lycan & The Anubis Disk” makes it sound like a YA adventure, along the lines of “Nancy Drew and the Enchanted Castle”. It’s definitely not YA. One could assume the author intends to use the “Johnny Lycan &” tag to identify future adventures, but it still reeks of amateur night. “Johnny Lupul &” would do just as well. Or, what the hell, just ditch subtlety and call the character Johnny Lycan. In addition, the publisher’s page refers to the hero is “a private eye” – a detail that is not addressed at all in the text, and which is simply indicative of sloppy editing somewhere along the line.

If one can overlook these admittedly picayune details, it’s a high-energy adventure, and fans of the urban fantasy genre will certainly enjoy it.

Werewolf UF is a lot less common than vampires, and even then they're usually the bad guys, so it makes a refreshing change to have a werewolf protagonist.

Jonny was adopted from an east european orphanage into a loving american home, but once his Shaggy (as he calls it) side starting making an appearance, he quickly learnt how to live with himself and master some self-control. Not that there weren't incidents, but for the last while he's been doing ok. He's renting a room from a friend and Gramma whom Shaggy had saved. Bill knows IT and finance, which helps Jonny cope. The story opens with Jonny helping a former employer, whose daughter had been kidnapped by a local gang. Successfully recovering her, his payoff is interrupted by a local kingpin who wants Jonny to recover and object - the Disk - for him.

Jonny's very upfront and blase about Shaggy, but not to the point of revealing him in public. And while Bill knows, nobody else does, except of course eventually Jonny has to explain. It is a nice balance between an established world, and an introduction. General werewolf mythology is adhered too, with a modern take that doesn't hit any continuity errors along the way. Jonny's a bit over-the-top clueless regarding technology for no particular reason, but it allows a couple of other characters to be involved.

I enjoyed this, it doesn't take itself too seriously, is well paced and inventive enough to be entertaining without being too challenging to get to grips with understanding the world

Great book!! 4.8 stars

If your goofy high school buddy that works construction and can’t quite seem to get his act together was also a werewolf-this is his story. This one checks all the boxes: Plot-a new twist on the same old monster story. Characters: interesting takes on the old tropes of wolf boy, blond girl, gay friend, crazy Romani grandmother. Violence/gore/weirdness: yep. Add in a seriously hot nurse and a scary old man with his own agenda-this book has it all.

I enjoyed the whole thing in one long reading session. You will be grabbed from page one then strap in for the ride. Some minor formatting & editing issues but ignore them. The supporting characters are also well done. Wayne Turmel juggles every piece of the story and delivers a super good read. I was given a copy of this book and this is my honest review.

Historical fiction at its best

I have been fascinated by the Crusades, and the Knights Templar in particular, for a long time and was looking forward to reading this book. I was not disappointed.

Mr Turmel’s skill in entwining a wonderful array of characters with vivid descriptions of their environment, brought his story to life to the degree that I was totally engrossed and engaged. Acre’s Bastard was not just facts and figures about this very crucial period in history, but a living, breathing story that allowed me to clearly see the people and events in my head. The pace was perfect and I did not skip a paragraph.

I would highly recommend this book not only to those interested in the history of the Templars but to readers who enjoy well written and entertaining historical fiction.
I have ordered the second one in the series, Acre’s Orphans, and I sure Mr Turmel will not disappoint.