Gary Brander - The Howling III: Echoes

[dem bones]

Gary Brander - The Howling III: Echoes (Hamlyn, 1985)

Blurb
The survivors of Drago...
He had no doubt now that there were survivors. Many times he had heard the howling in the night — calling him.
Though his body yearned to answer their call, he fought against it. He was not ready.
THE HOWLING III
All that remained now was a burned-out village deep in the forest, and the ashes of things part human — and something else.
Then came a murder ... two murders... and Malcolm, the strange boy with wild green eyes..
And the reawakening of an unearthly terror that no one could quite forget.

Set in La Reina County, Southern County a year after Drago village was burnt to the ground at the close of Return Of The Howling. In true 'when animals attack' tradition, some of the werewolf clan escaped the massacre including their leader, Derak, the sex mad Luna and 15 year old Malcolm who had yet to achieve full transformation and was unaware of what set him apart from other people. Echoes is the tragic story of the fledgling werewolf's progress. After surviving some weeks in the mountains, the feral boy gets clamped in an illegal bear trap which all but amputates his leg from the knee down. Malcolm is rescued by Jones, a massive 40 year old hippie who has taken to living as a hermit on the mountain (even the werewolves and the local police have no argument with him). Jones is astonished when Malcolm's near severed leg heals itself overnight and the two become great pals, but it's doomed to be a short-lived friendship. Curly Vane and Abe Craddock, the drunken rednecks trappers, are much-miffed to find their contraption busted open and, mistaking Jones for their escaped bear as he comes crashing through the bushes, they blow his head off. Malcolm legs it, and Derak, who has been trailing the boy, springs on Vane and tears his throat out.

Malcolm is admitted to hospital where young Dr. Holly Lang befriends him and eventually brings him out of his near catatonic trance. It's soon clear that Holly's feisty relationship with Sheriff Gavin Ramsey will provide the love interest (though the only remotely decent bad sex occurs toward the end of the novel when Luna shows up). Unfortunately, sneaky, scheming Dr. Wayne Pastory guesses that Malcolm is a survivor of Drago and whisks him away to his secluded private clinic for medical tests and cattle prod brutality, the latter provided by his psychotic sidekick Kruger. Holly locates the secret lab and is about to be raped by Kruger when Derak bursts through the wall in werewolf form and tears him to pieces.

Malcolm spends the next few months wandering up and down the state, living as a vagrant and working as a rent boy until he's discovered by washed up Carney huckster Bateman Styles who introduces him to the Sampson Supershow as Grolo the Animal Boy. Grolo becomes such a star turn that he is featured in supermarket trash rag The National Expo, alerting not only Holly but Dr Pastory to his whereabouts. When Pastory strangles the kindly Styles, Malcolm/ Grolo goes berserk and finally gets to commit the kind of grisly murder he was made for. Now Derak invites him to join the clan, but has Malcolm already lived too long among humans to take him up on the kind offer? And how will the werewolves react if he rejects them?

Not having read the previous books, i can't say how this shapes up against them, but Echoes was far more comic book horror than i'd expected and a fair old page turner into the bargain. The episodic nature of it all reminded me of Ron Goulart's Vampirella novelisations although admittedly Brander's book is a sight gorier. Howling III: Echoes has certainly got me curious about the rest of the series.

Plenty for product placement fans to get excited about too. References to Jim Beam, Seagrams Seven Crown, Coors and Bud suggest Brander had invested his profits from The Howling in cultivating a Moffat-size thirst. Best pop culture reference moment concerns genial mortuary ghoul Dr. Underwood: "His biggest satisfaction in recent years had been the cancellation of Quincy, the far-fetched television show that had a choleric pathologist rushing around shouting at everyone, solving crimes, making fools out of doctors and police alike."

[David A. Riley]

"Best pop culture reference moment concerns genial mortuary ghoul Dr. Underwood: "His biggest satisfaction in recent years had been the cancellation of Quincy, the far-fetched television show that had a choleric pathologist rushing around shouting at everyone, solving crimes, making fools out of doctors and police alike." "

Surprised he didn't mention Quincy's ability to get nubile new girlfriends every episode who were young enough to be his granddaughters!

David

[Johnlprobert]

Surprised he didn't mention Quincy's ability to get nubile new girlfriends every episode who were young enough to be his granddaughters!

That never influenced my career choice as a lad at all, oh no

[David A. Riley]

[David A. Riley]

Apologies if that last post blinded anyone!

[David A. Riley]

Though, if it did, the apology was wasted.

[Johnlprobert]

That post looks as if it belongs in one of the 60s Mesmerism movies!

[Johnlprobert]

Btw, to bring this back on topic - I bought all three Howling books when this one came out & I can't say I rate Mr Brandner at all, really. In this one there's a blatant 'oh my God I haven't put any tits in this yet!' scene towards the end!

[dem bones]

i thought that was the best bit. Good for Luna. is she the one in the first film who orders a rare burger at the end? One thing that surprised me was that Mr. Brander's handling of pathos. After reading The Brain Eaters i'd not really have thought that was his strong point but Echoes is really quite sad in places.

[Johnlprobert]

Marsha orders a burger at the end of the first film, but don't forget the film has very little resemblance to the book (the film is MUCH better) and Brandner was very upset with it.

Then Brandner himself 'tried' to write the screenplay to Howling II and at least this time the movie & the book were similar in that they're both awful, with the movie being the worse waste of time.

One may ask why I've seen / read all these things if I find them so dreadful, but this being Vault I know you don't need to

[andydecker]

Then Brandner himself 'tried' to write the screenplay to Howling II and at least this time the movie & the book were similar in that they're both awful, with the movie being the worse waste of time.)

I totally forgot this. :)That he wrote it. A truly trash gem. The best is still the montage at the end where sybill daning is ripping her top off. Again. and again I remember after seing it I was thinking that that went to hell fast. Another of the movies I guess Sir Lee isn´t so proud of.

[rob4]

well Brandner really tries hard to shoe horn well known horror tropes together in this one. there's a hippie in the woods who befriends the 'monster' - not blind though! trigger happy yokels, lost memories, a creepy doctor who wants to experiment on werewolf boy, the cruel tormenting assistant who gets his just reward (no not Igor). Then the second half of the book takes a turning down Tod Browning alley and we are thrown full tilt into the travelling fairground milieu. so practically no originality here whatsoever. but hey it's pulp fiction and I still quite enjoyed it in between my groans of recognition. Could have done with more of Luna though

[mattofthespurs]

Jun 12, 2010 9:19:15 GMT Johnlprobert said:

Btw, to bring this back on topic - I bought all three Howling books when this one came out & I can't say I rate Mr Brandner at all, really. In this one there's a blatant 'oh my God I haven't put any tits in this yet!' scene towards the end!

As did I, but as a 14 year old. I knew where to get my horror porn.