Gary Brander - Return Of The Howling

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Gary Brander - Return Of The Howling (Hamlyn, 1979)

Photography: Michael Freeman

Blurb
Three years have passed since the horror of Drago, when Karyn Beatty and Chris Halloran escaped the great fire which swept through the town, destroying all its accursed inhabitants ... except two. Karyn has built up a new life, but always at the back of her mind lies the memory of terror.

Eventually she can no longer ignore the signs that its evil is starting again. In the mountains of Mexico she and Chris are forced to a final confrontation with - The Howling.

It's three years since Drago village burned. Karyn is now 28, remarried, and hoping beyond hope that husband MK II - stockbroker David Ritchter: twenty years her senior, wears jumpers, etc - doesn't go the way of his predecessor, the late Roy Beaty. The nightmare won't leave her be. Karyn knows for sure at least one of the pack escaped the inferno as she can still hear the Howling.

To placate David, Karyn has been seeing psychiatrist Dr. Arnold Goetz who doesn't believe any of her superstitious mumbo jumbo and is encouraging her toward a rational explanation for her fears. Take this Marcia Lura woman. It is obvious Karyn would feel bitter toward her for seducing Roy. Might this be why she thinks of her as a werewolf?

Meanwhile, 900 miles away in California grape country, a glamorous couple, one of whom survived a silver bullet to the skull, are making plans for a reunion with an old friend ...

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Marcia and Roy take a bad sex break (missionary position, hardly worth Brander taking the trouble to write it). Like Karyn, the green-eyed beauty bears the scars of Drago, in her case an indelible silver streak in her long raven tresses. Far worse - she's lost the ability to transform into a werewolf. What befalls her on full moon's is so terrible that she packs Roy off gallivanting in the woods as "I would rather die than have you see the thing I become" so presumably she and that fanged pom-pom on the cover are supposed to be one and the same entity. No surprise that Marcia wants revenge. Roy makes a half-hearted case for his wife, assuring Marcia that it was nothing personal ("she couldn't have known it was you. All she saw was a wolf"), but that only lands him in the doghouse. It's vengeance or bust for Marcia Lura.

What of Chris Halloran? He and Karyn stayed together for six months after fleeing the village, or at least, "they plunged into wild sex games, hoping to dull the remembered horror", but it didn't work out. Karyn's nerves were too frazzled, the constant arguments grew unceasingly violent until one day Chris bailed for good. She's not heard from him since. Sex with David is "satisfying" if nothing special, the spider plant is coming along nicely and she's making a tidy job of her stepmother role (David's first wife died of cancer shortly after giving birth to Joey, now aged six and a big fan of Dirty Harry), but she's unfulfilled and painfully conscious of the fact. If only she could put Drago behind her!

Marcia's gypsy spies report that Katry is now living in Mountlake Terrace, Seattle. After packing their bags for the trip North, she lets Roy out for the night before the change comes upon her. Roy runs wild in the woods. A ten year old boy escapes him, so he has to make do with tearing apart a calf while it's poor mother looks on "mooing in terror." He carries away the heart for the thing that Marcia becomes to devour ....

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Marcia and Roy arrive in Mountview Terrace and immediately set phase one of operation 'Let's scare Karyn to death' in motion, in short, convince her that she's being stalked by the ghosts of Drago. Roy isn't enthusiastic about destroying his wife, but his partner keeps him onside with the promise of treats. When Karyn confides in Dr. Goetz that she's seen the pair, even heard them padding around downstairs in the house at night, he thinks that finally they might be getting somewhere: if only she can rationalise her fears, maybe they'd get to the root of her persecution complex. Meanwhile, Joey tells Mrs. Jenson the housekeeper about the face that appeared outside his bedroom window, "all scrunched up and hairy with great big teeth" (see cover again). He wasn't frightened because he knew it was only that crazy Kelly from school in a rubber mask. Mrs. Jenson advises him not to tell his mum who is under a lot of strain, especially now somebody has "murdered" all her plants, and lets him watch Charlie's Angels in return for his silence.

Marcia feels she's toyed with the enemy enough, time to put phase two into operation, namely kill Joey. While his parents enjoy a dinner date, Roy the werewolf breaks in. Armed with only an umbrella, Mrs. Jensen gallantly goes into battle. Her screams, gurgles and death-rattle arouse the neighbours, and the wolf is forced to flee into the night with his mission unaccomplished. When a witness claims to have seen a huge "dog" crashing through the window, Karyn realises it's time to move on, lure the werewolves away from her husband and stepson. She opts for a short say at her parents' place in LA, not exactly the smartest move in the circumstances, and no surprise when a psycho makes a meal of the next-door neighbour's horse on the first night of her stay.

There's nothing else for it. Karyn must swallow her pride, find the one man who can help her, Chris Halloran.

Chris is holidaying at a Mazatlan hotel with glamorous z-list actress and royal pain in the arse, Audrey Vayne. Chris is already tiring of the relationship so Karyn's arrival to play gooseberry is almost welcome, even though he rightly suspects it has something to do with bloody werewolves. Audrey, understandably, is less keen. On Karyn's first night at the hotel, an amorous waiter and his girlfriend the maid are butchered. Even Marcia is growing impatient with Roy's incompetence. How hard can it be for a wolf-man to identify the right target, especially when she happens to be his wife?

Audrey's still sulking but Karyn has found an unlikely ally in Luis Zarata, taxi driver, tour guide and part-time werewolf expert who understands the supernatural world on account of his gipsy blood. Luis introduces she and Chris to Philina, the ancient fortune teller, who lives in a remote cabin up in the mountains. Philina prophesies doom, the couple's only hope is to defeat their enemies with the same weapons they used at Drago: fire and silver.

All that is left is for Marcia to seduce the weak link in their chain, Audrey, and through her, lure Karyn to the dead Philina's shack after dark, for first-hand experience of medieval witch torture ....

I've yet to read The Howling (i'm guessing it has little in common with the film?) and, in terms of plot, it doesn't look like I need to, as much of it is recycled throughout the sequel. Even by cheap thrill pulp standards, Return of ... makes for an undemanding read. The gore count is low to negligible for a Hamlyn nasty, and the frequent sex breaks never really amount to anything spectacular. It might not be quite up there with The Brain Eaters, but Mr. Brander takes it at his usual brisk pace and the final chapters are not without moments of suspense.

[rob4]

i briefly covered the main difference between the book and the film in the american section
vaultofevil.proboards.com/thread/4487/gary-brandner-howling

other differences is that Drago is not a town in the film but a retreat for disturbed people and two of the characters do a substatial investigation into werewolf lore in los angeles. the humorous last line was a standout for me.

the second book for me was a nice brisk read but agreed that Brandner doesn't get as down and dirty with the killings as he could and the ending is not completely satisfying... i'm in the middle of Howling III: Echoes now, which returns to the area around Drago but has completely new characters.