Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King, Illustrations by Berni Wrightson (1983)
A werewolf has killed during the full moon in the small town of Tarker’s Mills. The book is twelves chapters long, each chapter covers one month from January to December during the full moon. It isn’t until July that the reader meets Marty Coslaw, a crippled boy who gets around in a wheelchair. July is the longest chapter in the book as King sets up the ten-year-old Marty character.
Marty has an encounter Marty with the werewolf, but is the only one who encounters the werewolf and does not die. Marty loves the fourth of July, especially the fireworks. But the town leaders have canceled the fourth of July celebration because it occurs on the full moon and people are getting murdered every month during the full moon. Marty’s Uncle Al gives him some fireworks. He waits until everyone is asleep before he goes outside to set them off. He sets off the quiet ones. Then, the werewolf comes out of the woods and approaches Marty, intending to attack him. Marty lights firecrackers and throws them into the werewolf’s face, injuring its eye.
There’s the clue who the werewolf is when not in werewolf form. Marty begins searching for a man with an injured eye but many obstacles, including getting sent out of town, stand in his way.
The story shows the courage of a Marty in battling a vicious monster. It’s a quick, easy read with beautiful illustrations. You might spend more time looking at the illustrations than reading the text. This was not in the least bit scary. On the 1-to-5 scary meter, 5 being scariest, this rates a 1. But the desire to know who the werewolf is and whether he lives or dies keeps the reader interested. One finds oneself punching the air and shouting, “Yes!” at the end.
The movie Silver Bullet (1985) is based on this book. Both the movie and the book are good entertainment.