College senior Jackson, ‘Jacks’ to his friends, decides to go along with his roommates’ plan to spend spring break in Montréal. On their first night in town, Jacks has a little too much to drink at a party and wanders off on his own in the direction of the city’s Mont Royal park. After falling down a ravine he passes out, only to awaken the next morning in an abandoned shack in the park, in the company of the mysterious Benoit.
Benoit is dark and powerful, and it’s fair to say there’s a great deal of animal attraction between the two men. Jacks abandons his friends and spends all of his time in Benoit’s hostel, making love. When the week comes to an end, Jacks wants Benoit to come with him, but the man stubbornly refuses, even though he seems to live a vagrant lifestyle. Jacks doesn’t want to lose his new lover, but he isn’t ready to give up his old life, especially since he’s just a few weeks away from finishing his degree.
The obstinate Benoit gives Jacks a ultimatum: Meet him in the shack where they first met at midnight if he wants to be together, or never see him again. Jacks is torn, but decides to meet his lover one more time to try and convince him to come with him. Things don’t go as planned, as Benoit forces himself on Jacks and mixes their blood in a ritual that transforms the young man into a werecat, just like Benoit.
Shifter stories seem to be all the rage these days, but “Werecat: The Rearing” seems to avoid many of the clichés that abound in this genre with a truly interesting plot that takes it in unexpected directions. However, the writing didn’t quite live up to the promise of the plot. It’s certainly quite readable, but the characters really didn’t come alive for me. Jacks is sympathetic, although we don’t really learn much about him, not even what he was studying at school. The very pivotal character of Benoit is even less three-dimensional. Yes, we’re seeing him through Jacks’ eyes, but it seems like the author could have done a better job of making us understand the dynamics of the relationship a little better. Granted, this is the first of a series, but given the way this installment ends, it seems unlikely that we’ll learn any more about Benoit and what made him the way he is in future books.
The current rage for books in series poses a big challenge for authors. Within the limited space of a novelette well under 100 pages, they need to draw us into the main character and their story, which isn’t easy. Very few authors succeed at it. Given the clever plotting, I’ll be tempted to read the next installment to see where it goes.
You can find out more about the author at his web site. “Werecat: The Rearing” is available from Amazon
