Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
werewolves and murder mystery..., 29 Jan 2007
Imagine living in a world where 99.6% of the population turn into werewolves once a month, and the remaining few "barebacks" are unable to turn because they've been subtly brain-damaged at birth. This is the world that our protaganist, Lola, inhabits.
"Barebacks" are inferior, poorly paid, and drafted at 18 years old into the Department for Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activity - DORLA - to risk their lives on a monthly basis making sure the "lyco" elite keep to their curfew and don't hurt themselves. It's a pretty thankless life and for Lola it's about to get worse... a co-worker has just been murdered- shot in the head with a silver bullet - and she might just be next.
This is an well written and atmospheric read. Whitfield has a lyrical grasp of language and plenty of original metaphor. The plot is solid and an interesting twist on the "usual" werewolf-as-the-outsider. I will be keeping an eye out for more of her work.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping alternative reality, with universal concerns, 17 Aug 2006
'Bareback' is a thriller, above all; it's also a detective mystery, a deep character study, and a fully-realised alternative reality. The heroine is a scarred veteran - at 28 - of a small group of despised civil servants, conscripted into the system because they are non-werewolves. These few are charged with keeping the world functioning during moon nights, when all the normal citizens turn into wolves and start destroying things. It becomes an eerily reversed examination of discrimination, as the characters we consider to be human are universally regarded by the others, and more interestingly by themselves, as lacking something, disabled and weak. And there's also a fine awareness of the powers of bureaucracy and 'public opinion', as the hapless werewolf hunters are routinely injured and killed by the wolves, but cannot themselves risk inflicting damage without offending the ruling majority - and yet even that polarity is disturbed by Whitfield, as it becomes apparent that the non-werewolves take their revenge in numerous ways, acting as a secret police force whose power is supreme, and corruptible, in the underground prison cells.
The premise is interesting enough, then; what drives the book along, however, is a brilliant combination of detective thriller with a genuinely literary level of character development and depth. The plot rattles along with gripping speed; and our involvement in the mind of the heroine is huge. Whitfield's dialogue is utterly convincing in its qualities of miscommunication, and her heroine's flaws and weaknesses are as apparent as her strengths.
Above all, whatever your genre preferences or prejudices, 'Bareback' is worth a try: it's an extremely entertaining novel, which demands to be read at a sitting, and stays in the mind for a long time afterwards.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
great fantasy read, 26 Aug 2007
Really enjoyed this book. Sounds a bit wierd, as it was depressing in places, and the barebacks' lives sucked the big one, but the style of writing made up for it. As one reader has said, i don't know if i'll read it again as it has no happy ending as such, but would be interested in a sequel to see where the story goes next. This writer's imagination knows no bounds, certainly.
One thing though, this book is also printed as "Benighted", which i only found out when i received it and the first page was instantly recognisable as the start of "Bareback". Bit deflated, actually, as thought i'd found a sequel!
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