The Wehrwolf

A Short Story

By: Alma Katsu

Narrated by: Jim Boeven

Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Alma Katsu, the visionary author of The Fervor, The Hunger, and The Deep, brings readers a terrifying short story about monsters among men—and the thin lines that divide them.

Germany, 1945. In the waning days of World War II, the Nazis have been all but defeated. Uwe Fuchs, never a fighter, feels fortunate to have avoided the front lines as he cared for his widowed mother.

But Uwe’s fortune changes when Hans Sauer, the village bully, recruits him to join a guerilla resistance unit preparing for the arrival of Allied soldiers. At first, Uwe is wary. The war is lost, and rumor has it that Hans is a deserter. But Hans entices him with talk of power, brutality, and their village’s ancestral lore: werewolves.

With some reluctance, Uwe joins up with the pack and soon witnesses their startling transformation. But when the men’s violent rampage against enemy soldiers takes a devastatingly personal turn, Uwe must grapple not only with his role in their evil acts but with his own humanity. Can he reclaim what this group of predatory men has stolen from him?

Or has he been a monster all along?

©2022 Alma Katsu. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, In., all rights reserved.

Scary & Real

This is a work of fiction.

However once you start to listen and I mean listen, it becomes a message from our past of how easily humans can & are transformed into Monsters.

There is so much to absorb in this short novel. The afterwords made a huge impression!

Listen/Remember

A bleak look at human nature

I believe I got this from prime reading, which also made the audio available, so I have it a go.

In continuously shrinking Nazi Germany, 1945, the arrival of Allied soldiers is all but guaranteed. Uwe just seeks to keep his town safe, so when the town’s bully, Hans, offers him the ability to protect his family, as well as grow powerful, the allure is too great to say no.

In a short story that apparently follows the typical styling of the author (this is a first for me from them) we see the true transformation between man and monster. What drives man to evil, and how sometimes the transformation isn’t all that difficult. Everyday citizens turn into monsters, in this one, literal werewolves. In no time, regardless of what ‘skin’ they’re wearing, the transformation is permanent.

Personally a 4/5* for me. The German accent for the narration was great.

A cautionary tale for our times

A great story and a great listen. A reminder that if we fail to learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. It serves as a reflection on our times, failure to head the voices of compassion and care, anyone can be a monster.

Enjoyable short story.

I really enjoyed the narrator. I think he did a great job. I also enjoyed the story. It has a fast enough pace and kept me interested throughout.

Excellent story and narration

I'm not into historical fiction, and anything around the World Wars bores me to absolute tears. It's the most overdone and nauseatingly dull time period in historical fiction. I have two books preordered that will be out tomorrow, so I wanted something short. Alma Katsu gets recommended to me often. I figured I would pass the time with this.

With expectations about as low as they could get, I am beyond thrilled at how good this novella was! The war was barely window dressing to the story, and didn't punch the reader in the face with its "message." (Yes, nazis bad, ho hum ho hum...) The author's note at the end about 6 January was more relevant to the plot. THANK YOU, ALMA KATSU!

This is a classic story of good versus evil, who decides which is which, and what lines need to be crossed (or avoided) for a person to believe they are still right.

Chilling Tale of Monsters

This was a chilling story set in WW II Germany about how ordinary men can become monsters literally and figuratively. A good man who is a farmer and loves his family is drawn into something that spirals out of control. You can feel the tension in the air throughout the story. Very well done and the author’s note is a reminder that humans can become the worst monsters of all. I listened to this on audio and the narrator read this in an attempted German accent that needs work.

Enjoyed the twist on the werewolf lore

This one was great, my first Alma Katsu read. I enjoy werewolf lore and this one had woven in some nice twists. It was quick and enjoyable, fairly well paced, and I didn’t see the solution until it happened (although I probably should have, but there were other well-crafted distractions to hide the ball better). Really great read and listen, as the performance was also very well done. Highly recommend this one.

Are we doomed to repeat History?

How easy and right things can seem when we forget the truths of history. How many of us will hate our neighbors in the name of religion, party, or color? Look in the mirror.

Love this.

I'm a huge fan of seeing history from different eyes. I also adore when (especiallyhorror) authors use alternative mythologies to tell now common stories.

The narration is brilliant (it must be said that German is not an accent that I do) I will be stalking both this author and this narrator 🐺😉

Nicely Done!

Great story! The narrator was fantastic. I really enjoyed the journey. Plus, I’m a huge fan of werewolf stories. This did not disappoint.

This story could be the US in the modern world if those psycho hillbillies had taken over the Capitol on Jan. 6.