The Wolf, a Butcher, His Demon, and Their Master

The Happenstance Packs, Book 1

By: Christopher S. White

Narrated by: Khai Lannor

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

This Southern, paranormally charged, pulp-fiction thriller takes listeners through the dense woodland and harsh humidity near the Georgia/Florida border, where a ruthless police Captain brutally sustains his local empire.

Helping to enforce the Captain's will are his two proteges, Cliff Ramos and Cooper Cornelius Happenstance, known better as Coop.

Ramos is a brilliant and sadistic detective that has always felt apart from the norms of humanity.

Coop is Ramos's older, and very animalistic, mentor, whose instincts are never questioned.

Both men have the unique ability to always find trouble, and are in a constant battle with themselves to either accept the demonic urges inside them, or fight to embrace a long-lost humanity in an attempt to reclaim their souls.

But is there a way to do both?

When a bizarre murder takes place in a corporate office, Coop's daughter Sam is a potential suspect. He and Ramos are called to action, and since Ramos still longs for the days when he and Sam were lovers, he will protect her at any cost.

Who is responsible for this cleverly crafted murder? Is it Woody, Sam's estranged eco-terrorist husband and father to her child? Could it be a local Warlord, The Viking, striking back at Coop for brutally murdering most of his crime syndicate years before? Or does the trail lead closer to home, not only implicating Sam - but even Ramos and Coop?

This tale unfolds to hilarious, dark, and violent chapters of human greed, animal desires, and possibly the paranormal, as Ramos, Coop, and the Captain work to protect the people they love, while also maintaining their grip on reality, and ultimately - their sanity.

©2018 Christopher S. White (P)2021 Christopher S. White

It's interesting and kind of hard to figure out

I'm not at all sure what I just listened to but it was good?

Soo funny and good!

This is my first time reading this author and I was not disappointed! This book is funny, dark, and the characters - loved all of them. Khai was great to listen to. If you like small towns with drama, diversity and wicked funny characters...this is the book.

overall positive

the base story once you get through the set up at the beginning of the book is actually really interesting. the twist and the tie back to the beginning of the book is all very enamoring. the writing was very descriptive and honestly pretty impressive save for two things. there were very commonly interjected sexual scenes that honestly just felt out of place most times a few of them kind of set the mood and I totally got that but they just kept coming. it really broke the mood for me. and there were two points in the book where the fourth wall got broken and these also kind of interrupted the flow of an otherwise amazing moment in the book. a lot of the book was written by somebody with a clearly brilliant mind but in those moments it felt like I was reading A Series of Unfortunate Events back in high school. all in all Pleasant though the bass story really was very interesting.

love the title!

Didn't really have much of a story other then explaining how bad ass the characters were.

old pulp style

it's a very odd book with a lot of jumping around but it's the style that kind of adds to the story on repeated listen through. it's a essentially a mystery thriller with hints at super natural elements. what makes it really compelling is the characters you follow through the story. no one is exactly the good guy but more like monsters with their own goals and codes that are being manipulated to certain ends. it's a very entertaining once you get the idea of the how the story will flow and i thoroughly enjoyed it

Not Bad, Just didn't land for me.

Loved the cover art, and the title so i figured ide give it a go. after listening to this book I can honestly say It really never captured me. without spoiling the book, I felt the two main protagonists just had invincible plot armor and most interactions with anyone who stood in their way was like listening someone talk about a tank rolling through a field of flowers, you already know the tank will mow down anything in its path unscathed....unless theirs a tank mine hidden in the flowers. That being said I was kind of waiting for a tank mine the whole time. When any of the characters would make a move, The author was very descriptive & almost painted a mental picture which was nice. In closing The book didn't land for me, but if you like a dark story where the two main guys fight 2 steps ahead of everyone like they were in a shurlock Holmes movie then maybe give it a go :)

Great Book

Loved listening to this book. Dark and gruesome with the comedy to match as well.

Proceed to read with caution

It held my interest but the story was confusing to follow and didnt really seem to have a point till the very end, and even then it was lackluster. A lot of graphic violence, some that made me wince a squirm a bit and was a touch overdone but overall palatable. The amount of graphic sex was just too much, very uneeded and took away from the book, I just dont see the need to include THAT many details in this genre of writing.

Not Sure What I Listened to

I am not sure what the story actually was for this book. it seemed to start in the middle and go off on tangents that weren't really tied in. seemed like there was a lot going on that I felt I should know but the story never told. Seemed like a long advert for Toastmasters and using your thesaurus to sound smart using way more wording than what was needed. I am interested in the world that was built and felt there was a lot there but the gratuitous sex scenes and wordiness it felt like more work to get through than it should have.

Anti-hero cop story

I like Sci-fi and fantasy. This repeatedly came across my feed as "recommended" based on previous choices. There's nothing Scifi or fantasy relayed, here. Just two brutal cops doing as they please, a Captain that appreciates their skill set, gratuitous and graphic sex scenes and unlikable characters... I was more than half way through before I decided to stop torturing myself. maybe if this was a genre I liked, I'd feel differently... Maybe if the story was as supernatural as the title suggested, I would have been entertained. But I expected one thing and got another, and that's rarely a great combination. Change the name or change the marketing. Either way... these two cops and their captain seem to be versions of what many cops in recent news fantasize themselves to be ... and the news is enough. But have no fear: if you are the kind of officer that shoots first and asks questions later while finishing the cover up, then this story will have some appeal. I'd venture they get their comeuppance, but ... I can't waste my time wading through the violence and graphic sex to find out. Going to delete it, now...