Wolves

By: D. J. Molles

Narrated by: Christian Rummel

From the best-selling author of the Remaining series...

They took everything - killed his wife, enslaved his daughter, destroyed his life. Now he's a man with nothing left to lose...and that's what makes him so dangerous.

Ten years after the collapse, Huxley has built a good life again. He has a loving wife, a farm with fields of golden barley, and a daughter with a strange and wonderful gift. Then the slavers come. Working out in the fields during the attack, Huxley returns too late. His daughter has been taken, and his wife is bleeding out, her last whispered words about a man with a scorpion tattoo on his neck.

Where do the slavers go? Huxley has no idea. He knows only that they head east, and so will he, setting out on foot across the desert of the Wastelands. Eighteen months into his journey, he has no hope of ever seeing his daughter alive. Dying of thirst in the open desert, he doesn't even expect to see another day.

Then a man appears out of the desert and offers Huxley water from his canteen, an unheard of kindness in these savage times. Jay is an odd man, full of violence and guided by his hatred of the slavers, but he helps Huxley survive. And he gives Huxley a new purpose: Nothing can bring back the dead, but the two men can chase down the slavers and make them bleed.

Together Huxley and Jay carve a path of destruction across the remains of a once-great land. The slavers are brutal, but they have no idea what's coming for them. Huxley has found something to live for again: blood and vengeance.

In his most powerful work yet, New York Times best-selling author D. J. Molles delivers a carefully woven novel of violence and redemption, bringing to life a devastating portrait of a man pushed to the edge of his own humanity.

©2015 D. J. Molles (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

The Unforgiven times 100.

This has gone up to the top 3 favorite books of all time. The narration was fantastic.

The story, the best way to describe the story is this. The last 5 minutes of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, but over and over. It was an amazing story of revenge, triumph, and inner reflection. I know, sounds goofy, but i loves this book. I'll be listening to it many more times.

Painful story. Dark. Hopeful.

So I usually don't dig stories where the breakdown of society means everyone turns to raving cruelty. I just finished The Last Tribe, and recommend it if you want read a counterpoint novel of how it could be. But that said, this story was transformational. It's been a long time since a bevel brought tears to my eyes, but this one did.

Suffer through it. You'll be glad you did.

the payoff in the end boosted it up a star

I came into this book a fan of D.J. Molles’ The Remaining, zombie post-apocalyptic thriller. I admit that I prefer zombies in my post-apoc fiction, or at least some kind of monster. The trope of humans are the real monsters is good to a point, but if too often gets tired. I don’t really care as much about the post-apoc stories where people are all bad because what else are they going to do to survive? There’s quite a bit of that in this book, with our main character crossing some lines that even for him makes him wonder if he can ever get back. I get it, though, his life has been really hard. The story starts out with his wife killed and his daughter taken by slavers.
Even with this setup where he’s lost his family, it took a long time for me to really care. That could be because the book, for a long time, is a kind of depressing, grimdark static. I doubted early on if I could finish, because hour after hour was our main man Huxley crossing the desert from one town to the next, crossing new lines of revenge against those who harbor the slavers. The plot of revenge with each chapter a new multiple of the previous events got old right away, and didn’t get much better until well toward the end.
In the end, Molles rewarded the effort with some strong emotional scenes, and while I’m surprised I stuck with it–mostly out of curiosity for if there would be a payoff, and there was–I think I would still read another book in this series. I don’t know if there is enough there for that, but the place we find ourselves in the end is a much better example of what I like to see in my post-apocalyptic stories.
This story has me questioning what exactly I look for in post-apocalyptic fiction, because this plays out very closely to what I can see happening. It’s not some glorious adventure of Wal-Mart shopping with a shotgun, but rather seeing loved ones hurt and killed, possibly killing simply because you want their beer…not that I would, but one character does, and in that moment Molles convinced me that yes, people could turn into that kind of monster.
Maybe this book was a little too real for me. And for too long. As I said above, there is a payoff. I just wish there wasn’t so much time spent enduring the struggle before the release. As I wrestled with three versus four stars, with three being justified by the 18 hour book where I really enjoyed only a small percentage…but it’s written well, and the feeling is authentic, and the way he punched in the climax deserves at the least a four star.
The narrator is one of my favorites, and certainly fits with the feel of a man becoming a wolf in a world full of wolves.
*Thank you to Audible Studios for another enjoyable audiobook.

Dark, gritty, and probably a taste of our future.

I am a huge fan of DJ Molles and his Remaining series, and have been waiting for his next book. It is a dark story with very little feel good moments. A great exploration of the devil in us all and how far we will go for revenge. Terrific job by Christian Rummel narrating. Give it a listen, you won't be disappointed.

Great narrator can't save mediocre story

What did you like best about Wolves? What did you like least?

The narration was spot on; Christian Rummel does a fantastic job.

My least favorite thing was the story itself; it is grit and testosterone and pain-porn nearly 100% of the time. Some people may like that but I found it tiresome.

What could D. J. Molles have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Self-torment to an extent is fine, but we don't want to wallow in it. Give us something else to work with besides desperation and grit and pain.

Which character – as performed by Christian Rummel – was your favorite?

Since we spent the most time with Huxley I'll go with that. Even then, Christian did a great job alternating between Huxley's inner monologue and spoken dialog: an impressive feat.

Could you see Wolves being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Certainly, it could even be quite good. I'd cast Norman Reedus as Huxley.

Any additional comments?

I made it all the way through, but it was a struggle. If you're looking for a fairly one-dimensional story that runs on pain, desperation, blood, and testosterone, you might enjoy this. I did not.

Great book

Great narration by a talented reader. A story line that keep me interested. Also a great writer that has always keeps me wanting more.

Grim post-apocalypse story of a haunted man

This is a gritty story of a man's struggle with his guilt and a cruel environment in a world destroyed by "sky fire" (the only description offered of a presumed nuclear war). The characters are as brutal as the destroyed world, where dog eats dog. Story elements include a mix of human slavery, primitive tools and weapons, lost loves, relentless hitmen, the self-loathing and internal struggles of the 'hero', and a missing daughter. The narration is great and the story is satisfying. Definitely recommended.

Very Intense

What would you give up for revenge? THIS story is going to make you think. It's about "Huxley," who went from modern day teacher to post-apocalyptic farmer, until a fateful day when slavers turn him into any angry vengeful man.

Great Story

Good and unique story. The narrator was a good fit for this story. The characters were developed nicely. I truly enjoyed it. My only (small) complaint is that a couple of times I thought the descriptive text could have been written better.

A story of loss, vengeance and penance..

Though starting off with a rush to blasphemy, the visceral nature ultimately pointed towards redemption.