Michael Avallone was born in New York City in 1924 and died in Los Angeles in 1999. He published under his own name and seventeen pseudonyms cranking out over 200 novels. His first novel, The Tall Dolores was published in 1953 in hardcover by the Henry Holt Company and it is the first book in the Ed Noon series. He was a prolific author who wrote in many genres including, men’s adventure, crime, espionage, gothics, horror and TV and movie novelizations. He wrote the Man from UNCLE series and the novelization of Friday the 13th part 3. He is known and celebrated for his schlocky simple prose. He was a pure pulp writer, and his books are the power chord punk of action and suspense. When they hit the mark, that is.
The Satan Sleuth series had three entries.
The Fallen Angel 1974
The Werewolf Walks Tonight 1974
Devil, Devil 1975
This review is of The Werewolf Walks Tonight and it was published by Warner Paperback Library in 1974.
Cover art by Charles Sovek
Video Review Version:
The basic premise: In a small rural town called Fletcherville, on the edge of Tennessee and Kentucky bodies have been found with their throats ripped out. Rich vigilante do-gooder Phillip St George aka The Satan Sleuth knows when the devil is at work, so he hightails over in his private helicopter to solve the case of The Werewolf Walks Tonight.
The book starts with the local church deacon hanging upside down from a tree flayed to shreds. We then meet our hero, Phillip St. George, and get a quick backstory. You can probably guess but, his wife was killed by a cult gang. He got vengeance on them in the first book and now it’s his mission to rid the world of evil. He is super rich and good looking. He is described as having dark hair with wisps of white on the side ala Dr. Strange. He is a total pulp hero vigilante.
The prose reminds me of rural Americana literature that I would be assigned to read in 9th grade. It has a Southern Gothic feel to it. Early 1900s spooky. The first similar stylistic tale that came to mind is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This unfortunately only lasts for the first chapter.
There have been legends about werewolves in Fletcherville for over a hundred years so when the killings start the local sheriff quickly claims it to be a werewolf. Phillip St George gets wind of this. He arrives and gets into his normal guy disguise so he can investigate. There are a few more killings. One of the killings happens on a farm where a beautiful and stupid young woman and her mother live. Like, yeah, she is described as dumb and extremely hot many times. In shock at the horrific scene the young woman runs off into the woods and is now missing. Unfortunately, a missed mystery opportunity as, we the reader, know she’s trapped in the cave with the beast but no one in town knows.
Phillip St George investigates at a turtle’s pace. It’s slooow. It has also has lots of filler of other people’s perspectives and them being scared or wondering what’s happening. There is a lot of talking and thinking in this.
The more I read the more I realized this was a Weird Menace type of tale. Or Scooby Doo to people of my era. The terror seems supernatural but it’s not. Phillip St George is adamant that it’s not a werewolf and it kind of sucks the fun out of it.
Overall, not very exciting and not at all what I was hoping it was going to be. Also, his purpose is so perplexing. It’s his self-appointed duty to put an end to evil doers.
He claims, “Those who use the devil to mask their enterprises would have to pay the piper for the dance they called for.”
So…he’s against people who use Satan as a cover for their nefarious deeds. What?! Satan is evil. How do you use evil to cover up your evil activities? Wouldn’t it make more sense to take people out who use Jesus as a cover for their nefarious deeds? It sounds like he’s sticking up for Satan’s good name. Also, he hunts down Satanism because he loves Jesus but also, he doesn’t believe that Satan or evil things are real. It’s baffling.
So yeah, not at all what I was expecting or wanting. How do you screw up a werewolf book where the main character is named The Satan Sleuth?? It’s all right though. We still get excited when we find Avallone books out and about because if nothing else you know it’s going to be ridiculous and usually pretty fun. Unfortunately this was not the case here.
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