My Review of Stowe Away by Mark Leslie

Karen’s Review

This is the second in the series, although it felt more like a prequel. It is billed as book 2, an explanation at the back describes it as book 1.5. The next book is Fear and Longing in Los Angeles, which I will be reading next.

Stowe Away is a small novella, and I enjoyed it. A page turner as the unexpected adventure began.

Michael, is a successful author who transforms to a werewolf when the moon is full. As a human, this gives him heightened senses. I enjoyed this aspect as it gave more depth to the story. Michael’s actions and interpretations of people become a lot more interesting.

It starts with Gail, his ex girlfriend, who he still has strong feelings for, contacts him to say she’s had to fly out to be by the bedside of a sick uncle, who appears to be on death’s door. We met Gail in A Canadian Werewolf in New York, where she comes to him for help as her fiancé had gone missing. Now she is alone and upset and Michael’s instinct is to go and support her.

He can only take a train because of his lack of a passport. Here is where the adventure begins. Not only does he have the dilemma of knowing he’ll still be aboard when the moon is full and he’ll change to a werewolf, but he meets Bridget. She is a young girl in peril who is being pursued by an angry friend of her fathers. It was an interesting sojourn to the story.

Although I enjoyed the Michael and Bridget storyline as that was the main part of the book, I felt it was incomplete because it didn’t return to the beginning, and finish where it started with Gail. 

As with A Canadian Werewolf in New York, the author had a whole chapter dedicated to the writing of Stowe Away and of the series. It’s a fascinating insight for readers like me who enjoy knowing more about the history and the inspiration behind the writing of a book.

I would give this three stars, which would have been four had the story been fully complete.

 

Description

HOW DO YOU KEEP AN INNOCENT CHILD SAFE FROM A PREDATOR WHEN YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE BEAST THAT ASSUMES CONTROL OF YOU?

A train bound for Vermont leaves Manhattan at 11:35 AM. It takes approximately 9 hours to arrive. Sunset at the arrival destination occurs at 8:20 PM. How does Michael Andrews, a man on that train who is afflicted with a werewolf curse, resolve the fact that the math just doesn’t work out in his favor? Or in favor of the young girl who is trapped, and cornered?

Michael’s unequivocal desire to help usually thrusts him into the middle of tight spots. And though he has never been good at math, he is consistently good at compounding the peril in his day. On an urgent and last minute trip to help a dear friend in need, he finds someone else to help along the way.

Can Michael figure out how he’ll be able to protect his young, innocent traveling companion as she tries to make her own cross-country escape from the predator who relentlessly stalks her? And does this curious child hold her own answers that can, in turn, help Michael?

In a tale that has been described as Logan meets Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Mark Leslie has crafted a thrill-ride that explores Michael Andrews, Alpha Wolf and Beta Human as he embarks on a life-altering road trip that sends him hurtling towards his own psyche as it brings him miles away from his familiar home territory.