Cycle of the Werewolf, by Stephen King

Cycle of the Werewolf is a story about a werewolf terrorizing the small town of Tarker's Mills. Every full moon more and more people are killed, and the book follows the tribulations of Marty Coslaw, a young boy paralyzed from the waste down, confined to a wheelchair.

The book goes between Marty’s life in the town and the werewolf killings. Marty is deeply affected by the killings and must also deal with living as a crippled boy at such a young age. A turning point in the novel is when Tarker’s Mills fireworks show for Independence Day is cancelled. Marty’s Uncle Red gets him his own fireworks because Marty has been looking forward to the show for a long time. While Marty is setting off his fireworks and having a great time, the werewolf attacks him. It’s looking bleak but at the last second Marty manages to blind the werewolf in one eye.

The police report is laughed at, the police are not looking for a werewolf, they are obviously searching for a human murderer. The atrocities committed by the werewolf continue through the summer as the full moon cycles continue.

Halloween comes around, and while Marty is trick or treating he comes across Reverend Lowe with an eye patch over the same eye that Marty blasted earlier. Marty puts two and two together and realizes who the werewolf truly is. Marty begins to write anonymous letters to the reverend asking him to kill himself and stop the madness. Marty signs the last letter he sends, and also convinces his uncle to craft 2 silver bullets. When the wolf tries to kill Marty, Marty shoots him with the silver bullets and kills him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel; King’s writing style captures the terror of Marty and the town very well. I also found it interesting that the protagonist is a crippled boy, as the book is really about how although different, Marty must overcome his disability and combat the werewolf that is hurting his town.