Devil in the Countryside

Cory
Barclay
Genre: 
Mystery

Religious dissensions, political upheaval, and superstitions are alive and well in Germany in the late 1500’s, so a werewolf roaming the countryside, terrorizing livestock, women and children frightens the townsfolk but does not surprise some. An investigator sent by the Bishop to locate the culprit, a hunter bent on revenge for the death of his family, and a Priest attempting to soothe his frightened flock all go through trials alone before they are forced to work together to find the fiend. 

Based on a true account of the Werewolf of Bedburg, from 16th-century German history, author Cory Barclay has used a factual background as a starting point for his own brand of historical fiction, where he uses just enough truth to make his story plausible. The story is well written with an original plot which makes it stand out among other historical mysteries, however numerous grammatical errors sprinkled throughout the book will be caught by attentive readers. Although the descriptions are intricate they become laborious in places and the story suffers from not having a cohesively set pace. The characters are interesting in and of themselves but some seem to come into the story from out of the blue without any background information informing the reader why they are needed. “Devil in the Country Side” starts in a decent place and time but the ending just seems to stop — leaving readers searching for some kind of resolution. 

Mary-Nancy Smith