Thankfully, Gifune's writing style - an effective combination of visceral violence and horrifying psychosis - takes on one of my favorite aspects of horror. Like Savages, the early description for Pack Animals was a homage to the survival, late-night horror films of the 1970s and 1980s. Films like The Pack, Day of the Animals, The Howling, and Grizzly all sprang into my mind. This was the VHS market I grew up in in the 1980s and early 1990s, and I'm always searching for that same nostalgia in pop culture.
Pack Animals begins with an unknown woman arriving at a medical facility. Inside, she learns that her husband, or boyfriend, has experienced a significant trauma and now remains in a state of mental shock as his body recovers from exhaustive injuries. Inside his room, there's this heavy vacuum that seemingly sucks the hope from the room. The man is despondent and silent as he fixates on something far beyond the hospital, far beyond anything the two of them can understand.
As the book's narrative unfolds, Gifune then takes readers back to the start to explain the happenings and surroundings that have crushed the man's body and spirit. The author introduces a group of thirty-something male friends starting with Truck. He has experienced infidelity, a divorce, and a type of midlife crisis reassembling his life. He moves to an off-the-grid place nestled deep in the rural mountains of New Hampshire. Yet his peace and tranquility are shattered routinely with night visitors that hover in the treeline. Truck's defense is a shotgun, a handgun, and lots of ammunition, which sends up red flags for the tiny community. They don't trust outsiders and send one of their own to warn Truck to keep the peace.
Later, Truck's assemblage of friends arrives to spend a week with him in his newfound mountain oasis. On their drive to Truck's house, they see an old woman in a bloody nightgown walking through the forest. Later, at Truck's house, they discover there's no phone signal. This isolation becomes alarming when they find Truck's behavior unsettling. He warns the group to leave before dark, before the visitors arrive. When they refuse, Truck provides them with details on something, or someone, that he chained up in his shed. Is Truck insane, or does the darkness bring a host of Hell?
I'm careful with reviewing Gifune's work because it is subjective. Many of his novellas and full-length novels play havoc with your imagination. Many of the horrors in the author's work present themselves differently depending on the reader. However, there's no denying that Pack Animals is a monster story. The book's cover, title, and synopsis suggest a werewolvish type of reading experience, and I believe the lead into the book's release promises survival horror. But it still possesses many of the ingredients that make Gifune's writing so good.
Truck's move to the country reminds me of the events leading to Lance Boyce's move to snowy Maine in the excellent Lords of Twilight, one of Gifne's best. The disturbing arrival of the town sheriff called to mind the arrival of Bob in Gifune's equally entertaining The Rain Dancers. The idea of average individuals stranded and cold is a concept that Gifune often uses, most effectively in Midnight Solitaire. However, as much as Gifune uses his old tricks to scare us, it isn't simply a recycle. With Pack Animals, Gifune takes all of these elements and thrusts them into an action-oriented, fast-paced survival yarn that is bone-jarring horror, but equally a white-knuckled thriller. It is compared to Gifune's Savages, which is a fair comparison, but also something like Oasis of the Damned. These stories and concepts work well because they pit vulnerable, everyday people into harrowing fight-or-flight situations that push the boundaries of mental awareness and physical exhaustion.
I could write for days on Greg Gifune's work and how much of an impact he's made not only as an author, but also as an editor. It is novels like Pack Animals that remind me just how great a storyteller he is. If you are searching for an enjoyable action-oriented monster novel, pack your bags for Pack Animals. It's a trip worth taking.
Get the book HERE.
Random Notes – I jotted down a few things as I was reading the book that didn't necessarily fit the review. The sheriff's name of Leland made me think of the nefarious shopkeeper and rival of Sheriff Pangborn, Leland Gaunt, the star of Stephen King's Needful Things. There's a character mentioned at the end of Pack Animals named Maynard. This seems like a nod to Herman Raucher's classic horror paperback Maynard's House. It would be remiss of me not to say that Michael McBride's own monster novel Snowblind came to mind as well. Both Pack Animals and Snowblind should now be the high-water mark of the survival horror genre.
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