The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group by Catherine Jinks

Synopsis from Goodreads.com

When Tobias Richard Vandevelde wakes up in hospital with no memory of the night before, his horrified mother tells him that he was found unconscious. At Featherdale wildlife Park. In a dingo pen.

He assumes that his two rambunctious best friends are somehow responsible, until he discovers that they're just as freaked out as he is. Then the mysterious Reuben turns up, claiming that Toby has a rare and dangerous 'condition'. Next thing he knows, Toby finds himself involved with a strange bunch of sickly insomniacs who seem convinced that he needs their help.

It's not until he's kidnapped and imprisoned that he starts to believe them - and to understand what being a paranormal monster really means.

My Review:

Even though the main protagonist in this book is a 13 year old boy, it didn't particularly feel like a YA book.

Toby wakes up one morning, butt naked in the dingo pen of the local zoo with absolutely no recollection of what happened the night before or how he ended up in the pen. He believes his friends have played a bad joke on him, but they have no clue either. Several tests at the hospital later reveal no further clues as to what went on nor an explanation for his memory loss.

When a priest and his friend, Reuben, turn up on Toby's doorstep claiming he has similar symptoms to Reuben, Toby reluctantly lets them in his house to hear their ludicrous claims - he's a werewolf. Neither he nor his mother believe them at first, but Toby is intrigued and arranges to meet Reuben later one to prove that he is lying, only Toby can't because he is starting to believe it all.

While Toby is trying to forget the whole episode, he is "arrested" by two "policemen" who don't take him to the police station at all, but out to the middle of the Australian desert and to an underground prison which leads to a werewolf fighting pit. The kidnappers intentions are clear - they intend on getting Toby to fight to the death with another teenage werewolf, but Toby has other ideas. Luckily Reuben has suspicions about what has happened to Toby and calls for reinforcements and after a long struggle to get away, even more secrets are revealed.

I thought this book was hilarious in places - the sarcastic, childish at times, comments from Toby and his friends kept me quite amused! I would have liked to see Toby actually turn into a werewolf, but that didn't happen - maybe in the next book?

I did receive this book free from NetGalley and would like to thank the publishers for allowing me to review this book honestly.