In this strong new offering from Maggie Stiefvater, the author returns to the werewolves and the world she created for her Shiver trilogy.
Cole St. Clair leaves a frigid Minnesota behind for the sunnier, harder-driving world of Los Angeles. Cole himself is harder-driving than Grace and Sam, the friends and pack members whose story dominated the Shiver trilogy. He's a famous musician, trying to stay clean after face-planting onstage from a drug overdose and spending time in Minnesota as a werewolf. In L.A., Cole searches for Isabel, the woman he loves. But Isabel, "cool and elegant as a handgun," with issues of her own, clings fiercely to an icy persona because she doesn't believe in happy endings. Cole swears to Isabel that he has come to L.A. for her. Never mind that he's also managed to land himself a six-week stint on a reality show, where he will be recording his new album in front of the world. So what's Isabel to believe? Did he really come for her? Is he sober? Is he still a wolf? Relentlessly restless, and always a player, Cole may well find a home in this sun-soaked city, but only if he can convince Isabel that their love is real.
Sinner makes a worthy followup to the Shiver trilogy, but it can also stand on its own for readers willing to believe that a bad-boy rocker in L.A. can become a werewolf. Once again, Steifvater does not disappoint. --Lynn Becker, host of Book Talk, the monthly online discussion of children's books for the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators