The Moonhaven Chronicles: The Last Wolf

The Last Wolf is the first in a new pair of tales from Rob Biddulph which go under the general title of The Moonhaven Chronicles. Why should you ‘Beware the Moon’ in this adventure? Well, if you are wary of meeting a werewolf; or, of course, becoming one. The people of Moonhaven are obsessed with both these possibilities. And, in The Last Wolf, although a werewolf has not been seen for some time, there is a dawn to dusk curfew on nights of the full moon that is meant to keep people safe in their beds, where most people are happy to stay. The exception is the Moonlighters, a group of four school friends who enjoy the thrill of exploring on these forbidden nights. Inevitably, there comes a night when not only do they hear a disturbing howl but Purple, a girl who wants to be part of the Moonlighters gang, reports seeing an old man in a cage transformed into a werewolf. This is as much a detective story as a horror story and, as the children seek the truth behind the werewolf sightings, they uncover a sinister plot that involves the Nighthawks, the very police force that is supposed to protect Moonhaven from werewolves. Rob Biddulph’s tale is generously scattered with his own illustrations and moves along swiftly in short chapters, although the detective story inevitably takes a while both to set up and to unravel.