Release: October 1

GOOD DOGS is not "just" a Horror Spooky, though the Horror is inventive and frighteningly implacable! Also this novel is a philosophical and existential examination of the nature of humanity, as viewed through a disparate collection of individuals who primarily have only one aspect in common: the Change. Not each month, but a few times each year, these folks lose their human nature to become wolf-creatures overnight, for about three consecutive nights, with humanness returning each morning. From an elder, through mid-age, to a late adolescent, each with divergent backgrounds, these intermittently shapeshifting humans must work through life both as humans, and as unthinking instinctual creatures of the night.

Good Dogs by Brian Asman is one engaging werewolf horror story!
His writing is just incredible. And I was honestly engaged from the very beginning.
A fascinating book that combines horror of the supernatural and the very real.
An excellent story!

Thank You NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy.

If you only know Brian Asman from reading Man, Fuck This House you are doing yourself a disservice. The man can WRITE. Good Dogs is my new favorite werewolf book. It's an interesting take on the werewolf mythos, emphasizing the importance of found family. Dangers both supernatural and human abound, with lots of tension and incredible action scenes. Easy 5 stars

Brian Asman is a time wizard, sprinkling magic this way and that as his words hit the page, and by time wizard I mean he transported me back in time with this here book and made me feel like I was a kid again, reading their first horror book, mind blown completely open, jaw not so much on the floor as off the face. The wonder and joy and the excitement, they hit me like that Mack truck Coach Conrad's mama supposedly drives.

There's The Howling and there's Mongrels. Now, now there's Good Dogs.

This started with such potential. A story from the werewolves point of view and some very fun, innovative ideas. However it felt like they went from beasts to pups when trouble hits.
As the story progressed I lost connection with the story as it felt like too much unnecessary back story and internal thinking. I found myself rolling my eyes and mumbling aloud to get the action going.
There were some great aspects of the book with characters and relationships that felt genuine, a gripping opening scene, and a unique take on the werewolf lore

WHOA, GOOD DOGS is a riveting creature feature that packs a powerful punch. Asman masterfully presents a unique perspective on the classic werewolf tale, infusing it with heartfelt horror and a compelling character-driven plot. At its core, this debut novel is a captivating exploration of found family, showcasing the author's talent for storytelling. While the story centers around werewolves, it delves deeply into the human experience, offering relatable and poignant moments as the characters grapple with their uncontrollable nature and the resulting feelings of guilt and shame.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Good Dogs by Brian Asman. All opinions are my own.

"No one ever said it was easy being a werewolf."

Our main character Delia and her "landlord" Hirsch have created a family of werewolves that follow rules to keep their secret and themselves safe. One night upon changing, even with all the safeguards in place, one of the family has brought back a severed limb from the hunt. This sets in motion a journey to save the family that will not end well. They head to a lone, empty town to escape possible discovery. This town has its own secrets and holds danger they cannot even fathom.

I enjoyed the found family aspect of this story, even though some of the characters don't seem to get along as well as others. I do enjoy a good werewolf story. The story jumps from one problem for the group to a much bigger problem in the wilderness where they go to what they think is a safe space. Creepy, atmospheric, last man standing vibes in the forest. Good backstory of the town. Gory action scenes. I gave it a solid 4 star. Good Dogs will be available at all major book retailers on October 1st. Happy Reading!!

Werewolf horror has never been my first choice so going in I was a bit hesitant. It’s mostly a slow burn in the beginning with lots of family dynamics and bickering. Interspersed within this background plot Asman pitches a few flashbacks that lay the groundwork for the antagonist.

The book revolves around a ragtag group of werewolves who are suddenly uprooted following a rough night out. They head out into no man’s land and uncover an even worse evil.

I don’t typically like blending horror tropes but I enjoyed this one. It’s not over the top with the typical werewolf-isms and I really liked the other supernatural aspect and its lore.

The characters are dimensional and didn’t feel overly cliche. The dialogue never felt corny or leaned too hard into the werewolf trope. It was a fun read.

The ending felt a bit convenient at times but Asman delivers on some gory scenes and action. I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good werewolf book or even just a slow burn creature feature.

Who's afraid of a big bad wolf? Brian Asman's debut novel Good Dogs from Blackstone Publishing turns that question on its head and suggests it’s the wolves who have something to fear.


I find it fitting that I first cracked this volume during September's supermoon/harvest moon/partial lunar eclipse. Or perhaps not, as the novel quickly educates the reader, the real world of werewolves ain't like the movies and the lunar cycle holds no sway over them. The wolf curse is nothing more than a genetic lottery, bites don’t turn you, but silver will do a number on a werewolf. Good Dogs is a story about outcasts, found family, and the struggle to survive in a world you have to hide yourself from. Equal parts Near Dark and The Howling, the book follows Delia, a werewolf, and the crew of similarly afflicted weirdos that are her pack. All were taken in and given shelter by father figure and pack leader Hirsch. The family live peacefully on a large property just outside of San Diego. The pack consists of Delia’s lover Naughton, the irritating internet bro Joey, the misanthropic heavy metal outcast Linnae, and the live-laugh-love hippy Baby Girl.


The novel bit into me, pun intended, from the first few pages. Asman sets the stage over a century prior with a gripping, tense prologue that follows a lone mother protecting her children besieged by howling snarling lupine attackers one snowy night in 1857. Having read Asman’s bizarro-lite WTF haunted house novella, Man, Fuck This House, I was more than a little excited to dive into his first full-length novel. I expected the unexpected. Good Dogs is a different animal, darker, and far more serious. Asman can juxtapose ordinary domesticity with the deadly, grim and often darkly humorous. The Hirsch wolfpack, for all their rough edges and interpersonal hostilities, are just like any other family. This family just happens to rely on radio shock collars to keep them from leaving their property line some nights, lest they eat the neighbors.


That’s really where the trouble starts in Good Dogs, after a “night out,” our lycanthropic cast awakens to discover that during the night one of them attacked a human being and brought home leftovers. With a murder to cover up, the pack goes on the run. It should all be okay though, because Hirsch has a plan. He’s purchased an abandoned ghost town named Talbot and intends for it to be their new home. It's so isolated that their wolf-selves could run free without stumbling upon anyone to snack on. Hirsch sends most of the family out to set up the new digs while he and Naughton stay behind to dispose of the remains from the prior night’s transgressions.


The werewolf protagonists are deeply lovable, and flawed, each burdened with trauma. Repression is a recurring theme here, most of the werewolves carry guilt and shame about the deeds of their night selves, the family lost, and the pain they’ve endured. They live their lives trying to restrict and deny the lupine part of themselves. It’s a delightfully flexible metaphor likely to strike a chord with anyone who has ever felt like they just don’t belong in the “normal” world. There’s something more than a little punk rock in the group ethos of this ragtag group of survivors and the strength they derive from one another, despite the dysfunction. There’s freedom in being known and understood. There’s freedom in family. But the ultimate freedom so many of them lack is self-acceptance.


When Delia, Linnae, Joey, and Baby Girl arrive in Talbot, we learn that they’re not the only nor the scariest thing in this ghost town, and their problems are much bigger than any of them expected. Lars, the closest thing to a neighbor Talbot has, catches the wolfpack on the side of the road in their day forms and warns them about something in the abandoned town that makes people disappear. What kind of horror novel would it be if our heroes heeded the warning? Besides, they don’t have much choice. As the wolves wait in Talbot for their leader to return, they change night after night and wake up every morning with rising suspicions there was some truth to the legends and stories surrounding Talbot. Speaking of Talbot, Good Dogs is full of genre callouts, and fun easter eggs. Locations like Kessler Circle, and the town of Talbot made my horror-loving inner wolf howl with delight. (If you don’t get those references, consider this homework!)


Sure to feed your appetite for the grim and gruesome, Asman pulls off a kill scene with skill that makes sure every slash is felt. He takes great care in giving each murder scene a sort of symmetry. He threads in a heavy dose of backstory where we learn each victim's hopes and frustrations in the moments leading up to their demise. Yes, Asman delivers the gore and monsters. He details it all with the richly and satisfactorily macabre language you’d expect from a horror novel but what gives each kill that added impact is the way he links the victim’s desires to their final moment. No death is cheap here and the effect is suffocating and horrific. The history of Talbot is fleshed in interludes that cut into the main narrative, each narrator allows Asman to flex a little as he adopts a different voice for each entry, my favorite of the lot being the 1930s wise guy.


Good Dogs is exactly the kind of book you want to read this Halloween season, and I suspect the folks at Blackstone felt the same as they’ve decided to unleash the beasts on the world on October 1st.

I read Good Dogs by Brian Asman with my reading buddy, Kizzy. She's a rescue Dobie. I fell in love with this ragtag group of good werewolves. This is a heartwarming tale with teeth. There is still tons of action and violence. These scenes are well-balanced with the character development. This book will also break your heart. All of the werewolves both struggle and embrace their nature. Which means moving to an abandoned town to avoid killing people or being found out. There is a reason that Talbot, California, is a ghost town.

Even though all of the characters are adults, it feels like a coming-of-age novel. Each character is missing something from their lives because of what they are. They find meaning in their pack and through their trials together. This novel shows you can choose your family if your birth ones aren't the greatest. Friends can be your family and will be there no matter what. I highly recommend preordering this!

Was so excited to get approved for an ARC of Brian Asman's upcoming werewolf novel, Good Dogs! A fresh take on werewolves, where the werewolves aren't even the villain/monster! This was actually a touching story about found family. There were some pretty epic battle and death scenes, and flashbacks to the town's earlier days. The only thing I wish we had learned is how each of our pack came to be, how they became werewolves, or maybe they were born that way? (Maybe I missed it? 😬😅) It isn't my personal favorite Asman, but definitely worth reading! 🐺

“Good Dogs,” by Brian Asman

Book about a pack of werewolf shifters who are just trying to survive despite being werewolves which leads them to a new home where mysterious disappearance happens often. I thought it was a good book. Lots of characters, a bit too much for me, it makes the POV’s confusing. It was also on the slow side but had an interesting plot. 3 out of 5 stars.

-Werewolves
-Multi POV

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

A horror novel about werewolves where the werewolves aren't the monster?!

This is a slow burn novel, emphasis on slow. It was well past the 60% mark before the action starts to pick up. Though, when it does it goes to 11 quickly- chaos ensues and the body count rises. However, by this point I was more than a little bored and found none of the characters to be likable so I didn't actually care what happened to any of them. Overall disappointed with this one.

Some things I did like:
- The concept of werewolves and the change in this book was unique and interesting.
- I liked how Asman showed how traumatic and isolating the change was for each of them.
- As mentioned before I liked the concept of the main cast being werewolves/monsters but not being THE monster.
- The author did a brilliant job of creating different voices for different characters- I was actually quite blown away by this.

Things I didn't like:
- The flashbacks to the town- they didn't add much for me and only seemed to draw out an otherwise already slow going story
- I never connected to any of the characters, honestly I pretty much hated them all and they seemed to all hate each other too. There was really no one to root for.
- The monster- I just don't really "get" it.

This one was not for me, but that shouldn't stop you from trying. If you like slow burns, werewolves, or creature features this one might be for you!

GOOD DOGS is a creature feature with one hell of a bite, Asman has crafted a refreshing take on the werewolf narrative in this heartfelt horror, character driven, propulsive plot and found family at its core make this a fantastic first length novel for the author. Although this is a werewolf book it is predominantly human in nature, there is plethora of relatable and sincere moments as the wolves grapple with guilt and shame over the uncontrollable aspect of their nature. For readers who appreciate flawed and idiosyncratic characters, dysfunctional found family tropes,  unconventional heroes, and the writing style of Stephen Graham Jones I highly recommend this!

At the end of the synopsis is the line the "pack aren't the only ones with a Savage bite". Brian Asman takes a story of werewolves trying to live a normal life while running free at night, and adds in a whole other creature feature and it works. Classic story of hunter becoming the hunted. My absolute favorite part, though is every character seems to named after a character in a werewolf movie. Loved the references I caught, wonder which ones I didn't!

Informed by werewolf legend and folklore, Brian Asman spins a beastly horrific tale of bloody reckoning, found family, and resurrected hope in his debut horror novel, Good Dogs. This creature feature is adapted to play out in ink instead of film, so readers beware…trespass very carefully. A monster is slumbering within the pages, and should it be disturbed, death itself will be on the hunt to sate a fathomless appetite for blood and vengeance…

Hirsch, Naughton, Joey, Delia, Emily, and Linnae have all enjoyed a semi-normal existence in the suburbs of Sandiego, California, but that illusion of normality is abruptly cleaved in two because of the conspicuous appearance of a severed human limb in the front yard of their shared home after a night out as their wolf selves. With only snatches of memory to work with, they all try to get a leg up (HA!) on solving the murder mystery and covering up their crimes, but they deduce that rapid evacuation may be the only viable solution to avoid detection and impending extermination. Hirsch confesses to having thought about this possibility before and buying some abandoned property in Talbot for a suspiciously good price. But Talbot, California has none of their accustomed creature comforts. It is haunted by the past, isolated from the present, and inhabited only by a rare person…or creature. The entire pack flees to this location in the hopes of starting over, but they only succeed in stirring up more danger in a wild and unforgiving place. Something is monstrously wrong in Talbot, and their survival will depend on embracing their more animalistic instincts, which they have doggedly tried to muzzle while living their domesticated lives.

I loved this book! I’m a sucker for slasher type horror, which this book definitely delivers on. The pacing is slower to begin with, but things quickly start to heat up once that pesky leg makes an appearance. I really adored the pack dynamics since it is basically a dysfunctional and clunky found family that can’t stand each other but also can’t live without one another--so relatable! I found it so interesting that the lycanthropy condition is a genetic mutation in the human genome, not some infection from a bite or attack. I kind of wanted more information on that, but that’s just me being a mega science geek and a sci-fi girlie. Some of the sentence structure was a bit awkward, but that detracts nothing from a thrilling story. Delia was the star of the show, in my opinion. I loved her character growth, and though she really struggled at times, she never failed to rise to any challenge, whether that be wrangling the unruly youngsters within her family or fighting literal monsters. The werewolves are surprisingly good guys this time, and I was cheering them on in their dog-eat-dog world! I definitely recommend this book, especially to Stephen Graham Jones or BROM readers, and I will be looking out for more books by this author!

Thank you so much Net Galley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC and the opportunity to share what I think! All opinions are my own. I will be posting this review on my Goodreads and Instagram accounts.

In his debut novel. Brian Asman brings a little Mongrels and a little Outsiders to create a creature feature with chaos and charm in equal measure. Good Dogs has some of the features of a coming-of-age horror story, but really finds purchase embracing found family elements. Even when they bicker and disagree, our group of lovable (okay, maybe not all the time) lycans worms its way into your reader's heart, and setting that stage early and often pays dividends when everything goes off the rails. A fun and heartfelt addition to werewolf horror that doesn't skimp on the viscera.

Asman balances a brutal bite with a bleeding heart in this fresh take on the werewolf mythos.

This is Asman’s first full-length novel, having previously published a number of novellas. In one way I can see how this story might have been well-served as a novella, but by committing to the longer format it gave him more room to plumb the depth of his cast of characters and add a good deal of pathos to a simple, bloody plot. I appreciated the extra dimensions to the characters, each member of our pack having their own hang-ups and traumas that they brought to the group dynamic. They were all interesting, and while you could see the skeletons of the archetypical characters found in any given horror/slasher Asman did a decent job adding enough meat to the bones to make them all feel interesting, instead of just generic, enough so that I felt emotionally invested in all of them. Sometimes it did feel like mini exposition dumps to give us any given character’s backstory, it wasn’t always smooth or organic. It very much felt like, “Here is this character, and how they stand out from everyone else. OK, now, here is this character….” and so on. So, there was a little bit in the execution that felt heavy-handed, but the resulting characters were still engaging. The world building was decent enough, giving us a glimpse into what kind of world these characters have found themselves in and created for themselves, given their situation. I am always interested in tweaks or interesting takes on the werewolf mythos, and Asman does play with it here. We are kind of hampered by the ignorance of the characters, so there is more about what it means to be a werewolf in this world that we don’t know, but I appreciated the spin on a common story.

The writing was solid, pushing the narrative forward at a good clip, not too flowery but also not dry or boring, with convincing, natural dialogue. The pacing was nice, with a few interludes flashing back to the history of the land they were on, each of which adopted a writing style/vernacular particular to the time-period of that interlude, which felt a little cheesy but also a fun little addition, at the same time. These didn’t really add anything to the narrative other than ambiance, but they were strategic in breaking up the pacing in such a way to keep you invested in what was happening. The narration stays primarily with one character’s POV, only jumping around a little here and there. On one hand this makes sense, navigating equally between five or six characters might have been a little dizzying. On the other hand, I would have liked to spend more time with the secondary/supporting characters. That would have allowed us to learn about them with less heavy-handed info dumps and could have rounded out the depths of this found family story. Because, at its heart, that is what this story is. A bunch of misfits have found each other out of necessity and are now tested in how far they will go to protect not just each other but what they have created together. I felt like we were told about the importance of this found family more than we felt it, and more time with the secondary characters might have really deepened that experience.

I had fun reading this novel, and it felt like all the pieces were there. It had a simple but engaging plot, interesting characters, some brutal action scenes, a relatable world permeated with the need to feel safe and protected, and a lot of heart underneath the blood. That said, it did feel like it was missing something, like the volume was a little muted. I don’t know if this is the result of someone more accustomed to writing novellas taking their first venture in the novel space, or something else, but I consistently felt like this story was on the verge of being really great and just falling a little short. Again, though, this is a werewolf story with heart that was a joy to read. It is an exploration of relationships and loyalties, of tragedies and determination, and I didn’t want to put it down, the writing and plotting strong enough to pull me from one chapter to the next.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

(Rounded from 3.5)

Brian Asman novels are always a good time, and Good Dogs is no different! Really engaging werewolf horror, and the human aspect of it all. The only thing dragging this down from five stars to four for me is that... I would have loved for the whole thing to be about the family from the prolonged chapter. It hooked me so deeply, and I was beyond invested in Esther - so much so that when it became clear that the book would depart from her in favor of different people, it soured me on them a bit. I had a hard time getting past the desire to make it all about the McKauvers. So I guess you could say that, in my opinion, this book's fatal flaw was having a prolonged that was too good.

A creative take on the werewolf story that is centered on family and the importance of finding your people. Or, your pact. I really loved Delia as a main character and I could read a whole other book about her.

I loved the group dynamic and how different everyone was. It’s like The Breakfast Club, but for werewolves.

This story really packs a punch and will leave you howling at the moon for more.