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Playing Wolf

by R

A village’s wolfish folklore shadows a family in crisis

Regular price $15.83 USD
Regular price $26.39 USD Sale price $15.83 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

A village’s wolfish folklore shadows a family in crisis

Bohumil and Bohumila leave Prague with their son hoping that a remote village will give their failing marriage a fresh start. Instead, wary locals, strange nighttime sounds and flyers tied to a wolfen fairy tale make their new home feel increasingly uncertain. When their son disappears, the couple’s search brings them face to face with the villagers’ costumed gathering and a mystery rooted in folklore. The premise combines domestic strain with an unsettling village mystery, shifting toward psychological horror as questions of danger, ritual and human nature accumulate.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • For readers of horror shaped by folklore and village secrets.
  • For readers interested in stories where marital strain intersects with a family crisis.
  • For fans of psychological horror set in an isolated community.

Themes

Marriage under strainFolklore and ritualIsolation and communityHuman nature

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A couple deep in the woods of a failing marriage find themselves the unwitting victims of a kidnapping plot after they move to a mysterious village in this distinctly poetic and disturbingly elegant horror novel for fans of Midsommar and The Witch

Husband and wife Bohumil and Bohumila, together with their son, move from Prague to a remote village with the hopes of salvaging their marriage. In the searing summer heat, they try to fit in with the villagers, only to be met with hostile stares and evasive lies. Each night, the couple hears what they suspect to be a large animal wandering around their cottage--an impression that oddly corresponds to the mysterious flyers found at the local watering hole regarding a wolfen fairytale. As inexplicable coincidences begin piling up, it's clear something sinister is afoot.

After a drunken night out, Bohumil and Bohumila come home to find the house empty: their son is gone. After three days of searching, they find the villagers in festive costumes gathered outside their cottage. Is it a bizarre game, or some perverse, folkloric ritual? Are Bohumil and Bohumila in danger? And what has happened to their son?

A dark social tale that slides inexorably towards psychological horror, Playing Wolf is a modern ballad of human destiny and discovering the animal in each of us.
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