evocative cover art

[asa left]0061430226[/asa] Will you look at this cover art for Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow? Now this is great design. It pops out at you from across the bookstore. An unusual size, the strong coloring, it all works. But there’s more. There is no dustjacket, instead the front and back have paper cutouts that are afixed to the bookcloth.

This author knows how to promote his new novel. Look at this whizbang website . I am truly impressed.  And here’s the starred PW review:

Starred Review. Barlow’s gut-wrenching, sexy debut, a horror thriller in verse, follows three packs of feral dogs in East L.A. These creatures are in fact werewolves, men and women who can change into canine form at will (Dog or wolf? More like one than the other/ but neither exactly). Lark, the top dog in one of the packs who’s a lawyer in human form, has a master plan that may involve taking over the city from the regular humans. Anthony Silvo, a dogcatcher and normally a loner, finds himself falling in love with a beautiful and mysterious woman (Standing on four legs in her fur,/ she is her own brand of beast). A strange small man and his giant partner play tournament bridge and are deep into the drug trade. A detective, Peabody, investigates several puzzling dog-related murders. The irregular verse form with its narrative economies proves an excellent vehicle to support all these disparate threads and then tie them together in the bittersweet conclusion.