<DIV>Tristan Egolf's new novel is a book about the return of an old curse &#8212; the Kornwolf, a ferocious werewolf whose nocturnal rampaging becomes increasingly impossible to ignore. <I>Kornwolf</I> takes the reader for a good old-fashioned romp in the stubble &#8212; a journey through the slums and honky tundra of rural Pennsylvania, where nothing quite passes for good or bad, sublime or dismal, discrete or brash. And then the monotony breaks. Something &#8212; a freak of creation &#8212; is running amok in the fields. To solve the mystery, three generations of prodigal sons &#8212; a writer and hometown boy who swore he'd never come back to Penn's Woods; a middle-aged former pugilist who runs a decrepit boxing gym; and a misfit, mute, beaten-down Amish boy &#8212; are brought together by the light of a blue moon, in a town called Blue Ball. On one level this is a masterfully orchestrated, hilarious, and compelling take on the classic horror yarn, on another, <i>Kornwolf</i> is a social satire of suburban sprawl, closed minds, and all manners and varieties of self-satisfaction &#8212; Amish, civilian, or... <I>other</I> &#8212; in the best tradition of Tom Robbins and George Saunders. </div>