BOOKS: Werewolf Tommi Grayson is back in Berlin

WHEN you devour a book in just two days, it's hard to wait a year for the next instalment.

Cover art for the book Who's Afraid Too?

WHEN you devour a book in just two days, it's hard to wait a year for the next instalment.

But that's what fans of fictional werewolf Tommi Grayson have had to do.

Author Maria Lewis's half-Scottish, half-Maori werewolf is back in the second instalment of what's fast becoming a franchise worthy of a screen adaptation.

Building on the foundations of her best-selling debut Who's Afraid?, Lewis takes her central heroine from her picturesque home of Scotland to the gritty streets of Berlin.

"Put simply, Berlin is one of my favourite cities in the world," Lewis told Weekend. "It just has this energy and soul that fits so well with this character.

"So much of what makes a sequel great is expansion - upping the stakes, expanding the world, broadening the horizons. Berlin was the ideal place to do that."

There Tommi meets a group of "lone'' wolves, living outside the traditional pack structure, who have carved out a niche for themselves with a successful nightclub.

Still a fledgling werewolf exploring her powers under the guidance of her immortal guardian/mentor/romantic interest Lorcan, Tommi hopes to learn how to survive as a lone wolf from the motley tribe.

But wherever Tommi goes, trouble seems to follow and the group gets caught up in the resurgence of an ancient threat, the Laignach Faelad, who commit unspeakable evils.

This new crop of werewolf-like men, whose horrifying diet will churn your stomach, were thought to have been wiped out centuries ago.

They present a formidable threat to Tommi, Lorcan and the other werewolves as a cat-and-mouse game is played out under the cover of night on the streets of Berlin, providing even more action this time around as Tommi puts her ever-growing lethal skill set to good use.

Meanwhile, Tommi's also trying to squeeze in visits to the hospital, where her best friend Joss, who still doesn't know she is a werewolf, is receiving treatment for a second round of cancer, and trying to sort out her feelings for Lorcan.

Readers also get a greater insight into Lorcan's mysterious past, thanks to a new character, and their first glimpse inside The Treize, the body that governs the supernatural world.

This is an excellent sequel in a series written by a supernatural genre lover for genre fans.

Who's Afraid Too? by Maria Lewis, published by Hachette Australia, is out now. RRP $29.99.