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  • Published: 31 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9780143775409
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $22.00

Black Wolf




The gripping sequel to Violet Black

THE SECOND RIVETING BOOK IN THE FAST-PACED BLACK SPIRAL TRILOGY.

Back from Germany and the assignment that went horribly wrong, Violet doesn’t know who to trust:

It’s fortunate for me that the Foundation staff can’t read my thoughts. . . If they could read my thoughts, they’d never let me go. I’d be a liability, and I know what happens to liabilities.

Phoenix is equally adrift:

For an hour I will forget who I am, what I have done . . . But . . . I will wake with the heavy knowledge that I am the Black Wolf, never to be trusted, never to be loved — because the only people I’ve ever loved are either dead or hate my guts.

The only thing both of them know for sure is that they have to escape the Foundation’s clutches . . .

  • Published: 31 August 2021
  • ISBN: 9780143775409
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $22.00

About the author

Eileen Merriman

Eileen Merriman’s first young adult novel, Pieces of You, was published in 2017, and was a finalist in the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and a Storylines Notable Book. Since then, a stream of novels for adults and young adults have followed. She has received huge critical praise, with one reviewer saying: ‘Merriman is an instinctive storyteller with an innate sense of timing.’ In addition to being a regular finalist in the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, Merriman was a finalist in the 2021 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel and Moonlight Sonata was longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction 2020. Editions of some of her young adult novels have been released in Germany, Turkey and the UK and three have been optioned for film or TV, including the Black Spiral Trilogy.

Her other awards include runner-up in the 2018 Sunday Star-Times Short Story Award and third in the same award for three consecutive years previously. She works as a consultant haematologist at North Shore Hospital.

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Praise for Black Wolf

Eileen Merriman has created a gripping plot with complex issues presented with plausible medical and psychological details. There are many scenes where the reader is made aware of the difference between what characters are saying and what their real intentions are. The group’s ability to read thoughts (and the methods the Foundation develops to control their ability) adds to the tension, especially as the reader becomes aware of the Foundation’s full duplicity. The result is a fast-moving, multi-layered story with characters you care about.

Trevor Agnew, The Source website

I’d been looking forward to reading Black Wolf, the second in the ‘Black Spiral’ Trilogy, after devouring the first book, Violet Black, so I began reading with a palpable sense of excitement. I was not disappointed! . . . Black Wolf is utterly absorbing and riveting. I read it one sitting as I just couldn’t put it down, and I imagine other readers – both teenagers and older – will have the same response. Black Wolf deliverers a page-turning, thrilling read, with just the right balance of steamy romance and high action thrills, all the while exploring deeper themes of love and loss and finding our place in the world. When is the final book in the trilogy publishing? Hopefully, we won’t have too long to wait.

Karen McMillan, NZ Booklovers

I gobbled up the first book, Violet Black, in Eileen Merriman’s The Black Spiral Trilogy, in two greedy sittings. The book has suspense, gritty characters, vital borders between good and evil, porous ethics, romance. When I closed it I felt bereft – knowing how long I had to wait to read the next volume. . . again I felt bereft when it ended and, in the same breath, utterly satisfied with the rollercoaster, heart-pounding story arc. . . . On the one hand this is a struggle of good versus evil, but even more compelling, it is the interior struggle of two teenagers wanting to make good choices, wanting to care for fellow human beings, to work for the good of the whole rather than the benefit of the greedy individual. This is not easy. Being a teenager is not always easy. There is unbearable kindness. There is sex, there are drugs, there is romance. Relationships to unravel. There is mystery. The medical issues and implications. Eileen’s sentences flow like honey. The dialogue is pitch perfect. I care so much about the characters . . . I don’t want to go giving everything away – you just need to find a comfort corner and board the exhilarating ride with its spiky twists and turns, gathering in strength, kindness, empathy.

Paula Green, Poetry Shelf

Aimed at young readers, this is a great read, every bit as thrilling as Violet Black. Can't wait to read the last one.

Ann Kilduff, Hawke's Bay Weekend

Watching them hone their skills and leaps into other bodies and even other’s minds was thrilling to read, even with a reveal at the conclusion that was somewhat expected. Regardless, No.3 Black Spiral is keenly anticipated for March 2022. Who has control? Violet and Phoenix or The Foundation?

Adele Broadbent, Whatbooknext.com

Awards & recognition

Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Award

Awarded  •  2022  •  Notable Book Award

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