As he devours a young man alive, the protagonist of Glen Duncan's forthcoming novel, "The Last Werewolf," thinks of Alfred Tennyson's poem "Mariana." "I would that I were dead," Jake recites silently.

Jake is a melancholy, erudite Londoner who chain-smokes Camels and downs single-malt Scotch. When the moon waxes full, he sprouts fur and fangs and a lusty appetite for human flesh.

Mr....