Book excerpt: One quiet spring evening, the animals of the north woods see a great light mushroom up from the human territories. Most ignore it, but Wolf of Shadows, sitting alone on his hill, knows that something is very wrong. The next day dark clouds block out the sun, and an icy black rain comes, washing away the smells of all living things. It gets colder, then colder still. Nuclear winter has begun. As sleet changes to snow in wolf country, a desperate human mother and her daughter appear and join Wolf of Shadows as he leads his pack south. This is the story of their journey through the desolate, frozen wasteland that was once the United States. Always near freezing and starvation, threatened by savage dog packs and marauding humans, the wolves and the two women soon come to depend on one another for survival. Strieber masterfully captures how the wolf interprets the actions of the adopted humans and compares them to the feelings and actions of wolves. As their journey progresses, an unspoken but deeply felt love grows between them. This alone sustains them in their search for a place where life can be reborn. "Wolf of Shadows" is a bold and brutal novel, a compelling tale of survival in the wild, and a unique vision told from the viewpoint of a wolf of the horrors we may bring to every living creature on earth.