So, are you Team Bloodsucker or Team Wolf? Because it seems like you’ve gotta pick one these days, thanks to pop culture franchises like “True Blood,” “Twilight,” and “The Vampire Diaries” irrevocably linking the fates of vampires and werewolves. Which is why it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that Anne Rice – the vampire queen of Gothic horror – has not, in fact, penned a werewolf book. Until now, that is. The Wolf Gift opens with Rice’s quintessentially lush descriptive imagery that is, oh, how to phrase this? Real-estate porn. To wit:

“He looked up at the old dark wood paneling above the fireplace, rectangles neatly trimmed in deeply carved egg-and-dart molding, and at the similar paneling that covered the walls. There were bookcases flanking the fireplace, stuffed with old volumes, leather, cloth, even paperbacks, and far to the right over his shoulder he glimpsed an east facing room that looked like a vintage paneled library, the kind he’d always dreamed of having for himself. There was a fire in there too.”

The “he” at the center of this story is Reuben, a twenty-three-year-old cub reporter who’s been tasked with writing a story about a grand mansion near the coast of Northern California. He quickly falls under the spell — and into the bed — of the house’s owner, a beautiful older woman named Marchent. Even more quickly, tragedy strikes: Marchent is dead, the victim of a violent break-in that Reuben survives thanks only to the unexpected intervention of a powerful animal that sinks its teeth into him after dispatching of the attackers.

If you’re familiar with any version of the werewolf mythos, you can probably guess where this is going, but to Rice’s immense credit, the tale she spins is one that feels fresh, an accomplishment in a crowded genre. Reuben is a likable hero who doesn’t become overly mired in the “Am I man or beast?” teeth-gnashing that can plague too many protagonists in paranormal stories.

The Wolf Gift is more than a new novel by Anne Rice – it’s a homecoming. It has everything — compelling characters, steamy love scenes, and brainy monsters — that made her an icon. Fans who have been dying to see her get back to her monster-infested roots will be more than sated with this Gift, and if you’re a Rice neophyte who’s been waiting for the perfect time to jump into her world, well, no time like the present.