\"Legacy\" by Marc W. Johnson turns Red Riding Hood into a bloody whodunit

"Legacy" by Marc W. Johnson takes the Red Riding Hood skeleton and rebuilds it as a modern, vicious whodunit, the kind where the real tension is not only what’s out there in the dark, but who’s already inside the house. It’s a werewolf story, sure, but it’s also a blood-smeared mystery that keeps tightening until somebody breaks.

Rebecca “Rose” Healy is a pregnant workaholic who’s terrified of failing, and that fear gets weaponized against her the moment her world starts collapsing. Two friends are savagely murdered by unknown creatures. Then Rose accidentally witnesses her father being killed by a werewolf after a trap is set for him and his team, and she loses her baby. The family secret her mother tried to bury, that they hunt werewolves, is suddenly unavoidable.

From there, the book leans into paranoia. The authorities hone in on Rose, her aunt, and the butler, which means the pressure isn’t just supernatural. It’s human, procedural, suspicious.

Meanwhile, Rose’s aunt believes a werewolf has infiltrated their own ranks, so the hunters are not only chasing a monster, they’re trying to identify a traitor before the investigation or the creature gets them first. Rose is pulled into the “family business” while she trains, and the story keeps pushing forward as the evidence gets uglier and loyalties start looking shaky.

A lot of the reader reactions circle the same feeling: speed, suspense, and that gnawing need to know how it ends. One reader said, “once I started reading it I couldn't put it down,” and another called it “a fast paced really suspenseful book” with “a great new twist on a classic fairytale.” Someone else summed it up in one word, “shuddering,” which honestly fits a story built on dread and betrayal. There’s also praise for how readable it is, with one review noting, “The format is easy to read. The book kept me in suspense and wanting to read more.”

If you want horror that treats the monster like a problem to solve, not just a spectacle to watch, "Legacy" is built for that. It’s claws and carnage, but the real bite comes from the suspicion, the duty, and the possibility that the worst threat is closer than anyone wants to admit.