In a small, normally cold, village amidst the forests and mountains, things are hotting up. It seems that it’s going to be one of those kind of summers.

A lone wolf stalks the forest, unfortunately gifted with the ability to speak and the desire to be accepted. Beyonce Bainbridge is on a one-girl campaign to get her first pony. Teenager Abigail Harrison is bored out of her mind and stifled almost beyond hope.

Reinterpreting stories and fables is nothing new. A testament to how survivable many of our stories are lies in how they can change over time, as quite nasty tales morph into things we feel comfortable reading to our kids at night. Red is a twist on that, with one author rewriting the Little Red Ridinghood tale to give it a modern twist.

To do that, Tim Bedford has not only fleshed out the parts of the wolf and Red Riding Hood herself, but created a town for her to live in, with neighbours, family and small town politics (and the mandatory ‘mobiles have poor signal round here’ line to explain why the police weren’t kicking in the door as soon as the wolf began looking at Red funny).

Its a nice enough change and the reworking, humour and all, turns Red from a horror story to more of a farcical comedy, broad humour and all.

What this does mean is you should have a pretty pleasant time reading it, even if some of the plot twists you won’t really care about due to how thinly sketched the cast are. But for the short time I read it, I did enjoy Red quite a bit. I think you will too.

**** 3 1/2 STARS

Reece