What Is The Main Plot Of Cycle Of The Werewolf Stephen King?

I'd describe the main plot of 'Cycle of the Werewolf' as a compact, year-long siege on a small Maine town, told through a calendar's progression. Each chapter represents a month, beginning with January, where something monstrous starts hunting during the full moon. The initial attacks are dismissed as freak animal maulings, but as the bodies pile up, the isolated community of Tarker's Mills slowly realizes they have a werewolf problem. The story cleverly uses this episodic structure to build dread, showing the creature's impact across different seasons and social settings—a drunk on a lonely road, a railway worker, a Fourth of July celebration—making the town itself a character crumbling under the fear.

The central narrative thread follows a young boy named Marty Coslaw, a paraplegic who is far more observant and brave than the terrified adults around him. After a terrifying encounter on Halloween, Marty becomes convinced of the werewolf's true nature and, more importantly, deduces the human identity of the man behind the fur. The second half of the book shifts into a deliberate hunt, with Marty preparing a final confrontation. It's less a mystery of 'whodunit' for the reader, as the illustrations by Bernie Wrightson famously reveal the werewolf's human face early on, and more a tense build-up to see if and how this vulnerable kid can stop the cycle of violence. The climax is a direct, personal battle on a stormy December night, tying the whole bloody year together with a surprisingly poignant and fierce resolution.