The Wolfman by Nicholas Pekearo offers an interesting protagonist: a Vietnam veteran who returns to his homeland as a drifter, is generally not liked by anyone he meets and curses a lot. He is also a werewolf who cannot control himself very much during that special time of month. Delightfully written, the language makes you laugh on several occasions.
The Wolfen is one of the classics of werewolf literature and was turned into a movie sometime in the 1980's, if I recall correctly. I saw the movie, thought it pretty mediocre and was not interested in reading the book for a long time.
While looking for the ever elusive "good" werewolf novel, I heard about McCammon's The Wolf's Hour. And, what I read of people's opinions of it, I was immediately intrigued. A sample soon led to a purchase and I was devouring the novel at a speed I rarely achieve these days.
I have a weakness for werewolf stories, especially the ones where werewolves are not depicted as all-out evil monsters/killers. Therefore, I picked up Anne Rice's The Wolf Gift with somewhat elevated expectations, even though I had been warned that it was not that great a story.