Hunter’s Moon
February 10, 2010
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Hunter’s Moon
Bethany House (February 1, 2010)
by
Don Hoesel
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Don Hoesel was born and raised in Buffalo, NY but calls Spring Hill, TN home. He works as a Communications Department supervisor for a Medicare carrier in Nashville, TN. He has a BA in Mass Communication from Taylor University and has published short fiction in Relief Journal.
Don hopes to one day sell enough books to just say that he’s a writer. You can help with that by buying whatever his newest novel happens to be.
He lives in Spring Hill with his wife and two children.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Every family has secrets. Few will go as far as the Baxters to keep them. Bestselling novelist CJ Baxter has made a career out of writing hard-hitting stories ripped from his own life. Still there’s one story from his past he’s never told. One secret that’s remained buried for decades. Now, seventeen years after swearing he’d never return, CJ is headed back to Adelia, NY. His life in Tennessee has fallen to pieces, his grandfather is dying, and CJ can no longer run from the past. With Graham Baxter, CJ’s brother, running for Senate, a black sheep digging up old family secrets is the last thing the family and campaign can afford. CJ soon discovers that blood may be thicker than water, but it’s no match for power and money. There are wounds even time cannot heal.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Hunter’s Moon, go HERE
Sally Says: Hunter’s Moon is a deceptively slow, relaxing story that takes you inside a lesser version of the Kennedys. The Baxters, a Catholic family from upstate New York, have had political dreams for about as long as America has been around, and as the story opens, they have their best shot at political success in CJ’s older brother.
But of course this political family has its black sheep and secrets, and CJ, the successful novelist who’s used much of his past in his bestelling books, returns after his personal life falls apart — only to find he can no longer ignore horrible childhood events. And as the story unfolds, we see those events have not forgotten him, either. As CJ takes his time ruminating on his past and his dysfunctional family, danger builds until secrets collide and threaten everything CJ has learned to hold dear.
While the first few chapters felt a bit slow, the characters were so well drawn that it was easy to keep reading until CJ’s childhood secret was revealed. And from there the story built and built until it reached a highly suspenseful, dramatic conclusion. Almost all of the characters were male, and that also gave the book a different feel from what I typically read, but I enjoyed the characters, their quirks, and CJ’s struggles to do right when doing wrong would have been so much easier. I enjoyed Hunter’s Moon and plan to read more from Don Hoesel, especially if he returns to CJ and the quaint town of Adelia, New York.
Comments
One Response to “Hunter’s Moon”
I loved this book. Good review, Sally.