Hunter's Moon captures your attention in Chapter One by endearing you to an elderly man named Artie. The story continues to hold you with a small town life, the story of a successful writer, the memories of a lost loved, the belief of a higher power, a lovable dog and the promise of suspense. CJ, the successful writer, is the center of the story and I as the reader became quite fond of CJ, regardless of his issues. The story held my interest with me asking myself just how ruthless might a family become. Don Hoesel answers it here in Hunter's Moon. A very good read. ( )

Another great book from Early Reviewers! First my only complaint is that this was presented as a suspense novel and I don't think it really qualifies as that genre. However it was a very good book no matter how you classify it!

Hoesel writes a funny yet thoughtful novel. It left me feeling that I should re-read it at least once more because I think there was a lot more that I could have gotten out of it...like I said, a thoughtful novel and thought-provoking as well. It leads the reader to ask questions of themselves that are always good to reflect on. This would be a wonderful book to which to add a reader's guide/book club guide at the end.

On a more surface level I have to add that Hoesel writes in a manner that is simply a pleasure to read. His characters are fully human. He is witty in a very accessible way. The faith of the characters is presented in a very realistic manner and I enjoyed seeing it played out in their lives in a natural way.

I'd recommend this book to anyone! ( )

Surprising how many books are listed with the same title!!! I enjoyed this book which was dense with character and with plot. At first I was not sure if the denseness represented richness or convolution, but finally settled on richness.

When CJ returns to his hometown after an almost two decade absence, he is both reassured at some of the sameness and surprised at some of the differences.
In some ways he slides right back into his old role. In other ways he steps aside and lets the role slide by him.

His deerhunting episode with Artie and his enthusiasm for the sport to me was out of character. I was also in the dark as to what happened to his old "friend" Artie at the end of the book. The ending seemed sudden without closure on lots of characters...leaving the reader to decide for themselves what they wanted. I would have liked another chapter or two "in conclusion." It seemed that this book still needs a bit of tweaking.

I would read other books by this author. I believe this would appeal to both female and male readers. ( )

Overall this was a good read. I really liked the way the main character (CJ) was developed and his moral struggles with the trials going on in his life. The other characters could have been developed better - perhaps fewer feature players and delve a little deeper into the ones there are...

The story was a little slow getting started, and was fairly predictable, but the climax had me turning pages anxious to find out what was going to happen.

I felt CJ had the beginning's of a series character, and was left wishing for a little more lead-in to a potential next novel, where he starts figuring out some more things and/or other characters become the main stars (similar to a Greg Iles style). ( )

I received this book as a free Advance Reading Copy from the publisher. The description held promise: long-long son returns to the family homestead for his grandfather's funeral, forcing him to confront "secrets that have tormented him since childhood" plus newer family secrets as well. The publisher's marketing department labeled the book "riveting suspense." Works for me, I thought. Sadly, neither "riveting" or "suspense" accurately reflect the novel.

Given that this is an unedited manuscript copy, I'm willing to overlook some of the glaring errors that (hopefully) will be caught during further editing. (For example, the name of a character's wife is first Sheridan and then later Meredith.) No, rather I'll focus on the glaring plot errors that made this book lackluster.

First, it's simply not suspenseful. The author pays an enormous amount of attention to establishing the "local color," i.e. the atmosphere of the small town that this family presides over. All fine and dandy, but the author never uses the local color to propel the story forward into a plot. The family and their sordid history proof a bit more fertile ground, revealing a latent propensity for violence and hurt. Again, both fine and dandy, but the culmination of that history and violence does not do much for the story until the final pages of the book. There is no suspense because there is no mystery, drama or action until the last 30 pages.

Second, the character names are confusing. "Janet" and "Julie" are too similar, as are "Dennis" and "Daniel," "Graham" and "George, "Rick" and "Richard." It was simply too difficult to keep them straight. As someone who reads a lot of books and tends to read quickly, having character names that are dissimilar enough to avoid confusion during essential points in the story is very important.

Finally, here is my other big issue with the novel. Right in the middle, the main character starts talking about when he became a Christian and how is faith is being tested by returning to the family homestead. At this point, it was a bit like looking out my window and seeing a monkey in the oak tree. Yes, monkey's do exist, but seeing one in the oak tree outside my window is completely out of context and, thus, inane. The main character's Christianity was like the monkey. Not unheard of, but inane because it was out of context. That part of the character had not been developed at all throughout the first half of the book. So his sudden spiritual crisis is completely out of the blue, as is he recollection of becoming a Christian. Also, the character's religion has no bearing at all on the story. It doesn't impact his decisions at all! So what's the point of mentioning it?

This element of the novel was so glaringly out of context with the rest of the story that at first I thought the author was a born-again Christian who was making a personal statement via this character. An internet search, however, informed me that the publisher specializes in "Christian fiction." So my suspicion is that the author threw in the Christian part to appeal to this particular publisher. Goodness knows it wasn't to advance the plot!

Overall, this novel did not work for me at all. It had so much potential, yet failed in too many ways to be worth it. ( )