Alexandra Sokoloff

I enjoyed "Huntress Moon" from beginning to end. It's original, genre-savvy, character-driven and kept me engaged and guessing all the way through.

The premise sounds conventional enough, a Joe Friday, tightly-buttoned up FBI agent leading a manhunt to find someone he thinks caused the death of one of his agents, except that this is a womanhunt and he's not entirely sure what she did to cause the man's death.

The FBI guy is so old-school noir that it took me a while to realise the story was show more set in this decade. I thought Andrea Sokoloff did a great job in painting a picture of a man who sees himself as introspective, enlightened, skilled at reading people and dedicated to doing his job well, while still letting me see that the man has no awareness of how irrepressibly male his perceptions and assumptions are.

Twisting itself around the story of the male hunter, like ivy on a tree, is the story of a deadly, driven woman who kills men, sometimes subtly, sometimes with a great deal of blood and keeps moving. This woman, the Huntress of the title, isn't the typical step-inside-the-mind-of-a-killer-and-be-glad-you-don't-live-there kind of character. Even though we're right there when she does some of the killing, she remains much harder to read and much more intriguing than that.

As the Huntress follows her own blood-strewn path and the FBI man plays catch-up, what kept me reading was a desire to know two things: why the Huntress does what she does and what Special Agent I'm-so-straight-I'd-break-rather-than-bend will do when he finds out.

I won't go into the plot here other than to say that it's well constructed, full of surprises and grim without ever being exploitative.

The book works as a stand-alone novel, reaching a satisfying conclusion but leaves the door open for the dance between the straight-man and the woman-who-kills to continue. So far there have been four books in the series. I'll certainly be reading the next one.

Alexandra Sokoloff also writes supernatural novels and I'll be giving them a try as well.

I recommend listening to the audiobook. R. C. Bray's performance is close to perfect and his range of voices is impressive. show less

"Blood Moon" follows straight on from "Huntress Moon", continuing the dance between Special-Agent-I’m-so-straight-I’d-break-rather-than-bend Matthew Roarke and the Huntress, the woman who kills bad guys.


The writing in "Blood Moon" is just as strong as in the previous novel. The actions scenes are intense, the violence is vivid and repulsive and Roarke's introspective interludes are delivered with skill. This, together with a violence-soaked, tension-filled plot made for an engaging show more read.


Yet, I finished the book uncertain that I want to go on with this series. Two things bothered me: I felt I was being fed atrocities to keep my interest and I didn't believe in the development of Roarke's character.


This book is heavy on the gritty realism of human trafficking. It also vividly recounts the slaughter of families in their homes using a blade and splattering lots of blood. I know how big an evil modern slavery is. I was appalled to learn how many "familicides", usually the father shooting everyone and then suiciding, there are in the US in a year. I understand that the grim details of trafficking and slaughter are necessary to give the context within which the Huntress was created and continues to operate and to provide a reason for Roarke's slow slide away from the protocol. Nevertheless, I began to feel that these details were there to spice up the book and stoke my responses. Maybe that's what thrillers are for. If so, I don't want it.


The main thing I struggled with in "Blood Moon" was what Special Agent Roarke had become. He no longer follows protocol. He barely briefs his team. He and his retired-but-still-allowed-on-crime-scenes-and-stake-outs mentor have adopted a mystical approach to crime-solving that I thought was unlikely to work or to be tolerated.


I grew tired of how Roarke romanticised the main women in the book. For a guy who is supposed to be an expert in profiling people, I found his inability to see these woman clearly, hard to believe.


He can't look at the woman analyst in his team without being distracted by her "exotic" Indian looks and her calm (as in how-surprising-is-that-in-a-woman?) manner under stress. He sees her research as a form of magic. He seems to have no understanding of how he sees the world.

Then there's the social worker he has sex with. He can barely see her at all and sneaks away rather than be made to see her.

He's set the Huntress on a pedestal. He pays lip-service to the idea that her childhood trauma has arrested her development at a pre-rational stage but he shows no real understanding of what the woman is likely to do.

I felt Roarke was a hollow space at the centre of what should have been a character-driven book. show less

I am salivating at the thought of diving into Huntress Moon, a thriller with a female serial killer. I love to read about serial killers, but a female one is very rare. I am ready to be wowed.

FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke’s spidey senses were tingling. Is it intuition, a cop’s experience honed to pick up subtle vibes, or something more?

He was meeting an undercover agent when he saw her. She stood out…reeked of danger…and as the pieces come together, he is hot on her trail.

Roarke show more could’ve run the division, but he preferred the autonomy of choosing his own cases, running his own investigations. His work is his life.

Life comes full circle for Roarke and I see why he is drawn to her. I am drawn to her.

She is damaged, in a way that makes me want ‘normal’ for her. But it can’t be. Is she a good killer? A bad killer? Is there such a thing as a good one? Does she save lives even as she takes them? I am ambivalent, seesawing back and forth…

My feelings are all over the place. I am not a black and white, good and bad type of person. I feel a lot of life is filled with gray areas. But, I do have lines that define right and wrong. My big problem is…I love the villain.

The creative approach that Alexandra Sokoloff took with the storyline had this playing out in my mind like a movie script. I was continually amazed at the killers boldness and ability to hide in plain sight. But…we know that can’t go on forever.

I worry for the father and the boy. How callous and cruel is she? How far will she go? The feeling of doom hangs over me, I fear for their lives. After all, she is a serial killer and will do whatever is necessary to get away.

I love a great villain but what happens when the villain is the victim? Of course aren’t all criminals victims, or they wouldn’t be so damaged to begin with. Their past does not excuse their present. I can’t see how this will end in a way I want, because I’m rooting for her.

How long can she go on? When will Roarke catch her, because we know he has to…

I never guessed it. I love it and I hate it! I must have more.

AND…you will want the need the next book.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff. show less

Hunger Moon is raw, powerful, blood pumping, and in your face.

I will start this review for Hunger Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff by saying that I took way to many notes and would spoil the book if I shared them all. I loved it so much, and I got so carried away because my emotions were running riot, that I feel like ranting and railing.

I love that we have action from the opening pages and I would recommend passing by the girl with the dark hair and backpack, if your intentions are evil.

Cara show more Lindstrom is the only survivor of her family’s brutal massacre. That is when she met IT, EVIL. Her stints in foster homes and group homes, brought her to where she is today, a vigilante serial killer, defender of women and children unable to defend themselves.

She is a force to be reckoned with. She is deadly. But right now, she is quiet, listening, waiting to be told what to do next. She will need to lay low, but where. Her face is everywhere and it is not just the law that is after her. Every pervert within internet range will have heard of the reward by now. Indian reservations have been a haven to her before and a belief there is more out there than meets the eye is a big part in her life.

It is February, the month of the Hunger Moon, and Special Agent Matthew Roarke is still haunted by Cara. They have a special connection, and whether he admits it or not, he is in love with this vigilante serial killer. Since the Bitter Moon, he has found his mission, combating the sexual abuse and trafficking of women and children. One of Roarke’s agents, Epps is black, so he can relate when it comes to being a target of hatred. Another agent, Singh, handles their internet searches and she will find a target on her back too. She is a citizen of the US, but will that make a difference now that she has been brought to IT’s attention?

Alexandra Sokoloff’s MOON series is not for the faint of heart. I love vigilantes and serial killers, especially female ones, with a righteous cause. She makes me eat up the pages, hoping that Cara doesn’t get caught or hurt, but I am afraid of what the future holds in store for her. How can there be a happy ending?

All over the country, universities are being targeted for Title IX violations. The people are fed up with the lily white one percenters protecting their own and covering up the brutal gang rapes of innocent young women. Who will stand up and speak for those who can’t?

Alexandra Sokoloff has incorporated today’s political climate of hate. In Hunger Moon, she shows how easily it is for those protecting their own to proclaim protesters as domestic terrorists. The book is so frightening, because I, too, feel a change in the United States that I never thought would happen. How can we possibly ignore it, even in a novel?

I rarely talk politics and I know most authors avoid it, but Alexandra Sokoloff makes her books so real because she does not avoid the ugliness and I revel in it. I love when my blood boils and I want to punch someone. So much of her writing strikes home for me and I feel the characters anger, frustration, fear and terror, making it impossible for them to move on. Damaged…oh yeah! I rage for revenge for them and we all know what happens when people are backed into a corner with nothing left to lose.

Alexandra brings the internet and Dark net up front and center. I don’t think there is one of us out there who hasn’t heard how dangerous it can be in the cyber world and care must be taken.

As everything comes together for the finale, the forces of good and evil and those walk the line, I feel like puking at the depravity of these ?men? and how far they will go for their own pleasure.

I was shocked that I was able to pick up Hunger Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff as an Amazon freebie. I never would have thought that was possible because her books are off the charts. Five stars is not nearly enough, but that’s all I have! And the TV series, I am on pins and needles just thinking about it. Criminal Minds you will have some competition. She is currently working on Book 6, which she has planned to be the end of the series, but with the TV show in the works, I am hoping we have more.

I MUST HAVE MORE…AND SOON.

I recommend beginning at the start of the series with Huntress Moon.

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