Review: Huntress Moon & Blood Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff

Let me start off by saying that I had only a vague idea of what Huntress Moon was about before starting it, and I'm so glad I went into it like that. I find that going into books rather blindly is often a great way to surprise yourself, and in the cases of Mysteries, it's an added bonus of more suspense.

Do note that I will be purposely leaving certain things out of this review as I want you to be able to go into this without being spoiled. A number of things surprised me, and I think it will do that for you too, so I will refrain from mentioning them altogether.

Publication Date: June 28th, 2012 (recently republished)

Synopsis:
FBI Agent Matthew Roarke was closing in on a major bust on a criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses his undercover agent being killed in front of him. The timing and location are too coincidental for his liking, along with a mysterious woman who appeared right before the accident. Following up on her, Roarke finds that she is connected to a string of "accidents" over a number of years, spanning several states, leading him to believe the most unlikely: a female serial killer.

Thoughts:
As I mentioned above, I went into this after having forgotten the synopsis and just diving in. Now, my last review was also of a Mystery, Follow the Leader, and I had somewhat mixed feelings about that, despite giving it a 4 stars.

This though, this was great! I was really interested right from the beginning and with each passing chapter, I was more and more absorbed into the story. In fact, I read the first 200+ pages in one day!

The whole premise just made me want to find out more. I wanted to know why these people were killed and I wanted to know how the killer had twisted logic into making these murders right. I really liked the psychology aspect of this book, especially because it talks about the FBI's BAU and that reminds me of Criminal Minds which I love and have watched every season of. Also, seeing as I've been intrigued by the psychology of killers for quite a number of years this, this book appealed to me even more. I loved the profiling, the analyzing, the understanding of motives, actions, reasoning. I loved all that about this book and it made the experience that much better.

The ending though. Oh the ending. I loved the last 50+ pages so much! They had me so intrigued, I couldn't put the book (or in this case, my phone) down at all! I needed to know what was going to happen and how things would be set up for the next book. I'm so glad that I have the second book on my phone as well because I don't think I would be able to bear it if I had to wait and get the physical copy of the book.

As I have mentioned this in several of my past reviews, I'm not a fan of swearing or sex in books, and this surprised me for not having much of either. It was proof that a great Mystery can be written without there needing to be explicit vulgarity. I applaud the author for that.

Oh, and Alexandra Sokoloff has a beautiful way of describing people. Not in the "oh he/she was attractive like this" way, but in describing the character of the person, or how they should be seen. I loved reading how she described the bad guys and how she made these descriptions so accurate and humorous at the same time.

Characters:
Agent Matthew Roarke is wonderful. I loved reading about him and how he picks up on the smallest details. His natural gift for profiling and hyper-awareness of his surroundings makes him so interesting because he'll think about something small and seemingly insignificant, only to realize the importance of it half a page later and have a small breakthrough in the case or in his profile.

Overall:
4.5 stars and definitely a recommended read. The review of Huntress Moon's sequal, Blood Moon, is right below this one, and having just finished Huntress Moon, I'm very excited to see what its sequel has in store. (January 28th, 2015)

Publication Date: April 25th, 2013 (recently republished)

Synopsis:
Sorry, no synopsis here, seeing as it would spoil the plot of the first book. I will say that it takes place with the same characters and continues from the storyline of the first book.

Thoughts:
I was really excited to see how the book would turn out, especially with the way Huntress Moon ended. The mystery was still really exciting and I kept wanting to find out more.

Now, I didn't think that was as good as Huntress Moon, but it still made a fantastic sequel. It's rare that you find a sequel that lives up to how good the first book was, and yet Alexandra Sokoloff did a wonderful job of adding to the storyline in a realistic manner and creating a whole new conflict that kept me on the edge of my seat. In fact, this book pulled me through an all-nighter with it's plot and the action.

I did have a couple of problems here and there, but they were small. It was just a case of me not understanding why certain things happened, or what the point was of adding a character here and there.

Characters:
Agent Matthew Roark got on my nerves a little in this book. I didn't really like how he handled the case and felt that he was making the whole thing incredibly personal, when it wasn't even about him. The way he related to certain people felt entirely pointless, and I began to agree with his partner, Epps, that he was becoming too obsessed, and not in a good way. His objectivity was clouded and the way he handled his feelings was uncalled for, in my opinion.

Again, there are some characters I can't talk about because it would spoil both this book and Huntress Moon.

Overall:
4 stars and yes, I do recommend that you continue with the series if you've read the first book.

The final book in the series, Cold Moon, has been published in paperback already, but it seems that it will eventually be republished as well. I'm sure you'll be able to find a copy of Cold Moon somewhere online if you looked for it. I will be picking up a copy myself and completing the trilogy, hopefully, sometime within this year.

Acknowledgements:
Thank you to NetGalley for hosting this on your site in light of the book's republication. Thank you also to both Amazon publishing and Thomas & Mercer for publishing and republishing these two books. I am thankful for getting the chance to be introduced to and read this series.