Hunter's Moon

CJ Baxter is a bestselling novelist from the small town of Adelia, NY, but now resides in Tennessee. His novels are mostly about his own experience growing up in the Baxter family. Lyndale is the ancestral home where the Baxters have lived for centuries. CJ left home at seventeen and has not been back for almost three decades. CJ is returning to Adelia because his grandfather is dying - the only person he has kept in contact with over the years. CJ is having problems. His wife has kicked him out, changed the locks and kept his dog. Before he leaves Tennessee, he breaks into his former home and steals the dog. This results in the police issuing a warrant for his arrest. The Baxters have a secret - one that has haunted CJ since the age of ten. He knows the truth, but has been reluctant to face his father who has covered this up for years. CJ's return is not a joyful reunion. His family is secretive, have their own agenda, and are skeptical of CJ's motives. His brother Graham is running for the Senate. The last thing he wants is for the secret and his other underhanded deals to become known. CJ has been hired to write an article on Graham's candidacy and the whole Baxter clan is concerned about what he will reveal. The longer CJ stays in Adelia, the worse things become. He finds himself having unhealthy thoughts concerning his high school sweetheart. The one he left decades ago and is now married to his cousin. One must read the book to learn how CJ handles this situation and all the other problems he faces. To what length will the Baxters go to get what they want. Blood may be thicker than water, but it's no match for money and power. Highly recommend this book. It is one that you can't put down - the suspense is addictive. Don Hoesel is an excellent writer of fictional suspense. This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Thanks to Bethany House and Jim Hart for this review copy! Hunter's Moon introduces us to C.J. Baxter, a successful novelist and new Christian. C.J. should be on top of the world, but his wife has had an affair and taken almost all of his worldly possessions including the dog, and C.J. is being sued by a critic that he unceremoniously popped with a copy of his latest book. To top things off, C.J. is called on to return home at the death of his grandfather. Family secrets are deep and dark and found everywhere. He does rekindle some old friendships as he manages to tick off a great number of other people. I hadn't read anything by Hoesel before Hunter's Moon (it is only his second novel), and it was a pleasant read. Some of the characters could have been from my past and the story was fast paced and easy to read. No sermons were preached but C.J.'s new found faith was worked into the book on several occasions in a very natural way. If you like suspense, this is a great one with which to spend some time.

Hunter's Moon is an excellent book. I really like the picture on the cover of the smoking gun and the title of the book. I always look in the book to find out what both of these mean. I thought this book was clear on what they meant. CJ is an author and his grandfather passed away, CJ decided to return to his hometown to attend the funeral. That is when all of the past comes at him. All of the things he has tried to cover up or forget his whole life. Hunter's Moon has many things, secrets, domestic violence, anger, bitterness and you can see how all of this affects the family. One holds a secret about the other that has shaped the entire families lives and could destroy their future. CJ Baxter has only recently become a Christian, and he is still struggling but makes the right life choices in the end. CJ has been away from his hometown for many years, but finds in the end that it is a special place. This book is full of action, adventure, happiness, sadness, betrayal, and life. Like I said Hunter's Moon is an excellent book, but it started out slow and I would have loved the ending to have been more to it. I would have liked having the ending wrapped up more and find out what is going on with each character. This would be a great book to have a sequel to. Overall I really love this book. It held my interest very easily and I would recommend it to anyone.

Hunter's Moon by Don Hoesel is the powerful sophomore novel by the writer of Elisha's Bones. CJ Baxter, a famed novelist, is summoned home to Adelia, NY after being gone for over seventeen years by the death of his grandfather. The Baxters have long hoped to build a political dynasty like the Kennedy's and those hopes are finally coming to fruition with CJ's brother Graham. But not is all it appears between the brothers. One holds a secret about the other that has shaped the entire family's life and could destroy their future. CJ is a likable character, new in his Christianity, who just keeps seem to let his temper get the best of him; he's on the brink of divorce, facing charges for assaulting a critic, and running from a bench warrant for breaking into his house to steal back his dog. Hoesel carefully builds the drama slowly, ratcheting up the tension so carefully as to be almost imperceptible except for the building tightness in the reader's chest. The dialogue rings incredibly true. A character returning home to face a family crisis and drama is an often used device, but Hoesel avoids the cliches that come with it, making the story brilliantly fresh. The scene of teenaged Graham's threat toward ten-year-old CJ is haunting and CJ's gut-wrenching fear is palpable. This is a story that will stick with the reader long after the final page.

CJ Baxter has managed to forge a life for himself far from his home town of Adelia in Upstate New York and the dysfunctional family he left behind there. Though a successful novelist, CJ doesn't feel much like a success. His marriage is on the rocks and he has begun to doubt his talent as a writer. And now news has come that his grandfather, the one relative he truly related to, has died. Now CJ returns to a family he hasn't seen in years with nothing but his dog and a newfound faith in God that he hasn't quite sorted out the details of yet. Matters are not made any easier by the fact everyone in CJ's family and town is sure his novels are autobiographical. Hunter's Moon is suspense in which the characters hold center stage. Those characters include: CJ's mother, whose own divorce and sadness has changed her, in CJ's words, from June Cleaver to a hard drinking, chain smoking woman he hardly recognizes; a stuttering, some say simple-minded friend from the past, who coincidentally won a ton of money in the state lottery; a father who long since lost interest in being a father; the girl he should have asked to marry him now wed to his own cousin; and a brother whose political ambitions threaten to tear down the last vestiges of hope for the family and perhaps the town. The spiritual insights in this story work their way out in a most natural and yet powerful way. The hero of the story struggles with the tension between grace and human responsibility. Ultimately he must learn what it means to forgive and be forgiven. And, like most of us, he has to learn these lessons the hard way. There are no canned answers in Hunter's Moon, just really good questions. Don Hoesel does a brilliant job of drawing us into one man's realization that most secrets, especially family secrets, have a bad habit of resurrecting themselves at the most inopportune moments. And the secret CJ holds about his family may prove to be death of him. Or, it may just hold the key to a freedom he has yet to discover.