Book 90, 2022

[chez_jae]

Dark Moon by Lindsay Longford

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I brought my work book home last night to finish the final chapter. I'd suffered long enough. The book was Dark Moon by Lindsay Longford, and it's part of the Silhouette 'Dreamscapes' line. Main characters are Josie Birdsong Conrad and Ryder Hayes.

Josie's young daughter, Mellie, disappeared months ago, and Josie is desperate for answers. The local police have no leads and provide scant help. Josie can't help but feel a pall of evil hovering over her. When she is nearly attacked by a pack of dogs, Josie blames her new neighbor, Ryder Hayes. Confronting him leaves her more confused and frustrated.

Evil seems to be following Ryder, causing him to experience visions that he doesn't understand. He is immediately drawn to Josie, to her warmth and solid presence. Sensing salvation in Josie, Ryder strives to get closer to her.

Sigh

Reading this was like tagging along in someone else's dream (or nightmare). It was confusing and disjointed. I swear the author devoted several chapters to a single encounter between the main characters. Initially, Ryder came across as so smug, arrogant, and obnoxious that I was ready to step in and pummel him on Josie's behalf, seeing as she was too stupid and weak-willed to do it herself. But wait, it gets worse:
- It's my understanding that someone cannot be hypnotized without realizing it/consenting to it, but Ryder was able to mesmerize Josie.
- Ryder continually referred to her by name to the point that it got tedious. If you're having a conversation with someone, do you constantly call them by name? No.
- Graphic animal deaths
- After slogging through this dreck, virtually nothing was resolved. I'm bitter about that. The author was setting up the perfect villain, only to stab the reader in the back with someone else entirely. We learn what happened to Mellie. SHE DIED. Way to end the book on high note. No explanation was given regarding the dogs (from whence they came, whom they belonged to, where they went), nor the venomous snake that mysteriously appeared at Josie's door (whereupon she killed it, only to have its carcass disappear just as mysteriously), what caused the elephant to go on a rampage, why the villain killed the children. Oh, at the end, we learn that Ryder took possession of a clay pot that supposedly contained a spirit that wasn't evil, per se, but that needed an outlet. I guess that was meant to explain all the weirdness. It was simply one of the most frustrating endings to a book ever. Josie went from fearing and disliking Ryder to being in love with him in the space of a few days. I'm sorry, but I have a difficult time believing that a woman who is grieving the loss of her daughter, and with no resolution to the loss, having the emotional wherewithal to fall in love with anyone, much less a man whom she suspects may be behind her child's disappearance. Absurd.

Favorite line: He'd asked for her trust, but she wasn't handing it out like candy at Halloween.

'Breath' line: She'd been holding her breath and hadn't known it.

In short, the book was confusing, disturbing, and annoying. One star.