Huntress Moon review

 

Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff is the first book in the Huntress/FBI series. It is a suspense thriller that digs deep into the psychology of killers and victims.

I found Huntress Moon to be very psychologically creepy. It wasn't overly graphic in the portrayal of blood and gore but the crime scenes and the discussions of who and why were deeply disturbing. I was also kept off balance because Sokoloff switches back and forth between what the FBI agents are doing and what the killer is doing but when reading the killer's viewpoint, there is never any indication of who you are reading about and yet the reader gets to know a lot about her.

Another aspect of the story that kept me off balance while reading was that it isn't a straight forward "FBI agents are good guys and killers are evil" set up. In fact, I wasn't at all sure who is good and who is bad as I was reading Huntress Moon. While the killer is a killer, she is never portrayed as evil or psychotic. I found myself torn between cheering for the killer and wanting Roarke to catch her.

Sokoloff doesn't reveal everything in Huntress Moon - there are many unanswered questions at the end of the book but I guess that's the nature of writing a series. I enjoyed reading about the characters even as I was torn about what I wanted to happen. You can't ask anything more than that and I look forward to reading Blood Moon, the second book in the series.

Synopsis

FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust of a major criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses an undercover member of his team killed right in front of him on a busy street, an accident Roarke can't believe is coincidental. His suspicions put him on the trail of a mysterious young woman who appears to have been present at each scene of a years-long string of "accidents" and murders, and who may well be that most rare of killers: a female serial.

Roarke's hunt for her takes him across three states...while in a small coastal town, a young father and his five-year old son, both wounded from a recent divorce, encounter a lost and compelling young woman on the beach and strike up an unlikely friendship without realizing how deadly she may be.

As Roarke uncovers the shocking truth of her background, he realizes she is on a mission of her own, and must race to capture her before more blood is shed.