Biting the Moon

Rating:
Summary: We're not all hillbillies
Review: Colorado is not the south, the dialogue of those from Cripple Creek was very amusing, we don't really sound like that here but then the English probably think Americans all sound the same. And I agree with other reviewers, how can you focus on animal issues and not touch on slaughter-houses, the girls sure did enjoy many meat-laden meals in this book! Too bad they didn't also make a stop at a meat packing plant and free some cows, lambs and chickens!

Rating:
Summary: no follow up on details
Review: I assume Andi was a ghost from the bus crash but why did she take all those polaroids "just in case" and Grimes never followed up on that? Little details like that that she went to great pain to mention, that you assume she'll eventually bring all together and she never does!!! And what was the point of the river trip and the drowning? We never got an explanation. Did Grimes just get tired of writing or sacrifice detail to make her deadline? I think it would have been clever to have had Mary Dark Hope travel back through Utah and stop by the orphanage or the library and see Andi's picture and name and maybe learn a bit about her. I would have liked to have known Andi's real name but if the point was to make you wonder if she was a ghost and Mary Dark Hope was on a Quest then I can see why Grimes didn't go there.

Rating:
Summary: A Dubious Best Seller
Review: I listened to the audio version of this book, which may have helped some; it was engaging enough, in spite of the frequent sordid plot twists around every corner - the canned hunt was especially disheartening - the only thing at the end that left me shaking my head was, what the heck happened to Andi ?? Mary Dark Hope waxed reflective on the Sandias, and how Andi's name was in them. Did Andi go back to the cabin in the woods ?? Was she a ghost, from the bus crash ?? I finished the book, feeling like I'd been left hanging.
If anyone picked up on the what happened at the end, could you please clue me in ? !

Rating:
Summary: What was Martha Thinking
Review: I wish I had read the reviews of this book before I bought it. It is a very dark and disturbing story full of twisted characters and plot line. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: This One Really Does Bite
Review: I wish I'd read all these reviews before I spent $12 on this novel--silly me, I actually believed the glowing reviews on the cover from the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times and the LA Times. Did any of those reviewers actually read the thing? "Biting the Moon" is jam-packed with unbelievable characters, improbable plot twists and ridiculous dialog. If you liked "The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosinski, where a child travels alone through Europe witnessing incredible acts of cruelty, you might like this. The cruel acts here are the subplots of domestic violence, child pornography, game hunting, wildlife trapping, and illegal dogfighting--any of which could have stood alone, but to jam them all into a 300 page novella is just downright bizarre. I wish Amazon offered a "zero" star option. I'd have used it.

Rating:
Summary: A phoned-in performance
Review: It is said when talented actors give a bad performance that they have "phoned it in." Martha Grimes phoned this book in, and on a bad line. It is a story cobbled from all too many disparate fragments - part polemic, part on-the-road, part growing-up and most likely part boiling up a manuscript to fulfill a contract. Only rarely does the author's admirable ability to turn an apt phrase, make an astute observation, sketch a memorable character make itself evident. Usually I pass my "used" mysteries on to a friend but I am embarrassed to do that with this one. (I can only hope that Martha Grimes is equally embarrassed at having let this one escape to an admiring public. Come to think of it the publication of BITING THE MOON can be construed as a cynical act: Martha Grimes is too honest not to have recognized that this runt wouldn't hunt.) Having said all that, I will not give up on Martha Grimes. However, I will thoroughly vet her next offerings (even the latest Richard Jury books have limped a little) and borrow rather than buy until I have pro-rated my loss on this one.

Rating:
Summary: At a loss for words.
Review: This books is laughable. The author portrays animals in such a manner that I first thought I was reading "Bambi". Also, the story skips from one scene to the next without any obvious purpose. The characters seem like they might have been written by a twelve year old. Very poorly written. This book is proof to the world that it is possible to get just about anything published these days.

Rating:
Summary: Never again
Review: This is the first (and last) Martha Grimes book I've picked up. It is perfectly dreadful. I couldn't finish it. Thank goodness I had borrowed it from the library. I checked the reviews here before I started reading and thought that it couldn't be as bad as some readers said. It is! Don't waste your time or money on it.

Rating:
Summary: "Young Adult" at best
Review: two teenage girls take on amnesia, sexual perversion, dog fighting, white water rafting and canned hunts coming out on top every time in a story that defines the unbelievable; and while it's nice to see Mary Dark Hope again (she was the only interesting character in "Rainbows End") nothing else about the book is at all interesting if your IQ exceeds double digits and you are above the age of fifteen