Customer Reviews

Beneath a Silent Moon

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The author has gifted me with four days of great pleasure! I started with the stunning "Daughter of the Game," and finished with "Beneath a Silent Moon." And I must say, Tracy Grant has pictured a Regency Period (with 21st Century language) more in keeping with the one my research has always revealed to me, rather than the light Regency novels that portray simply a game of manners! The only authors that routinely hand you one plot twist after another plot twist -- such as Deighton or Deaver -- have nothing on Grant. One reviewer felt there was no character development. But I found each character so well-drawn that I would recognize them if they knocked on my door. People in the early 19th Century lived behind masks, conducted business behind closed doors, spoke of manners and mores as rules written in stone while breaking them routinely and slept around -- kind of like today.....
The author uses language beautifully, although it isn't necessarily 1819 language. And both books were well-edited. So if you want a page-turner, one that may cause you to catch your breath, or even laugh at the outrageousness of the plot twists, you might enjoy the story of Charles and Melanie and their relatives, friends and enemies!

About two-thirds of the way through this book I seriously began to wonder whether it was in fact a cleverly disguised send-up of the mystery/romance genre. The number of characters is bewildering and the rapidity with which each discovers that he/she is/is not the half brother/sister of another is mind-numbing. I lost count of the number of times a female character sat down and "smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress" - this couldn't be serious, it had to be satire, right?

I'm afraid I will never know how this book compares with others by the same author - I will most definitely never read another.

I gave this one star because I was unable to give it less.

I found this book on the remainder table at my local bookstore. Right from the beginning, I was drawn into the novel. The plot twists are complicated and the characters rather numerous. Her description of the Scottish estate were good, and I liked the ancillary characters. I couldn't put the book down and was sorry when it ended. I expected the usual Regency Romance and found a much more interesting book. I'll definitely read more of Ms. Grant's books.

Charles and Melanie Fraser are back in a sort of prequel to DAUGHTER OF THE GAME. Set in the Regency period, this book had everything you could possibly think of for that time period-espionage, games of seduction ala Dangerous Liaisons, adultery, incest, duels, murder, political intrigue, debauchery-you name it-this book had it. It was a intricate, twisting, turning, maze of a plot. Despite the cumbersome nature of the plot, it really did keep me turning the pages and for the 400+ pages, I nary skimmed a line.

Luckily the author provided a family tree for the complex intertwining family relationships. I didn't count the characters, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were fifty of them. Sometimes it got quite confusing.

This is a book that reads like a romance novel without the romance: intrigue was the emphasis. Charles and Melanie are very likable characters and I hope they will be back, but in a less rambling plot than this one.

One evening in London, as Charles and Mélanie Fraser leave Lord Glenister's, they are accosted by a woman with news from Francisco, a friend who is running for his life.

Later, and very unexpectedly, Kenneth Fraser, Charles's father, announces his engagement to Honoria Talbot, Lord Glenister's niece and the woman Charles had once been expected to marry. This surprises everyone in Charles's family and in Glenister House.

When they meet Francisco, he is shot before their eyes. As he is dying, Francisco gives them some papers. He asks them to meet a woman named Manon and tells them to stop the Elsinore League before they kill again. Francisco's dying words are, "It all comes down to honor..."

Although Francisco's papers had been coded in Greek, they proved easy to decipher. Still, the message's meaning remained elusive.

After running Manon down, they received more papers written in the same code. Manon says, "...it was ironic that the people [Francisco] worked with feared most of all for Honoria."

Francisco's words echo from his grave: "It all comes down to Honor[ia]." What does it all mean? The coded papers, the murder of Francisco, the Elsinore League, Honoria and her unexpected betrothal to Charles's father?

Manon's papers turn out to be a list of names and map coordinates. They guess the names are of Elsinore League members. One set of coordinates was Charles's boyhood home: Dunmykel, in Scotland.

Gisèle, Charles's sister, tells Charles that their father wants a party at Dunmykel to celebrate his "ridiculous betrothal." She's quite upset. When Charles offers to talk to their father, Gisèle reveals he's already left.

Later, at Dunmykel, Honoria is found dead of strangulation in Kenneth Fraser's room. Charles is appointed to lead the investigation, to avoid involving the local constabulary. The investigation proves quite vexing.

Who killed Honoria and why? Charles's father? Lord Valentine, her cousin and lover? Aspasia Newland, Honoria's old governess? Andrew Thirle, the gardener? Evelyn, her cousin? Lord Glenister, her uncle? How is the Elsinore League involved? Why does it all come down to Honoria?

"Beneath a Silent Moon" is filled with mystery, intrigue and satisfying plot twists. It starts slow, but once Charles and Mélanie meet with Francisco, this story's engine races ahead and refuses to relent.

This book was amazing. I couldn't put it down. Not only was the plot interesting and suspensful, but the author is an excellent writer. The plot is extensive and there are many characters, so if you're looking for a light read, this is not it. But, if you're willing to actually think about a book while you're reading it, then this is a great choice. I loved this book, and especially love the strong, female character that we get in Melanie. Soooo good!!!

I read a lot and am rarely as entertained as I was by this book. The characters are interesting and the plot twists are anything but predictable. It keeps you guessing and you will not be able to put it down. Very good!

BENEATH A SILENT MOON was a terrible disappointment given the great promise the author showed in DAUGHTER OF THE GAME. Surely this book must have been written first, even though it was published second. I say that not only because the book takes place three years earlier, but because the character development which was the highlight of the first book was almost non-existent in the second.

Although DAUGHTER OF THE GAME was filled with mystery and political intrigue, the most interesting aspect of the story was the complex relationship between Charles and Melanie. The kidnapping of their son and the painful secrets which were subsequently revealed as they worked together to win his release forced them to learn the relationship between love and forgiveness. I would have enjoyed reading another book about this fascinating couple and following them as they tried to repair their damaged marriage while solving another mystery. Instead the author produced BENEATH A SILENT MOON, a prequel, where the relationship between Charles and Melanie seems completely flat and the book relies heavily on a ridiculously convoluted plot in which three people are murdered during a houseparty in Scotland.

If the author had wanted to write a prequel with the same emotional resonance as DAUGHTER OF THE GAME she should have explored Melanie's decision to deceive her husband even as she came to love him more and more. Instead, her secret life - which was so artfully revealed in the first book - has almost no bearing on the second. I thought BENEATH A SILENT MOON was a complete waste of time and I would not recommend it at all.

The story kept me enthralled but confused. I could not put the book down since I wanted to find out who killed Honoria. I finally found out but was never really certain why the revealed murderer killed Honoria. I had to keep turning back to the front of the book to keep the family lines straight - it was all very confusing. I still like the book since it kept me guessing until the end. However, I am still scratching my head since the plot was not really cleaned up for me at the end and the ending was not very realistic. I am still grappling with why Tommy was sent by the foreign secretary to be involved in the entire mess. In fact I still do not understand the link to the French, to Mr. Fraser and to the Marquise. That is why I am only giving it a three - the plot is not neatly tied up at the end.

I really wanted to like this book, and I did enjoy the first 250 pages. After that, the book's plot collapses into a confusing, gothic, absurd mess. It's really bad writing when - at the end of the book - the author has to have a character summarize/speculate the motives/reasons/etc. behind the murders. And even then, you'll probably be asking yourself, "what?!"

SPOILERS AHEAD - I can't even begin to count how many characters found out that who they thought were their parent(s) really weren't. They should have provided a chart at the end so a reader could understand how everyone was REALLY related to one another. And, the main plot of the book is to find out who murdered Honoria. Oh, you learn the man's alias, but you don't really know who he is and the "why" is a bit sketchy.