Customer Reviews

Biting the Moon

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

In my opinion, this book should be reissued or marketed to the young adult audience. When reading the book I immediately felt I was reading young adult material. As the book progressed this feeling did not change as I expected it to. I only kept reading because I was also curious as to Andi's history. I am a librarian so I have threrefore read many books geared to this audience.

If you love Martha Grimes, don't read this book. The subject matter (cruelty to animals and people)is certainly worthy of being written about even though I wish this book had never been published. It's very hard to get past some of the completely unbelievable plot points and editing mistakes (e.g. drinking a "pint" of beer in Montana, please). I love Martha Grimes, both the Richard Jury novels and her other fiction works, but she should have used a pseudonym on Biting the Moon. I was mad that I wasted two days reading this one.

Grimes's writing style is as smooth as ever, but I couldn't get past the premise of two teenagers galavanting across the U.S. like Thelma and Louise. Andi had already been preyed upon once; Mary had seen the dark side of life with the death of her sister. Am I to believe these two intelligent young women would just hit the road, chasing a child molester, as if they were going on Spring Break? And if the think-tank doctor was such a genius, how could he let Andi and Mary wander off after hearing that horrible story. It just doesn't wash.

Also, although I am sympathetic to animal rights issues, this book covered too many-trapping, coyote population control, dogfights, crooked vets, and canned hunts. It would have been better to focus one or two issues, because in the end, the overwhelming amount of controversial topics detracted from all of them.

I didn't expect to see Richard Jury in this novel, so I wasn't disappointed in that respect. But I did feel this novel was rushed and not as finely crafted as some of her others.

I am a loyal Grimes reader, but was very disappointed by this book. I had to force myself to finish it. I felt that the plot was uninteresting and unrealistic. I hope her next book restores my faith.

I'm glad I read this book before its predecessor, Rainbow's End, because I might have believed all the amazingly bad reviews here. Inspector Jury needs to be placed before a jury and found guilty for being boring.

True, I found both Andie and Mary a bit too mature for teenagers, and they both got lucky too often, but I found their special and fast bond as two eccentric loners touching and unique as they travelled together saving animals and hunting down the man who'd abducted Andie many months before. Agreed, you had to suspend some disbelief, but the unfinished business of Mary not checking up on Andie after their time together was through had a distinctly sweet romantic aire that had nothing to do with any conventional love story, and I liked that she didn't persue it further. I didn't even know about the unfair and outrageous antics of canned hunting until discovering this book, and loved these characters all the more for trying to save animals, plus righting the wrongs of human injustices where they could. Full of interesting characters and unpredictable twists and turns, I saw this story as a bit of escapist heaven combined with elements of an author who is definitely a dreamer of unconventionally romantic tales. Animal welfare is also a big deal in my book, so I really enjoyed the adventures of Andie and Mary. Who was Andie? We never really find out, but we know that Mary is a better person for having known her. A positive tale that dares the reader not to care about its many characters and causes, I found it irresistibly hard to put down.

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

I suppose I've become too addicted to Richard Jury and his coterie of eccentric friends, but this book certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Not only that, but this is the third mystery I have read recently (the others are Moon Music by Faye Kellerman and Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell) that have a shape-changer/werewolf subject. What's the deal ladies?

I agree with all the others who opine that Ms. Grimes should stick with what/who she knows best -- Richard Jury and company. As others have said, this book was pretty vague in many details and I didn't get the sense of knowing the characters that I prefer. Also, the ending was completely unsatisfying for me!

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.

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.