Customer Reviews

Burning Moon: A Wil Hardesty Novel (Wil Hardesty Novels)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Once again Richard Barre displays his mastery over words. He's always used them sparingly, never more so than in Burning Moon. The style makes his novels easy to pick up and hard to put down. It's been years since the last installment in the Wil Hardesty series, and it's a joy to see him again.
When Jimmy Tien and his pregnant fiance are killed in a boating accident, Jimmy's father suspects foul play. He hires Wil to investigate the incident. Wil follows the trail, which becomes more and more complicated. Every answer he finds leads to another question. As in all the Hardesty books, Wil's past both haunt and comfort him.
One of the reasons I enjoy Barre's books so much is his ability to handle intricate plots. He weaves subplots into the story, and somehow manages to tie up all the loose ends by the last page. If you like intriguing characters, complex plots, and a few surprises, you will love Burning Moon.

A few years ago when I was new to the mystery genre, I was introduced to Richard Barre's Wil Hardesty series through a book review in my newspaper. After reading the review of "Blackheart Highway", I decided to invest the time and money and "surf" my way through the series (4 books) from the beginning with "The Innocents". What an exhilirating ride! I have been hooked on mysteries ever since and appreciative of this author's talent. The character developments and story plots got better and better with each book. Barre delivers a perfect balance of suspense, action, and emotion in his books.

Wil Hardesty is a well-crafted, believable, interesting, and complex character. A middle-aged Vietnam vet and surfer P.I. with a lot of personal baggage - the loss of his son due to a surfing accident, subsequent drinking problem, and the crumbling of his twenty-plus year marriage. Wil is also a likable character as more and more about him and his background is revealed with each new book.

It was a bit of a wait for the latest installment, "Burning Moon", but again Barre does not disappoint. The story line is captivating and the writing is crisp and intelligent. This is a book about two Vietnamese brothers who make good in America, but on different sides of the law, and about a hierachy of rival Asian gangs fighting for control. A character from a previous book and Wil's past surfaces again, and at the end of "Burning Moon", the reader is hopeful about Hardesty's relationship with his ex-wife.

I am an avid reader of mysteries now and have read books by other excellent writers. If you enjoy Connelly, Lehane, Pelecanos, and Crais, to name a few, I highly recommend Barre. He definitely belongs in their league and deserves more kudos than he is getting. Hopefully, "Burning Moon" will not be the last time we get to read about Wil Hardesty, and I trust that the wait for the next book won't have to be as long.

tried 3 times to get interested in this book - too many half sentences, used phrases that were just not good "thermosed the tea" and "perimetered the building" Come on!!! Too clever by half. Have not read "the innocents" will have to get that one to see if he really can write or not. Gave up on this one. I agree with the reviewer - this book really drags.

The more I read of Richard Barre the more I can't wait for the next one. I have had a disjointed relationship with Wil Hardesty, having picked up one in the middle of the series novels, then the one after that, then the one before that. But the novels aren't that connected, and Wil's love-hate relationship with his adolescenece in Vietnam is a painful description, quite well done by the way, with myself and most vets I know.

Here, he immerses himself in the poignant problem of 'when is enough enough?' Can he help thos people who 30 years ago, probably tried to kill him? He faces this issue early on when approached by a Vietnamese businessman who believes his son's accidental death was murder, and wants to retain Wil.

Jeffrey Deaver had a pretty good novel about Asian street gangs a few years ago, but Barre is up to the task and we learn more about the influences of the Asian "mob" as that issue surfaces in the son's death.

It's a violent story but with Barre's characteristeic beautiful writing. Highly recommended. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

Haven't read a Wil Hardesty book before but the jacket blurbs drew me in. I looked forward to wonderful writing, and because I used to live in Santa Barbara, to a great descriptive narration. What I found was stilted, precious efforts, attempts to coin "different" and original words and phrases which nevertheless came off as overly silly or awkward to the max in describing the scenes, actions, and characters. Put it down in 30 pages, though I tried hard to go on. It has gone back to the library.

The only reason I am giving this book three stars is because I might be missing something. I did not read the first books in this series and jumped in here with this as my first Richard Barre story. I found the characters shallow, the story old as the LA hills, and the writing long in the tooth.

Wil Hardesty might be an interesting character for all I know. But here, if you are starting with this book, the character must have long since been fully fleshed out. Barre uses little space to elaborate on Hardesty. Instead he delves into a plot out of a Hardy Boys mystery. You know how when you look back at old hollywood films and see how they portrayed the Black actors as dolts and you just want to cringe. I think that perhaps if someone were to pick this book up in fifty years they might have the same reaction to Barre's portrayal of Vietnamese characterized here. They are written as stereo-typically as can be. I think that Micheal Connely and his Harry Bosch character do a much better job of re-living the vietnam war than Barre manages in these pages.

I couldn't see Hardesty running in this cases story. Barre sets the bad guys up as secretive and mysterious and that just clashes a little too heavily with Hardesty.

I would skip this book if I were you.

This one dragged. Earlier books held interest easier and longer, this one was a chore. Hope the next is better because he can write.

Four years after the last appearance of Santa Barbara area private investigator Wil Hardesty, Barre has written another episode that is rich, complex, and engrossing. Hardesty is approached by a Vietnamese fishing company owner to investigate the mysterious death of his son and pregnant girlfriend. They were aboard a fishing boat that sank near one of the environmentally protected offshore islands, and the man believes his own brother, a man with suspected criminal involvement, may be responsible.

Hardesty carries a lot of emotional baggage. He is a Viet Nam vet, and he is still hurting from the loss of his son in a surfing accident and the subsequent break-up of his marriage. It is probably the urge to resolve the issue of a family in crisis that moves him to agree to look into the situation. It doesn't take long before Wil is confronting his personal demons, as well as the apparent involvement of a number of law-enforcement agencies, especially the ATF.

During the early part of the book, several chapters are interspersed which seem disconnected from Wil and his case. They involve Asian gang activity in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a particularly cold and devious hired hitman. When the connection is finally made, the reader experiences an actual jolt, and the plot twist that follows takes the book to a new level of emotional turmoil.

Richard Barre can create a complex and mysterious plot. But it is his unique ability to plumb the emotional depth of his characters and paint vivid word pictures of the setting that raise his writing to a higher level. His intimate knowledge of the California coastal area comes through in his sensitive and beautiful portrayal of the sights, sounds, and even the smells that abound. As a brush fire spreads through the hills above Santa Barbara, the reader is swept into a smoky haze that ultimately clears into a reasonable conclusion.

The previous books in the series will flesh out the background of some of the characters, but Barre does an excellent job of providing enough explanation without moving the reader out of the current plot.