Customer Reviews

Hunter's Moon (Tales of the Sazi, Book 1)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

People know him as Tony Giodone. No one knows his real name. He is a hitman, hired assassin, and a werewolf. Tony is still getting used to what he has become. One year ago he had been stalking his mark, but his mark ended up ripping Tony's throat out. With no one to teach him how to deal with his new abilities, Tony taught himself. He has learned which scents mean he is being lied to and which mean someone fears him. But most scents he has yet to figure out. He is slowly learning how to use his changes to his business advantage, except during the full moon when he locks himself away.

Sue Quentin won the lottery last year. She should be happy, thrilled. Instead, she wants to hire Tony to kill her. The moment she meets Tony she is disturbingly attracted to him. He returns that attraction. Even when she accidently learns he is a werewolf, she feels the pull of him.

Their relationship is still on shaky ground when Tony's enemies decide to harm Tony by going after Sue. Tony and Sue find themselves in a world of high stakes card games, kidnapping, larceny ... and shapeshifters of all kinds.

**** This super natural romance is told from Tony's point-of-view. The back ground of the shapeshifters does not go into deep detail. Readers learn only what Tony does as the story progresses. Yet is gave me enough information to actually thirst for another glimpse into the darker world. Do not think that you will easily put this book down whenever the telephone rings. Very well done! ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I gave this four stars for the writing and for the talent it took to come up with this unusual plot. I, however, could not get beyond the fact that the hero was an assassin, a member of the Mafia (Family), liked his job and did not hesitate to kill for money. I'm not saying that he got a thrill out of killing, not at all, but nevertheless this was the job he chose to do. I do not buy the fact that the victims deserved to be killed, or that he took jobs of that type deliberately. I also don't think this deserves a sequel if the characters are to remain the hero and heroine. Then it would no longer be a romance, but a mystery or horror story. The ending was complete in itself and did not hint at a followup. By the way I did not like the smell thing or the mind reading, it just overtook the story or became the story. The book was almost totally one character, the hero and the teller of the story. I barely know what the heroine's true personality, feelings, etc. or how she justified her relationship with her family and with the hero. Weakness is the only thing that comes to mind and I don't think that was the authors' intention. Since most of the other readers enjoyed the book, I feel that it must be a matter of taste and this story left a bad taste in my mouth.

Reading this book is an exercise in remaining detached, unless of course you fancy living in the mind of the first person male narrator - a hit man for hire who charges extra for rape and torture. Tony, the hit man's love interest is Sue, a needy, whiney, depressed recent lottery winner who can't come up with any better way to make use of her millions to escape her controlling family from hell then to hire Tony to kill her.

This lovely plan is complicated by the fact that Tony is also a werewolf. Sue inadvertently gets locked in the hotel room with Tony on the night of a full moon and learns his secret. They begin to bond due to Tony's werewolf telepathic powers and love follows. But will Sue's love for Tony be enough to change her mind about wanting to die? Does Tony love Sue enough to let her go by killing her for pay if she doesn't change her mind?

The book held my attention but I found it deeply disturbing. As another reviewer mentioned, I was most upset by the authors' attempts to suggest that being a part of the mob and earning your living by killing is just another lifestyle choice. The respected therapist that Sue sees (who is also a childhood friend of Tony) doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong with Sue spending her life with a man who may end up on death row and tells her that if thought Tony could be helped by being put in jail, he would turn him in. I wanted to shout, "What about helping the people that Tony is planning on murdering you amoral moron!" If Tony had been involved in illegal gambling or even drug running, the simplistic arguments offered in favor of moral relativism might have worked better, but I draw the line at attempting to justify cold-blood murder. It would have been far more palatable if Tony simply didn't care that it was wrong and left it that.

The were-world is secondary to the mafia world and doesn't make a real appearance to the final chapter where a huge and distracting information dump is done despite the fact that it is irrelevant to the book.

I found this an odd choice for a romance book. There was a love story of sorts, but few of genre markers were in evidence, with emotional resonance being the most obviously absent. Like many reader the recommendation by LKH drew me in, but I found it a very different sort of book. LKH's heroine, Anita Blake is a deeply moral character who only kill's the bad guys, even though what defines a bad guy has evolved over the series and was not the model for Nick. A closer match is LKS's Edward, the sociopath assassin, but even Anita was smart enough not to get involved with him.

Not recommended for readers looking for conventional morality or sympathetic characters. But if you want to read something completely different, this isn't half bad.

Based on the glowing reviews here, I ordered this book and its sequel. I haven't read the sequel yet, but this one left me cold. While the idea of telling the story from the hit man's point of view is a different one, most of the characters, especially Sue's family, are so two-dimensional (and that's generous) that they aren't believable. And Sue, the supposed heroine, had me just begging to give her a big slap of reality--she bugged the bejeebers out of me, even though I wanted badly to like her.

Also, I find the idea that our hero is willing not only to kill for money, but to rape and torture if you pay extra, makes him less than loveable. Yes, the distinction is made between Tony, who does this as a job, and psychopaths who do it for pleasure, but it is a big hit to his likeablility factor.

So you have a whiny, wimpy heroine who would rather die than stand up for herself, even with all the money in the world, and an amoral, homicidal hero. The whole shapeshifter plot gets lost under that until the very end of the book. I wish I hadn't already bought the sequel. If one is looking for riveting, believable paranormal romance, I suggest books by Kim Harrison, Marjorie Liu, and Kelley Armstrong.

The more I think about this book, the more irritating it becomes. I especially disliked the patronizing, moralistic tone that crept in as the story progressed. I wouldn't have said there was such a thing as "politically correct nihilism" before reading this. We are not only expected to sympathize with a character who kills innocent people for money and feels no regret, but the novel implies that we should be ashamed for judging him. Personally, I didn't see why he was supposed to be more sympathetic because it was "just business." If anything, it made him seem more cold-blooded. At least a psychopath like Scotty can be excused on the grounds of being born that way, but Tony clearly had a choice.

More nauseating yet, we're offered a list of flimsy justifications for this "career choice" (from the mouth of a licensed psychiatrist, no less), which basically amount to "It's been around since the beginning of time" (so have child prostitution and slavery--are those okay, too?) and "If he doesn't do it, someone else will" (Which makes him totally blameless, apparently), and, my personal favorite, "Everybody dies." Sue is supposed to be intelligent, but if that were the case, I think she would do a better job of knocking over these ridiculous arguments. She never says anything more articulate than, "But it's wrong to kill!!" creating the illusion that the pro-hitman viewpoint has the intellectual advantage (it doesn't.) This same psychiatrist seems to feel that there is an inherent conflict between "being yourself" and "being human" (ie, having values). So he advises Sue to give up her moral values in order to be true to herself. WHAT?

Oh yeah, and apparently we need the Mafia and should support them because they keep the gangs in check. Uh, isn't that supposed to be the cops' job?

I really wanted to see Sue grow a spine and verbally castrate these stupid, condescending jackasses, but alas, it was not to be.

Which brings me to another problem. Sue. We're told again and again that she's not weak, that she's actually quite intelligent and strong-willed and just has self-esteem issues. I see no evidence of this. She never puts up much of a fight at any point in the novel; the one time she confronts Tony about his career as a hitman, he instantly shouts her down and she curls up into a meek little ball. Yeah, they're going to have a healthy relationship.

Redeemed villains can be wonderful protagonists, but Tony clearly doesn't want to be redeemed; he thinks he's A-OK the way he is. It's really kind of a shame the authors chose to populate their novel with such vile characters, because their writing--while amateurish in places--does show glimmers of promise and talent. I liked the way they brought us into Tony's world of enhanced smells...and in fact, the writing itself is the only reason I'm not giving this one star. But as for creating sympathetic protagonists, as far as this reader is concerned, they failed dismally.

I bought this book on all the rave reviews, based on that I think my expectations were very high.

This whining pathetic female was such a turn off. We all live in a real world of people like her, so of course I don't want to have to read about her, I like my females to be smart or at least courageous, but I hated this one from the start. I couldn't give this book away fast enough, I was scared it might contaminate my other books. I don't know why so many people gave it good reviews?????

The author's first mistake is to give us characters we can't even like: a murderer-for-hire as a hero???? and a whiney "heroine" who doesn't even have the guts to do herself in. I can only assume the author was attempting to "break new ground" but this was NOT the way to do it. This novel is not the least bit entertaining, so don't waste hours out of your precious lifespan reading it. If you like suspense with your romance, or unlikely heroes, read Virginia Kantra instead. For horror, try Laurell K. Hamilton.

I was surprised by how well I enjoyed this book. She used the first person narrative from the males perspective and it was perfect. The heroine wasn't a weeping willow by the time he got done with her (he even sent her to therapy). It was a little disconcerting how unapologetic he was about his career choice. But a still tight, interesting read.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a little different than some of the other werewolf stories; which in its self is a nice change of pace. It started out with a twist, she wants to hire a killer, but for herself, not for someone else. The author did not throw in a lot of sex scenes to make this story fly and move. The story inside the story is a really enjoyably orginial touch. The ending was not the run of the mill ending either. If you are looking for that little something different and a change of pace, I think that you will enjoy this book. Pick it up and enjoy.!!!

I didn't know what to expect when I first picked up Hunter's Moon. A male POV? A heroine who wasn't perfect and wanted to die? From the first page to the last, I tried my best not to neglect my other real life obligations. Didn't work. I kept sneaking back to see what else Tony and Sue would be getting into, out of, or learning. I wasn't disappointed. C.J. Adams and Cathy Clamp created a fun world, filled with interesting ideas and characters.
Now, if only, I had the sequel in my hands...