3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A sexy and violent thriller with a surprising conclusion, October 18, 2007
In Carystown, Kentucky, the only person more mysterious than the ghost of Isabella Moon is the woman she has been appearing to. Kate Russell arrived in Carystown just a few years ago and made a quiet life for herself in the quaint little town. But, after Isabella, who disappeared two years ago, leads Kate to the spot where her body was hastily buried, Kate risks telling Sheriff Delaney, knowing her own past is at risk of exposure. And Delaney is curious about the attractive and illusive Kate... Soon, though, he has his hands full with a murder of a town matriarch, the death of a high school student and the discovery of Isabella Moon's body. He wonders if these events are all connected and why Kate seems to be at the center of it all. Who is she, really, and what is happening in this small town?
Laura Benedict's debut novel, ISABELLA MOON, is part ghost story, part murder mystery and part examination of the dark side of small town America. While the plot is interesting and suspenseful, it is the characters who really make it compelling. Sheriff Delaney is the classic crotchety career cop, but he is also an outsider to Carystown. Despite having married a woman from one of the town's aristocratic families, he is not originally from Carystown and can see it and its inhabitants with an objective eye. Kate's friend, Francie, is a tough and independent woman, but she is carrying on a secret affair with the town's rich golden boy, Paxton. Paxton himself has a nasty drug habit and is still living at home with his ailing yet strong-willed mother.
When Francie's mother, the well-respected Lillian Cayley, is murdered right after Kate takes her searching for the body of Isabella Moon, Francie's relationships with both Kate and Paxton begin to deteriorate. As Sheriff Delaney tries to make sense of the chaos threatening his usually peaceful jurisdiction, he continues to wonder if it is all somehow tied to Kate.
By far the most engaging characters are Kate Russell and Isabella Moon herself. Isabella was just nine years old when she went missing after school one day. Her disappearance caused a media storm, but there were never any solid leads for the police to work with, and the frenzy died down. Her mother and the others who lived on the communal farm on the outskirts of town also went on with their lives. Two years later Isabella is back, appearing to her mother and, for some reason, to Kate as well. Perhaps it is because of Kate's own violent and frightening past that Isabella's ghost confides in her.
As Sheriff Delaney soon learns, Kate is not exactly who she says she is. Through the course of the novel, her past is revealed to readers: a life of abuse and humiliation at the hands of her husband Miles and a series of shocking acts that eventually lead her, shielded with a new identity, to Carystown. Kate learns, though, that the past is never really that far behind. Once Isabella shows up, Kate and others living lies in Carystown will have to face dangerous truths.
ISABELLA MOON is a sexy and violent thriller with a surprising conclusion. Benedict's style is straightforward, and while her pace is slow at times, the combination of traditional thriller and ghost story makes this book a unique read. Benedict throws many balls into the air and does a good job catching most of them. Future efforts surely will be more streamlined, making her a novelist worth watching.
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"PEOPLE WHO LIE AVOID EYE CONTACT", October 1, 2007
"People who lie avoid eye contact. And she wasn't lying. At least, not about this." Kate Russell knew very well that she was telling the truth, but would anyone believe her? The disappearance of nine-year-old Isabella Moon some two years ago continued to haunt Sheriff Bill Delaney. Personally, he believed she had run away. Nonetheless, the fact that she had never been found, dead or alive, only compounded the mystery. Carystown, Kentucky was a quiet small town, not the sort of place one would look for a mystery. That is, until Isabella disappeared.
Kate is a recent arrival in this Southern community and a psychic, a gift she wished she did not have. She has come to tell the sheriff that she can take him to Isabella's grave because the dead girl has spoken to her. What would your reaction be to such a claim? And then, what might follow if Kate's story is true?
Laura Benedict's debut novel is a blend of romance, the paranormal, and crime. Unfortunately, for Kate and the sheriff Isabella is only the first to call on Kate for help and the discovery of the girl's body leads to even darker secrets long kept hidden in the hearts and psyches of Carystown's citizenry. As is often true things aren't as they seem nor are people.
Isabella Moon is a story for those who like their mysteries laced with romance and the supernatural. While for this reader the tale seemed to be rather loosely conceived so that it meandered to a conclusion rather than building to it, Isabella Moon is still a first novel worth noting.
- Gail Cooke
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
refreshing original mystery, October 3, 2007
It has been two years since nine years old Isabella Moon disappeared and the failure to resolve the case eats at Sheriff Bill Delaney. Rationalizing that these things do not happen in quaint Carystown, Kentucky fails to lift the despondent law enforcement official.
No one is more surprised than newcomer Kate Russell when she sees the ghost of Isabella; she follows the spirit to the spot where the little girl was buried. It takes tremendous will power for Kate to inform Bill what she saw as she has dark secrets that could lead to her arrest. Initially Bill assumes Kate is a flake, but he cannot get her statement out of his mind; so reluctantly he digs at the spot she mentioned and uncovers the corpse. Clues lead to Paxton Birkenshow, a blue blood with plenty of money. He is seeing Kate's best friend Francie, a black woman who does not want their relationship made public as her mother believes he is weak. Paxton and Kate mutually despise each other, but she has other woes besides being a suspect in the Isabella murder; her dangerous secret has come to town to reclaim her. These secrets keep Bill busy while changing his life forever.
This is a refreshing original mystery that occurs in a twenty-first century Peyton Place like town. There are many key interesting characters with some providing a third person point of view that moves the exciting story line forward with a reasonable degree of believability and understanding. ISABELLA MOON is a multifaceted police procedural intertwined with subplots that come together to forge a well written recommended whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
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