Isabella Moon, by Laura Benedict
Isabella Moon, by Laura Benedict
Reviewed by SusanAshlea
I picked up Isabella Moon because the author is local I like to support local artists. Since it’s paranormal fiction, I knew I could get into it, and it’s set in Kentucky, which isn’t far from where I live. I ordered the book from Amazon.com and waited patiently for 3 weeks to get the book. I had originally wanted to read and review it back in December but that didn’t work out. I finally got the book, read it, took a few weeks to think about it, and alas, here is the review.
A few years ago, Isabella Moon went missing. No one has seen hide nor hair of her since, and no information has been brought forth, leaving it a true unsolved mystery. That is, until one day Kate Russell had a vision, which she promptly reports to the local sherrif, Bill Delaney. Kate continues to see the ghost of Isabella, who even shows Kate where she is buried. The sheriff mostly blows it off, chosing instead to investigate Kate. Kate is a virtual unknown in Carystown, having drifted into town a couple of years before with no history to speak of and only a few friends in town. Her boyfriend, Caleb, works out of town and only makes a few weekend appearances.
Once Kate comes forward with her story, everythings seems to come unglued for the Sherrif, especially when one of Kate’s only friends winds up dead. It isn’t until he hears Kate’s alibi that Bill Delaney thinks her cockamamie story might have some truth to it, though he still keeps a keen eye on her at all times, even discovering that her name is an alias. As for Kate herself, Isabella isn’t the only ghost haunting her; a ghost from her past threatens to steal her peaceful existence in her new home as well.
I had a hard time getting into this book, but it wasn’t because of the actual book. Mostly, it’s because I’d been gorging myself on Young Adult novels like Blue Bloods and House of Night for a few months. Those are all very easy reads and you don’t have to do a lot of work to keep up with the plot. However, Isabella Moon is an adult novel and you can’t skim through it. When I first started reading the book, I could only take in about 20 pages each night because there is a great deal of information coming at you from the get-go and in order to really get the timeline I had to pay close attention. That’s not to say that the book isn’t well written, because it is. I simply had to retrain my brain to read something of this nature.
I have always enjoyed a good murder mystery, and Isabella Moon delivered. There wasn’t a whole lot of paranormal stuff going on outside of the random appearances of the little girl’s ghost, though. The murder mysteries are pretty intriguing, and I think throughout the book, no fewer than 5 deaths are investigated. What really intrigued me more than any other part of the story was when we saw flashbacks of Kate’s former life. It’s when those proverbial “ghosts” start to haunt her that the story really came alive for me.
The characters in the book were well developed, except for Sheriff Bill; he just fell a little flat to me. The other characters were wonderful, including the dispicable Janet Roarke and disgusting Paxton Birkenshaw. I think everyone knows a few people in their real lives that mirror those two: selfish, entitled, and willing to do anything to get who or what they want. But Kate was the richest character of the bunch, and I think it’s because we saw so much of her life through flashbacks. We saw her grow and develop into the hermit-like person that graced the first page of the book.
One of the best parts of Isabella Moon is the imagery. Laura Benedict does a masterful job at describing each character and their surroundings so well that I can see them in my mind’s eye. I often suffer from “blank face” syndrome when I read: the characters are there in my imagination, but their faces are blank. But that is not the case with this book; each character, each house, each diner and downtown thorougfare is described so well that it’s very vivid in my imagination.
The action picks up about 100 pages in, and even though the mystery of Isabella Moon is solved, it’s somewhat anticlimactic compared to the other stuff going on in the book. I imagine the author intended it to be that way because at the heart, the book is about Kate and her story. The end took me awhile to process and it took me a few weeks to decide if I liked it or not. In the end, I think I do like it, though in my uneducated opinion, I think the ending was best served without the final chapter.
All in all: a very good read and I recommend it. It’s the author’s first published novel and I can only wish mine will be as good. ;-)
If you would like to find out more about Laura Benedict, you can visit her website, www.laurabenedict.com Stay tuned for a review of her most recent book, Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts.
What a great and detailed review. I have heard of this book but wasn’t anxious to grab hold of it after reading so many YA parnormal recently, much like yourself. At least now I have a much better idea of what I can expect and I will put it on my to read list ASAP.