Reviews: Flirting with The Moon by Andrew McDermott
Flirting with The Moon is a crime thriller by Andrew McDermott. Los Angeles detective Joe Dean is hunting The Moon, a serial killer who has struck on the first night of each new moon for the past eleven months. Desperate to catch the killer, Joe offers a one-week holiday in Vegas to any cop who gets the job done. Dean is an alcoholic, married to his job, whose wife leaves him, taking their son with her. On the twelfth night of the new moon, he sends his partner Sanchez to pick up Mexican takeaway. She doesn’t return. When Joe arrives back at the precinct, he finds a Mexican takeaway box, delivered with something warm inside it. He has to take a long drink of Jack Daniels before he can bring himself to look in the box…
Twenty-five years later, now working as a private investigator, Joe stumbles across a book called “Flirting with The Moon” in a library he is staking out for a client. The dedication inside says: “For my old friend Joe.” Published in Sydney, Australia, it leads Joe to a small coastal town in Far North Queensland. After so many years, is The Moon in Candle Stick Bay?
The opening scene with the takeaway box delivered to the police station was chilling. McDermott built the tension beautifully, from the moment Joe’s partner disappeared to the point where he was drinking alcohol at his desk, staring at the unopened box. The author cut the scene here, only revealing the contents of the box later. This was an excellent example of psychological terror. Also, having a serial killer write a book describing their own crimes was a plot device I had not seen used before, a clever idea which really hooked me into the story.
McDermott’s description of the beauty of Queensland and its beaches was strong. One example as Joe flew north toward Candle Stick Bay told of how “the ocean glistened and shone to my right, rippling like molten glass.” The dialogue was good, incorporating much Australian slang. As an Aussie myself, it was good to see some accuracy in the portrayal of our laid-back attitude and certain phrases and customs. McDermott’s writing was fitting for crime fiction, snappy and easy to read. The author was born in England but had lived for 30 years on the Gold Coast in Queensland, which explains his solid knowledge of the local people and landscape.
I would highly recommend it to fans of crime thrillers, particularly those interested in serial killers. Those put off by infrequent violence and gore may wish to bypass this one.
Post by joshfee77 » 25 Aug 2018, 20:04
OnlineBookClub.org
LAPD detective, Joe Dean comes up against a serial killer – The Moon – who changes his life dramatically with the death of the twelfth victim. He loses his career, his family and dignity when the bottle seems an easy way out.
Twenty-five years later Joe is picking up the pieces of his life, recovering from alcoholism and working as a private detective in Florida. While following a case he comes across a book called Flirting with the Moon with each chapter a recounting of the brutal murders he’d investigated all those years before, and the descriptions give details only the Moon could know. The book is taunting as it’s dedicated to Joe Dean.
The thought that The Moon got off scot-free drives Joe Dean to follow the only lead he has to chase the murderer to the other side of the world. The publisher of the book is in Sydney Australia. When he gets there, the only lead on the author is a private post box number in Far North Queensland in a town called Candle Stick Bay.
Once there the locals in the small town community treat him as a US tourist. He becomes involved in the charm of this remote region and its people while prodding for answers to questions that stir up trouble. A natural disaster cuts the already isolated community off from the world. That’s when more murders begin and Joe Dean must face his demons and solve the mystery is this killer and The Moon the same person?
I finished this book in the wee hours, I had to keep reading! All l can say is, if you’re looking for a murder mystery crime book with more twists and turns than a roller coaster, this book is for you!
Jill Smith
Gold Coast Writers Association
https://goldcoastwriters.org/
Flirting with The Moon is a ripping read that I literally couldn’t put down and was kept guessing until the very end. I thought the character development was brilliant and the scene setting, particularly in Far North Queensland, compelling. I can see the characters and can imagine the scenery as if I’m right there.
I’m truly visualising scenes, seeing it as a film and already casting Hugo Weaving, Michel Caton and John Jarratt in key roles!
Meghan Hunt. MBE
Flirting with the Moon grabbed me from the first chapter and kept me engaged page after page. The well-written suspense had me guessing until the end. I would highly recommend this fiction piece.
Kelly Cox – avid reader
Loved this well-crafted read! (5 start rating Goodreads) Marion Martineer – The Ten Penners
If you enjoy a good detective story and are looking for something different in a detective mystery, Flirting With the Moon is the book for you!. You will as I was, be kept in suspense till the final pages, as author Andrew McDermott weaves an exciting story through the characters and chain of events that places Flirting With the Moon on the top of the list when it comes to detective stories.
I enjoy a good detective story and author of Flirting With the Moon, Andrew McDermott excelled all my expectations. I give this book 5 stars. I look forward to reading more of his work.
Nola Ann Lean (Author)
Gold Coast Queensland
What a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to anyone who loves a great thriller. Well done Andy.
Noleen Williams
Reviews: The Tiger Chase by Andrew McDermott
An entertaining story about the fight for survival which is sure to raise awareness about the very real threat of extinction facing the mystical and majestic South China Tiger.
Nick Rhodes, Duran Duran
www.duranduran.com
For the first time in history, this most ancient tiger – the South China Tiger, is brought to the consciousness of the western public through story telling. The Tiger Chase has captured the spirit of the Chinese tiger, ancestral to all other subspecies, as well as the culture associated with it. I hope that the awareness it raises would encourage the reader to join us in our fight to save this cultural symbol and protector of nature from the fate of extinction.
Li Quan, Save China’s Tigers (Charity)
www.savechinastigers.org
With The Tiger Chase Andrew McDermott takes an important look at one of the most critically endangered, yet often overlooked, of the tiger subspecies. Interwoven in a novel almost as mysterious as the tiger itself is a story, in one moment heartbreaking, in another hilarious, and often terrifyingly close to being a requiem for the vanishing South Chinese tiger.
Maxine Annabell
Tiger Territory
What a treat! A tale that picks up speed, The Tiger Chase tells an action-packed story that incorporates not only drama and humor, but also a wealth of information about one of the most precious, yet most endangered, species on earth. Information delivered in an entertaining manner, avoiding the ‘preaching’ tone that so many of us involved in environmental activism adopt, and therefore bound to reach a much larger audience. ‘Kudos’ to Andrew McDermott for producing this most enjoyable, yet informative, read.
Bill (Tigerman) Frazer
Reviews: Quest of the New Templars (Coming soon)
by Andrew McDermott
Ever since The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, introduced us to the systemic power of The Knights Templar, I have lamented the vacuum left behind as they vanished from the globe in recent literature.
Not any more…the Grandmaster of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay himself, is re-incarnated in Andrew McDermott’s riveting first book of a promised series, Quest of The New Templars.
Here his progeny Jack Molay, reappears with a QUEST involving a planet-to-planet tournament between six chosen Galactic Knights.
The story is set a century from the present which makes all the intrigue and planning that has gone into the setting, the plot and characterisation of this novel even more believable. Magnificently crafted by this skilled writer, the events are trickle-fed to the reader in such a way that it is impossible to put the book down.
The Knights Templar are back and it seems that with McDermott’s Galactic Knights, they are here to stay, because Resurrection is just the beginning!
Author Davide A Cottone.
(M.A. Applied Linguistics, B.Ed., Dip.Teach., Cert Ed.TESL.)
Author Andrew McDermott 