Blood Moon

A Robert Payne Mystery, Book 1

By: Ed Gorman

Narrated by: Mark Douglas Nelson

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Former FBI agent and psychological profiler Robert Payne is on the trail of a serial killer. A 12 year old girl has been murdered and mutilated, and the detective assigned to the case wound up dead. Now Nora Conners, the girl's wealthy mother, has hired Payne to solve the murder and bring closure. After narrowing his search to three men, a televangelist, a honey salesman, and an art teacher, all living in the small Iowa town of New Hope, Payne begins to narrow the field, posing as a journalist.

That's just the start. As the daughter of one of the suspects joins the list of victim, and the woman who hired him is murdered, Payne finds himself on a race to solve the case before he himself is implicated.

Taut, suspenseful, and filled with the quirky details and character flaws that are the hallmark of Ed Gorman's fiction, Blood Moon is a wonderful introduction to a very memorable character. Be sure to follow his adventures through the other three Robert Payne novels, Hawk Moon, Voodoo Moon, and Harlot's Moon.

©1994 Ed Gorman (P)2012 David N. Wilson

Great book; tedious listen.

This was not a performance. It was simply someone reading a book. If the story hadn't been so good I would not have stuck with it. No character inflections or emotion what so ever. Too bad.

Tried to be too clever

This book had some good ideas and a strong main character. I found that the twists and turns were contrived and not very well executed.

Sick content - bad narration

The reader leaves MUCH to be desired... and as some have pointed out some of the material is extremely disturbing, in this case I feel having had the narration so droll it made it a little less disgusting to "hear" not less disgusting as context. you may feel it's jumping all over the place and really it is... it SOMEWHAT comes together in the end. I don't recommend on any level.

a rather stupid story with barely there narration

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I'd change pretty much everything. The hero starts o'k but by the end he is blindly walking into such glaringly obvious traps that one starts wondering how that guy had managed to survive and even become a private detective.
The setting (especially the end) is so melodramatically bad - it becomes morbidly funny. I kept expecting Jaws to appear, gnashing his iron teeth :) Poor puppies, rats, underground cellars, dropping guns, girls killed by dozens (all the while poor reader wonders what was the real FBI doing while dozens and dozens of kids kept dissapearing, unfortunately the author is not bound by such realistic concerns).
I do not mind gory when gory is necessary but this was excessive, over the top and mostly not needed. O'K, we know the main villain is a sadistic SOB after the first puppy - how many more explicit sadistic scenes does a reader need?

Would you ever listen to anything by Ed Gorman again?

Most definitely not.

What about Mark Douglas Nelson’s performance did you like?

Nothing. But I would be sorry for anybody who had to narrate such trash.

Could you see Blood Moon being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Please, don't.

Any additional comments?

Feel like reading about Dr.Lecter - need a dose of elegant smarts LOL

Decent storyline but wordy

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Probably, yes. In a movie the storyline would be there but the over abundance of descriptive words would not.

Any additional comments?

The overall book was good. The storyline was enjoyable. I just found that it was so incredibly wordy and overly descriptive that it was distracting. If I could talk to the author it would be to leave a bit to the reader's imagination.

loved the idea.... super hard to listen to

Would you try another book from Ed Gorman and/or Mark Douglas Nelson?

I hope this author writes more. I loved the story idea... but this first work was hard to listen to. too too much detail.

with practice will be a great series.

Protagonist Wimp

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No.

Would you be willing to try another book from Ed Gorman? Why or why not?

No.

What three words best describe Mark Douglas Nelson’s performance?

Fit the nature of the main character.

Could you see Blood Moon being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

no

Any additional comments?

The lack of professionalism and weak nature of the protagonist was off putting. There were scenes in the book, that just did not ring true, and I am one who usually gives the author slack in this department. The dialogue did not seem authentic.

A good writer, a great narrator, but. . .

If you can't handle books that include gruesome things involving puppies and children, you may want to avoid this one.

The main storyline is an ex FBI agent investigating a case - the character is likable and the investigation is intriguing and the narrator has an appropriate style and pleasant voice.

The back story is in prison and gets pretty ugly. I skipped over most of these scenes without losing the plot line of the main story.

Eventually of course the two storylines merge and it gets pretty sickening toward the end. By then I was caught up in the plot enough that I stuck it out but I had to remove the earbuds off and on.

I might try some more of the Robert Payne series as Ed Gorman is an excellent writer. The dialogue is believable and the story flows nicely.

Incoherent and unbelievable story

Decent narration but incoherent and totally unbelievable story. Primitive writing. Dialogs at the sixth grade level. I will never read anything else by this "author"

Acceptable plot, inadequate characters

Most memorable moment: former FBI agent who has been fired on twice is taken unaware for the third time in a row. He is too distracted by his thoughts to notice being tailed after telling us it is hard to tail a car in a small town. Reading is competent but uninspired.