Beneath the Blood Moon

Beneath the Blood Moon by Darren Wills
5*
A social thriller set in the current times, this book provides an excellent action packed read.
It portrays the life of a young couple initially trying to overcome the husband's indiscretion and succeed only to be thwarted by the actions of a sadistic psychopath.
The disappearance of the wife, leads the partner to assume she could not forgive him, despite the loving caring relationship they had rebuilt. Only for her to return three months later. His desperation for their life to resume leads him to deny the changes in her. Until trying to rekindle and resume their life together becomes a nightmare.
The character's feel real and draw the reader into the story. The language and style enable you to relate to the emotional trauma experienced and empathise.
As the wife's actions become more sinister, he begins to challenge them, will this be a predictable ending to a great story or not, read it and find out.
Katie Anna
@sunnybookreviews who received a free book to review

"I had killed her, and I was glad I killed her."

This is the opening line to Darren Will's horrifying tale, where we follow the puppet master at the center of it in interspersed chapters headed Malevolence. A word described in the opening foreword as "the quality of causing or wanting to cause harm or evil."

The story begins with secondary school teacher Dominic in police custody after a fatal shooting at his home. Contrary to the evidence, he claims he is not guilty, despite admitting to the shooting.

The next chapter goes back 35 years to a home birth undertaken in secret. The two scenes are linked and provide the solution to the shooting. It is up to the reader to piece the puzzle together.

I do not want to give too much of the plot away, but would simply say, that it relies on a premise much loved by many of the previous writers of the thriller or horror genre.

Although, for the rational minded, ultimately the central theme of the plot may be a bit too far fetched, the book nevertheless provides more than enough thrills and in the end gruesome moments.
It also has that spinetingling last page that will keep the reader guessing.
Overall, not a bad way to spend a few hours in the company of some rather disagreeable individuals.

This is a mix of horror and thriller and I think it comes close to being great, but it misses the mark. The dialog and characterization was a bit two-dimensional. However, I think the plot here is a unique one and the book was not unenjoyable, just needs polishing.

This is an ok mystery, but for some reason didn't ever really feel comfortable with this book. The very first scene was off putting, maybe because the description of the surroundings so well.
The story is a bit complicated, a couple is finding their way back to one another after he cheats, and it looks like things are going in the right direction. All of the sudden, she changes her mind and he needs to understand.

There is a lot of foreshadowing here, so there is a sense foreboding throughout the book, Violence seems inevitable and it is. Its pretty gruesome but does come to a resolution.

Will keep you guessing until the very end. Filled with tension and very suspenful. Enjoy this well told thriller by a new to me author. Happy reading!

Title: Beneath the Blood Moon
Author: Darren Wills
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd.
ISBN: 9781838597467
Edition: E-Book
Publication date: 04/03/2020

Content:
After a woman gives birth in a shady upstairs room, a rich couple buys her child. Dominic Walker is arrested fourty-five years after this for murder and his story is so unbelievable that the police cannot believe it either, although he is only a teacher. He and his wife were only rebuilding their marriage when Laura, his wife, suddenly dissappears.
When she returned months later out of the blue, she was totally different and it even seems Laura is not the same person anymore.
Meanwhile danger is lurking wich is connected to the event that has happend fourty-five years ago.

Opinion:
In my opinion the change of views in this book is too often. After reading about ten minutes the chapter is already over. I think that the idea of this book in general would be great, although it is a bit predictable (at least throughout the last half of the book). It was okay-ish, I guess. The sentence structure and wording was quite good and understandable. Nothing was interrupting the fluency of reading.

Conclusion:
All in all, this is an okay-ish book for thriller fans. I would not specifically recommend it but I would NOT not recommend it either, because (like I said) the idea in general was great!

Wow - this is a journey I thoroughly enjoyed. You can tell that the author is an Alfred Hitchcock Fan, though this is in no way a pastiche. This is a new voice in thriller writing. You'll love it.

Death is indeed coming...

Beneath The Blood Moon is one hell of a story! The twists, the turns, the absolute shock I felt reading...just get it read!

The only downside was I worked out the plot early.

I did enjoy this book however it was obvious from the start which way the book was going to go. This does not detract from the story in itself but I kept wishing that the author has not made it so clear from the start, as if this was not the case the book would have been worth far more stars. All I all a good book.

This was a quick read that I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about.

The premise seemed intriguing, and it had alot of potential to be a great story.

However, I feel as though I guessed all the twists much earlier than I was meant to. I'm not sure if that was due to the fact that I read alot of these types of books, or just because it wasn't executed well.

The chapters were also very short; almost like diary entries. I didn't mind this, but I can see it being a problem for others.

I want to say this is an amazing book, a slow-burning thriller with some suspense on edge moments. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as I expected to. I thought the beginning dragged abit for me and I thought the dialogues were abit snippy 💁🏻 I thought it was...boring (I'm sorry for being blunt here I just don't know how to put this in a nice way) I do want to say though the pace and writing style was well done! It just this book wasn't for me 🙈 I only liked the mystery perspective and I'd say about 75% was when I was really intrigued. The concept of this story was very interesting and I love this cover 🤩 I want to make it clear I'm not pointing out flaws of the author's work, though it may seem that way, its not. I'm just stating my opinion on how I feel, nothing personal against the author. I would still recommend this book to mystery thriller lovers out there 😉
Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐

Beneath the Blood moon, gripped me right from the start. The synopsis seems confusing, but don't hesitate, please get this, you'll feel the satisfaction of having read a good mystery/thriller. The story has lot of details about surroundings, its kind of world-building and the characters well blend with the story.
Thank you NetGalley, Darren Wills and Troubador publishing for reader's copy of this novel. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way.

What a Fantastic book!! I love a book when after reading the first page I can not put it down, well this is the book. I loved that the book was very descriptive and the characters felt like you knew them. If you want an awesome thriller trust me read this one!

This was an easy to read thriller that kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend....

i really enjoyed reading this, i liked the mystery in the story and I enjoyed going on the journey with the characters.

Really enjoyed this couldn’t put it down. I was hooked right from the start. It was full of twists and turns. A good ending. I hope a sequel is in the works

This was a good solid read, worth your time and effort. Recommended for anyone who loves something that doesn't disappoint.

Horror or thriller not sure which. I enjoyed this book, it was well written with good characters but I don't know - I want to give 4 starts by my heart says 3 - my opinion only

This was a great read, enjoyed it thoroughly, was hooked from the first page, loads of twists and turns, would recommend it x