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Moonshine
Moonshine
Jul 9, 2025 10:42 AM

Author:Rob Thurman

Moonshine

Cal and his half-brother Niko's lives are settling back to normal after stopping their bloodthirsty relatives from bringing about the apocalypse. They've found a new apartment and even gainful employment by starting an investigative agency in partnership with a glamorous Upper East Side vampire. Of course, their clientele tends to be a little . . . unusual, but their money spends just the same.

Their latest job is undercover work for the Kin - New York's werewolf mafia - to sniff out proof of a set-up by a rival. The location is Moonshine, a gambling club for the otherworldly and Cal figures it will be an easy in-and-out sort of job. But as Niko likes to point out, nothing is more dangerous than overconfidence and when a brawl gets out of hand, it looks like he's right. Are Cal and Niko being set up themselves? And by people whose bite is much worse than their bark . . .

Reviews

Hilarious...a magnificent book

—— Graham Greene

Huge, bitterly funny and superbly presented montage of the false nostrums that assailed Christianity like worms

—— Sunday Times

Funny, sad, knowledgeable

—— Irish Times

Brilliant and intricate black comedy

—— Time Out

[A] meticulously researched and moving new novel

—— Camden New Journal

Unputdownable

—— Jenni Murray

The author's exhaustive research has the same ability as Sarah Waters to vividly bring to life a particular period in history.

—— The Morning Star

An engrossing novel

—— Image Magazine

She represents historical research as exciting, romantic and as offering personal catharsis.

—— History Today

Maxwell's achievement is to show how human relationships work in spite of the confines of history, language and nationality

—— Daily Telegraph

Stylishly, subtly, the enjoyment of getting to know another country is conveyed with authority and a perceptions that's rare in our careless times

—— The Oldie

An incredibly emotional read

—— Grazia

A thrilling page-turner

—— Alexander Larman , Spectator

This is a novel that strikes both horror and joy in the reader, the first-person narration deftly articulating Judith's escalating confusion and fear ... A talent to watch

—— Lucy Scholes , The Sunday Times

A touching, delicate book, it's hitting the shelves with high hopes...On March 1, head out and buy Grace McCleen's book

—— Louis Wise , Sunday Times

A distinctive debut that pulls off the use of a child narrator in delightful style

—— We Love This Book

Touching and funny… a compelling and wholly original debut.

—— Marie Claire

Shimmers with little miracles.

—— Peggy Hughes , Scotland on Sunday

This is a promisingly bold book and McCleen is a talent to watch

—— Lucy Scholes , Sunday Times

A gripping and mesmerizing debut of an unforgettable ten-year-old heroine and her battle with good and evil… A harrowing and powerful story about isolation and belonging

—— My Weekly

An original new voice... Haunting and absorbing, this is a joy to read

—— Jackie Carrier , Suffolk Free Press

A seemingly slight work that is, in fact, possessed of almost infinite depth. It's an elegant inquiry into what we can know and how we can know it - and it's gripping too

—— Erica Wagner , The Times, Books of the Year

It sets off a moving meditation on ageing, regret and the unreliability of memory

—— Sunday Express, Books of the Year

Has rightly been praised for its economy and elegance

—— Margaret Drabble , Guardian, Books of the Year

Belatedly and deservedly, this was the year of Julian Barnes

—— Mark Lawson , Guardian, Books of the Year

Exquisitely written and deeply engaging

—— Lorrie Moore , Guardian, Books of the Year

Elegant verbal exactness, analytic finesse and a witty portrayal of contemporary and 1960's life complement the intricate plot

—— Peter Kemp , Sunday Times, Books of the Year

A worthy Booker laureate of this or any other year, our most versatile novelist...a perfect present in these last days of the book as a singular object

—— Philip French , Observer, Books of the Year

A worthy winner of this year's Booker prize: short, but certainly not slight, precise and insightful

—— Kate Cunningham , Herald, Books of the Year

This novel packed more emotion into its 150 pages than any other I have read this year

—— Bob McDevitt , Herald, Books of the Year

Melancholic, suspenseful and thought-provoking

—— Kirsty Wark , Herald, Books of the Year

Several plot twists later, what started off as a thoughtful (and fascinating) meditation on memory becomes something close to a full blown thriller

—— James Walton , Daily Mail

Essential reading for any writer, aspiring or otherwise

—— Patrick Keogh , Guardian

A meditation on memory and regret slyly conveyed through the unreliable voice of a complacent man whose past gives him a nasty surprise

—— Justine Jordan , Guardian

A deserving winner

—— Éibhear Walshe , Irish Times, Books of the Year

Masterful, gripping and, above all, surprising

—— Victoria Hislop , The Week, Books of the Year

Barnes has always has an ear for the bleak comedy of the first person

—— Olivia Cole , GQ

Novel, fertile and memorable

—— Justine Jordan , Guardian

Julian Barnes’ Man-Booker prize-winning novel has extraordinary power and emotional density

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

An eloquent meditation on relationships, emotional arrogance and the discomfort of remorse

—— James Urquhart , Financial Times

The key to this slender, tantalizing mystery is on its opening page: what you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed

—— Katie Owen , Daily Telegraph

His art is artful, often openly so, but never showy or obvious

—— Colm Toibin , New York Review

Described in Justin Cartwright’s review as 'a very fine book, skillfully plotted, boldly conceived’

—— Guardian, Holiday Reads

I am eager to read it, though I hear it needs to be read twice to be fully appreciated

—— Colm O'Gorman , Independent
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