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Blood Moon
Rubbing & edgewear; chips; creases (some heavy); surface tear on spine; opens hard to a few spots; yellowing; otherwise overall clean & sound. 352 pages
- GenresHorror
352 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 28, 2023
Burgess wrote a handful of novels for Leisure Books in the 80s, but this is the first one of his I have read. The back blurb is useless and misleading except it mentions the legend of the Windigo. Our lead, Travis Randell, although Cree, was raised in a city (Winnipeg?). Poor, he saw many friends succumb to drugs and alcohol, and witnessed his brother being shot to death. After dropping out of high school, he doggedly decided he wanted out of the life and earned his graduation certificate before attending community college for a degree in journalism. His wife Nicole urged him on all the way and when the novel starts, they are driving their old beater car to Batesville in Northern Canada where Travis scored his first job.
Travis knows he needs experience to make it big in journalism and hence accepted the job in little Batesville. Not much happens in the sleepy town, and just north of it can be found a small Indian reservation. The prologue, set 100 years ago, features a young Indian bride to be going off into the wilds for her 'trial', only to found later eating her suitor's dead body. Ugh! Burgess serves up Windigo as an evil, gluttonous spirit who can possess people when it is not eating them. The theme of cannibalism pervades the book!
Burgess introduces an array of characters and we know almost right off the bat that the Mayor and some other 'notables' in town are up to something hinky, but you must wait until almost the end to find out their secret. Meanwhile, Travis gets the lay of the land and bodies keep turning up eaten. All of this is hushed up by the Mayor and the paper where Travis works, but he knows there is something going on. Only his determination to keep his first job can keep his fierce sense of investigative journalism at bay. Further, what is up with the Rez folks? Travis has standing orders to stay away from them and all news from their is carefully filtered by the paper's manager.
I really liked Burgess' style and prose and he brought the cold Northern Canada to life really well. This ended a bit abruptly, but kudos on the excellent pacing for the rest of it. Not really spooky, but there is some killer foo when the Windigo comes around. Some neat twists and turns to boot. Not a literary masterpiece, but a great slice of 80s horror. 3.5 stars, rounding up!!
Travis knows he needs experience to make it big in journalism and hence accepted the job in little Batesville. Not much happens in the sleepy town, and just north of it can be found a small Indian reservation. The prologue, set 100 years ago, features a young Indian bride to be going off into the wilds for her 'trial', only to found later eating her suitor's dead body. Ugh! Burgess serves up Windigo as an evil, gluttonous spirit who can possess people when it is not eating them. The theme of cannibalism pervades the book!
Burgess introduces an array of characters and we know almost right off the bat that the Mayor and some other 'notables' in town are up to something hinky, but you must wait until almost the end to find out their secret. Meanwhile, Travis gets the lay of the land and bodies keep turning up eaten. All of this is hushed up by the Mayor and the paper where Travis works, but he knows there is something going on. Only his determination to keep his first job can keep his fierce sense of investigative journalism at bay. Further, what is up with the Rez folks? Travis has standing orders to stay away from them and all news from their is carefully filtered by the paper's manager.
I really liked Burgess' style and prose and he brought the cold Northern Canada to life really well. This ended a bit abruptly, but kudos on the excellent pacing for the rest of it. Not really spooky, but there is some killer foo when the Windigo comes around. Some neat twists and turns to boot. Not a literary masterpiece, but a great slice of 80s horror. 3.5 stars, rounding up!!
May 8, 2020
The Windigo is loose in a small town in Canada. A Native American superstition come true. People are being cannibalized. The towns mayor and upper members of it's citizenry are out to cover it up so they can build a resort along the banks of the river. A young new reporter to town finds himself in the middle of it all.
This book didn't have an over abundance of gore one would think about being in a cannibal novel, but it does have a little. No sex to speak of, but that's not a deterrent either. The creepy little town, with it's elders who decide who lives and dies to protect the town's secret are very well done. The way the plot unfurls and keeps you guessing at what's coming you're way next kept me interested. Probably the best Northern Canadian, Native American, cannibalistic, folklore story I ever read.
This book didn't have an over abundance of gore one would think about being in a cannibal novel, but it does have a little. No sex to speak of, but that's not a deterrent either. The creepy little town, with it's elders who decide who lives and dies to protect the town's secret are very well done. The way the plot unfurls and keeps you guessing at what's coming you're way next kept me interested. Probably the best Northern Canadian, Native American, cannibalistic, folklore story I ever read.
March 18, 2011
The remote Canadian town of Batesville has a bit of a problem...cannabalism. More than a few inexplicable cases have popped up and a small town commitee will go to any lengths to keep things quiet. Unfortunately for the town's self-appointed sheperds, newcomer Travis won't play ball and stifle his journalistic talents with bake sales and weather reports. A mission to expose the goings-on at a nearby Indian reservation soon lands Travis in the middle of small-town corruption and something that isn't merely a legend.
Blood Moon isn't all that bad, or all that great. It got three stars out of me for using the Wendigo legend as a plot device (a rather oblique one, though) as well as the fact Burgess held my attention long enough to finish the story.
Blood Moon isn't all that bad, or all that great. It got three stars out of me for using the Wendigo legend as a plot device (a rather oblique one, though) as well as the fact Burgess held my attention long enough to finish the story.
November 8, 2021
Some scary shadow is slinking about the forests. The Wind of change, the plurality of the spirits. The Wendigo washes away the joy of man and reigns death.
The book opens with a silly prologue that misguides the reader on the subject matter. The event in this section is only really tangentially related to the actual content of the book, but involves good gore. The writing is good except certain things like... THIS! It's silly and funny at first but man, does it bother me. I like the everything that doesn't involve Sharon and Travis, with the exception of the dream. Bottom line, I just didn't get what I wanted out of this book, but those few scenes i.e. the dream, the campers, the climax really teased my wagon.
I found that the author had a more recently published work called... SKINNED BABIES! wow I'll have to check that one out.
The book opens with a silly prologue that misguides the reader on the subject matter. The event in this section is only really tangentially related to the actual content of the book, but involves good gore. The writing is good except certain things like... THIS! It's silly and funny at first but man, does it bother me. I like the everything that doesn't involve Sharon and Travis, with the exception of the dream. Bottom line, I just didn't get what I wanted out of this book, but those few scenes i.e. the dream, the campers, the climax really teased my wagon.
I found that the author had a more recently published work called... SKINNED BABIES! wow I'll have to check that one out.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews