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The Killing Moon
A violent murder casts suspicions on the unsavory members of a small Massachusetts community's police force as well as its newest member, a returned citizen with a shadowy past who engaged in unusual investigative activities during his off hours. By the author of Prince of Thieves. 50,000 first printing.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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507 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Hogan
57 books596 followersChuck Hogan is an American author. His story "Two Thousand Volts" appeared in The Best American Mystery Stories 2009. He is the co-author of The Strain Trilogy with Guillermo del Toro. His 2004 novel Prince of Thieves was adapted to film as the Ben Affleck directed The Town in 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
August 15, 2020
This is a fairly decent thriller. It has a lot going for it. It's an easy read full of snappy chapters, clear characterizations, and an old-boy network in a dying town that just seems to be rife with corruption.
We know the story, no?
As I was reading I got the feeling like I was reading a Koontz novel and that's not a bad thing. All the setup and the mystery surrounding our main character drove the novel forward even as the crime drama propelled the plot.
This is still pretty much a standard cop thriller, however. Between all the tv dramas and books, it's rather hard to say anything more than I liked the pacing quite a lot and it felt like light (if horrific) amusement. I really enjoyed the twisty ending.
We all need fluff sometimes. And this happens to be pretty good fluff.
We know the story, no?
As I was reading I got the feeling like I was reading a Koontz novel and that's not a bad thing. All the setup and the mystery surrounding our main character drove the novel forward even as the crime drama propelled the plot.
This is still pretty much a standard cop thriller, however. Between all the tv dramas and books, it's rather hard to say anything more than I liked the pacing quite a lot and it felt like light (if horrific) amusement. I really enjoyed the twisty ending.
We all need fluff sometimes. And this happens to be pretty good fluff.
October 12, 2019
This was tough to get through. I’m sticking to the GR ratings, this was ok. A lot of my issue was with the amount of characters and that each one had their own chapter. It just made it hard to remember at first and then it became annoying as it went on. Couple this with the fact that it’s not really hard to figure out and it just becomes work to finish. 😑
March 1, 2014
Very weird and slightly surprising -- but ultimately not as satisfying as I would've liked. There ends up being no one to root for or care about (and enough plot to keep you reading, but not really invested.)
February 7, 2022
A thoughtful and clever mystery that plays out right until the end. Reminded me of Quinn Colson in some respects albeit set in Massachusetts.
The ache of remaining in a small town for a lifetime is well explored on top of the typical crime elements and Maddox is given a great backstory that is eked out over the novel.
The ache of remaining in a small town for a lifetime is well explored on top of the typical crime elements and Maddox is given a great backstory that is eked out over the novel.
January 21, 2014
Wow !! As the back cover splurge say's .. 'page-turner is not the word'. I couldn't read this fast enough .. excellent story, snappy chapter's, superb character's, especially the baddies .. no time wasting for this guy, what take's other author's a page to set up and/or describe Chuck Hogan does in a sentence .. and also does it better. Highly recommended read, as it was to me, i will be reading more .. soon!!
October 7, 2011
LAME. I kept telling myself it would get better and more interesting, but it didn't. No memorable characters, I found the number of players overwhelming actually,I could not remember who was who. It was just, I don't know ? Did I say lame? Lets go with that.
April 27, 2023
Small town cop mystery. Enjoyable.
October 25, 2013
Don't ask me why but this book made me think of James Dickey's "Deliverance" — the theme song from the movie kept going through my head.
Maybe because this book has that kinda of vibe, even though it's set in western Massachusetts. But rural rednecks aren't that different wherever their roots are as this tale would have it.
Hogan, who penned "Prince of Thieves" as his debut ( it became Ben Affleck's "The Town"), has a fine sense for creating atmosphere, totally believable situations and quirky characters.
Don Maddox returns to Black Falls, the town he couldn't leave fast enough 15 years ago when he won a college scholarship. Now, he's a part-time patrolman with no law experience on a police force that no one wants to answer a 911 call, a job he won with the help of his one-time mentor, the head selectman and the former police chief.
Its a dying paper mill town, a quiet town, until the peace is shattered when a resident is brutally murdered and a local sex offender goes missing.
In a town with 2 full-time cops and a couple of part-timers whose uniforms are embroidered T-shirts and ball caps, Maddox is increasingly pressed into service to investigate mischief, mayhem, drugs, domestics, and other crimes.
There's a lot of voices here, but they all stand out in some way, and add to the story, from the deaf llama farmer and her daughter, to the wife of one of the full-time cops, Maddox's only competition for that scholarship that got him out of town.
Then the violence ramps up, the staties come in, and ugly secrets of some of Black Falls' 1,200 denizens start coming to light, including Maddox's.
A gritty, character-driven thriller.
Maybe because this book has that kinda of vibe, even though it's set in western Massachusetts. But rural rednecks aren't that different wherever their roots are as this tale would have it.
Hogan, who penned "Prince of Thieves" as his debut ( it became Ben Affleck's "The Town"), has a fine sense for creating atmosphere, totally believable situations and quirky characters.
Don Maddox returns to Black Falls, the town he couldn't leave fast enough 15 years ago when he won a college scholarship. Now, he's a part-time patrolman with no law experience on a police force that no one wants to answer a 911 call, a job he won with the help of his one-time mentor, the head selectman and the former police chief.
Its a dying paper mill town, a quiet town, until the peace is shattered when a resident is brutally murdered and a local sex offender goes missing.
In a town with 2 full-time cops and a couple of part-timers whose uniforms are embroidered T-shirts and ball caps, Maddox is increasingly pressed into service to investigate mischief, mayhem, drugs, domestics, and other crimes.
There's a lot of voices here, but they all stand out in some way, and add to the story, from the deaf llama farmer and her daughter, to the wife of one of the full-time cops, Maddox's only competition for that scholarship that got him out of town.
Then the violence ramps up, the staties come in, and ugly secrets of some of Black Falls' 1,200 denizens start coming to light, including Maddox's.
A gritty, character-driven thriller.
October 28, 2010
21/2 Stars really. Not a bad mystery on the whole, but felt a bit contrived at times and the character development got lost on the way for certain of the characters (Eddie Pale and his apple- which was so annoying at the beginning). The mystery itself was interesting though with the development of Ripspaw(sp?) and Valerie.
Did not think too much of Tracy, however, she was the least interesting character of the book. If you're going to give the main character a girlfriend, at least try to give her a real personality! I think in the end she was just there to be kidnapped and used as leverage against Maddox which is too bad. She could have had more to do with the plot if she'd been better developed.
Did not think too much of Tracy, however, she was the least interesting character of the book. If you're going to give the main character a girlfriend, at least try to give her a real personality! I think in the end she was just there to be kidnapped and used as leverage against Maddox which is too bad. She could have had more to do with the plot if she'd been better developed.
December 5, 2011
I was somewhat familiar with Hogan based on Prince of Thieves and the Strain series. This is a good story but there is a flaw in Hogan's storytelling. Problem number one is the glut of characters. Problem number two is having the characters narrate the chapters instead of a impartial, consistant narrator. Third problem is the pace. The first twist comes almost 2/3s into the book. The final twist is a good one, but comes so late that readers might have already abandoned the book. Redeems itself if you stick with it.
October 11, 2010
Like so many crime novels, this one starts out strong. Hogan has great sense of place and creates a very vivid image of the small town in rural Massachusetts where his story is set.
The problem is the melodramatic conclusion -- which beggars belief in its plausibility or the sheer survivability of the predicament in which one of the main characters finds him/herself. The end annoyed me for that reason.
Still, well worth a read. And I hope Hogan keeps at it. He's good.
The problem is the melodramatic conclusion -- which beggars belief in its plausibility or the sheer survivability of the predicament in which one of the main characters finds him/herself. The end annoyed me for that reason.
Still, well worth a read. And I hope Hogan keeps at it. He's good.
July 17, 2017
Small town MA thriller mystery. Not very thrilling or mysterious, but it wasn't bad. Sort of like Twin Peaks meets Justified in western mass.
February 12, 2023
"The Killing Moon" continues Chuck Hogan's string of solid crime stories set in a part of the country he knows so well. It has a great plot, crisp/realistic dialogue, and a fast pace but is marred a bit by an ending that seems a bit too 'made for the big screen'.
Don Maddox is a part-time cop in a nowhere town, Black Falls, in far west Massachusetts. He grew up there, left with a college scholarship in hand, and returned later as an apparent burn-out. Maddox had no LE background but that didn't matter- Black Falls needed a body for the night shift and he was available. The rest of the force consisted of your standard issue group of cop-thugs, basically running the town through threats and intimidation. Maddox knows his place in the hierarchy as a newbie with no experience, but is that really who he is? A man is murdered and in the course of the investigation Black Falls' secrets begin to spill out and Maddox mines his past to get to the bottom of the crime. And Black Falls has a lot of secrets.....
Hogan's writing in The Killing Moon is excellent, although the focus on individual characters in rotation through the many short chapters was a little jarring at times. It's a taut story with a surprising reveal at its conclusion and is well worth a read. Two points of reference that came to mind as I was reading: the movie 'The Departed' and the series 'Breaking Bad'. I'll just leave those our there without explanation....
Don Maddox is a part-time cop in a nowhere town, Black Falls, in far west Massachusetts. He grew up there, left with a college scholarship in hand, and returned later as an apparent burn-out. Maddox had no LE background but that didn't matter- Black Falls needed a body for the night shift and he was available. The rest of the force consisted of your standard issue group of cop-thugs, basically running the town through threats and intimidation. Maddox knows his place in the hierarchy as a newbie with no experience, but is that really who he is? A man is murdered and in the course of the investigation Black Falls' secrets begin to spill out and Maddox mines his past to get to the bottom of the crime. And Black Falls has a lot of secrets.....
Hogan's writing in The Killing Moon is excellent, although the focus on individual characters in rotation through the many short chapters was a little jarring at times. It's a taut story with a surprising reveal at its conclusion and is well worth a read. Two points of reference that came to mind as I was reading: the movie 'The Departed' and the series 'Breaking Bad'. I'll just leave those our there without explanation....
June 10, 2020
Loved it and as usual with chuck Hogan, it didn't disappoint.
Love chuck Hogans books and this one is mo diffrent. Maybe a little diffrent in the type of story but not in a bad way. The killing moon had me drawn in from page 1 until the very end. Loved the charectors, the small town feel and just the backwoods-ness of this small town. Great characters good and bad and a great read for anyone looking for a great author to read their works, again Hogan has yet to disappoint, I mean I LIKE the staring trilogy but too much Guillermo del Toro for my taste but still very good all Hogans solo books have been top notch.
Love chuck Hogans books and this one is mo diffrent. Maybe a little diffrent in the type of story but not in a bad way. The killing moon had me drawn in from page 1 until the very end. Loved the charectors, the small town feel and just the backwoods-ness of this small town. Great characters good and bad and a great read for anyone looking for a great author to read their works, again Hogan has yet to disappoint, I mean I LIKE the staring trilogy but too much Guillermo del Toro for my taste but still very good all Hogans solo books have been top notch.
October 2, 2024
Not going to lie, it is a really good thriller with twists I didn’t see coming. It had a “The Departed” movie feeling to it. Crooked cops, killers that are being hunted down. It was really good. It was a little hard for me to follow just because of the large cast of characters in the book. Every chapter is from the point of view of one of the characters, and it jumps around quite a bit. I personally found that a little confusing, but that’s just me. That’s my only gripe with the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2022
The middle is a big of a drag, there's many characters which you'll soon forget e.g. 2/3 the police force (meta commentary on the small town everyone knows everyone but not really??) , but the pacing is excellent and the tension well maintained. Everyone's hitting the idiot juice a bit much though, questionable decisions all round.
September 9, 2023
Not bad but far from thrilling. Small town corruption, drugs, shady characters - had all the elements of something interesting but just never quite got there. I felt like it was work just to finish the last few chapters.
March 23, 2024
Small Massachusetts town fallen on hard times, corrupt police force, illegal drug production, an undercover state police officer, a promiscuous wife, a killer all in this story. Many characters, jumps around abit, comes together toward the end.
July 20, 2017
What a ride! I fully enjoyed this novel.
February 25, 2018
Loved, Loved, LOVED this book!
November 20, 2020
This was a solid 3 until the ending. I'm a sucker for a tight well done ending. 4 stars.
September 28, 2021
2.5/10 - Blah... Prince of Thieves was the first Chuck Hogan novel I read, and it remains one of my favorite crime novels. This one is not remotely in the same league.
August 12, 2022
I never could bring myself to care much for any of the characters in this book. That, combined with some of the creepier aspects of the story, made this one a ”no” for me.
April 23, 2025
Beautifully written, interesting, deep
September 19, 2013
"The Killing Moon" is a pretty good detective story by Chuck Hogan. It doesn't hold up against some of his previous books ("Prince of Thieves," "The Standoff"), but should satisfy anyone up for a small-town-murder mixed with some small-town intrigue.
A local boy who left town after high school is back, ostensibly to take care of his recently deceased mother's estate. But he's decided to stick around, joining up with the six-person police force. He's got a girlfriend, whom he's told in no uncertain terms should not expect him to be around forever. Something's going on with this guy. When the state police are brought in to assist on a mysterious homicide, they notice immediately that this guy seems a little more confident in his police work than you'd expect.
The biggest highlight of the book, as with "Prince of Thieves," is the dialogue, always natural-sounding and a pleasure to read.
A local boy who left town after high school is back, ostensibly to take care of his recently deceased mother's estate. But he's decided to stick around, joining up with the six-person police force. He's got a girlfriend, whom he's told in no uncertain terms should not expect him to be around forever. Something's going on with this guy. When the state police are brought in to assist on a mysterious homicide, they notice immediately that this guy seems a little more confident in his police work than you'd expect.
The biggest highlight of the book, as with "Prince of Thieves," is the dialogue, always natural-sounding and a pleasure to read.
December 2, 2010
Great pacing, believable dialogue, just enough backstory and detail to fill in the reader but not so much that the book ever slows down or gets boring. Love the way each chapter title is a character. Believable characterization and good description of small-town Massachusetts (though I guess that could be any small town)... twists and turns are good, you can figure out "whodunit" at the start, which I think might be part of the point, it's just wondering if the real killer will be revealed by the end that kept me going, and the fact that it was a good story that clicked along like a movie. Maybe this one will become a film like Prince of Thieves did, I'd go to see it if so. Looking forward to reading more of his books.
November 11, 2012
A gripping thriller set in a small town where the cops are the last people you want to call.
This is the kind of book I will avoid like the plague normally. I'm a wimp and grisly deaths or gruesome violence is enough for me to have nightmares if I don't pluck up the courage to stop reading and hurl the book through the nearest window.
This book however, ensnared me from the off. There was no question of putting it down, only reading faster to finish it.
This is a smart, pacey book populated by characters who are unfathomable in their potential to be either villains or heroes.
If you like scary, thrillers, jump into this eyes wide open. I'll see you on the other side.
Check out my video review at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRQJrr...
This is the kind of book I will avoid like the plague normally. I'm a wimp and grisly deaths or gruesome violence is enough for me to have nightmares if I don't pluck up the courage to stop reading and hurl the book through the nearest window.
This book however, ensnared me from the off. There was no question of putting it down, only reading faster to finish it.
This is a smart, pacey book populated by characters who are unfathomable in their potential to be either villains or heroes.
If you like scary, thrillers, jump into this eyes wide open. I'll see you on the other side.
Check out my video review at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRQJrr...
August 5, 2013
Chuck Hogan has a knack for creating characters who are endearing, meaningful, and very, very, interesting. I really love the notion of the stories that he tells. I'm not saying I want to be in his stories, but of the 6 books I've read of his, there are characters who are just fascinating. The stories are incredibly interesting, the action, the plot, everything about his work is enjoyable, and at times extremely frightening. The Killing Moon has some very unseen twists, and Donald, the main character, was pretty awesome. There is a lot going on in this particular novel. Exciting developments, and just a fully realized story. I encourage anyone who enjoys mysteries to dive into Hogan's work. You will not be disappointed,
August 10, 2016
Perhaps my review can be summed up best by telling you the things I said while listening to this book.
1. I've heard worse Massachusetts accents.
2. If it's not this guy, I'll be shocked.
3. Really? Really?
4. Oh puleeze.
5. Maybe if this was set in another country I'd like it better.
6. Okay, either this chick and her husband are in it together or she's manipulating him.
7. Is this guy trying to get tried so he can't be a 2nd time?
8. Oh for the love of all things holy...really?
9. You make her someone else's problem? Really? That's how you solved that little problem? Really?
It gets 2 stars because there were some interesting turns of phrase. It's closer to 1 star for me though.
1. I've heard worse Massachusetts accents.
2. If it's not this guy, I'll be shocked.
3. Really? Really?
4. Oh puleeze.
5. Maybe if this was set in another country I'd like it better.
6. Okay, either this chick and her husband are in it together or she's manipulating him.
7. Is this guy trying to get tried so he can't be a 2nd time?
8. Oh for the love of all things holy...really?
9. You make her someone else's problem? Really? That's how you solved that little problem? Really?
It gets 2 stars because there were some interesting turns of phrase. It's closer to 1 star for me though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2011
I just started this based on other readers' recommendations. I am not disappointed. I stopped a Deaver novel (Sleeping Doll) after getting not a quarter the way through it. I really like this book by Chuck Hogan. Tell you more when I finish, which I suspect will be sooner rather than later.
Finished it. Liked it.I was disappointed by a soap-opera romantic ending.... but the rest of the story far overshadowed that temporary slip on the part of a compelling author. This guy, Hogan,achieves a lot and definitely is a writer. I am going to go through all his books as a result of enjoying this so much.
Finished it. Liked it.I was disappointed by a soap-opera romantic ending.... but the rest of the story far overshadowed that temporary slip on the part of a compelling author. This guy, Hogan,achieves a lot and definitely is a writer. I am going to go through all his books as a result of enjoying this so much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews