Shoot the Moon

by Billie Letts

A tale of a small Oklahoma town and the mystery that has haunted its residents for years.

In 1972, windswept DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the murder of a young mother, Gaylene Harjo, and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's pajama bottoms were discovered on the banks of Willow Creek, everyone feared that he, too, had been killed, although his body was never found.

Nearly thirty years later, Nicky Jack mysteriously returns to DeClare, shocking the town and stirring up long-buried memories. But what he discovers about the night he vanished is more astonishing than he or anyone could have imagine. Piece by piece, what emerges is a story of dashed hopes, desperate love, and a secret that still cries out for justice...and redemption.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Chick Lit, Book Club, Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction

333 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Billie Dean Letts was an American novelist and educator. She was a professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

Well-paced mystery with great small-town characters. Loved the inclusion of diary entries from the mystery in the past interspersed with the present-day storyline. Lost half a star for some minor loose ends that were not resolved and a series of miscommunications that didn’t need to be there but still an enjoyable read.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here’s a little guilty pleasure confessional on this fine Friday morning: I loooooooooove Where the Heart Is. I love Novalee Nation. I love the Wal-Mart baby. Hell, I love Wal-Mart. I love Forney. I love Sister Husband and her fornicating ways. I love the print version which sits front and center on one of my bookshelves and I the movie too. I’m not a re-reader, but it is a book I have read more than a few times. It just makes me feel good. It’s also the reason I have never read another Billie Letts story until now. (I do own a copy of The Honk and Holler Opening Soon, so one day if I’m bedridden and can’t make it to the library or work the Kindle I might actually open that one.) I state all this knowing full well the reaction from a lot of you might be . . .



To which I say: DUH.

Shoot the Moon popped up on a recommendation somewhere (I think maybe the library software this time) and I figured what the hell. Summertime is when I get in the mood for family stuff and chicklit and whathaveyou so I downloaded it immediately without even reading the synopsis. Basically the plot here involves a stranger arriving to town claiming to be the son of a long-ago murdered woman who has always been believed to have been murdered/disposed of as well. As Mark reconnects with a biological family he never even knew about, there’s still a lingering question . . .



This was a little family, a little romance and a little mystery all combined into one. It wasn’t terrible, but it paled in comparison to Where the Heart Is.

If you did like this one, I’d highly recommend Carolina Moonset.

[Connie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

The people of the small town of De Clare, Oklahoma were shocked by the murder of a young mother and the disappearance of her infant son in 1972. Thirty years later a man comes to town looking for his birth parents.

The book was part murder mystery, and part love story. The plot featured several unwed pregnant mothers who had to decide what was best for their children. Characters included mothers who were struggling to raise their children, and an adoptive child searching for his identity. Discrimination against Native Americans was a minor theme in the book. The mystery was fairly predictable except for an event at the end. This was a quick read full of quirky small town characters.

[Carol Waters · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nah, never happened. Too many quantum leaps. Oh, good, she's not my cousin.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that took me by surprise. Loved the characters and how diverse they were. Overall a solid read.

[Benjamin baschinsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3.5. The killer was concealed cleaverly. Entertaining, fast read.
A change of pace .

[Hyouten · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first thing that I see people talk about this book is its small town Oklahoma setting. Having lived in a small town myself (though not as small as DeClare, but comparable), I appreciate the simplicity of its institutions as well as its residents. In terms of writing, I think it’s a smart move. It keeps your character count small and confined conveniently in one small town.

Don’t be fooled, however. I did not like Shoot the Moon. If I were to sum up my thoughts about this book in a few words, I’d say it was boring. Not just because nothing exciting really happened, but the writing style itself failed to engage me.

Shoot the Moon sells itself as a mystery novel with some romance sprinkled here and there. When I read the synopsis, it was intriguing. I was hooked. The excitement stopped there, unfortunately, because the events that our protagonist Mark Albright went through were predictable, save for one revelation at the end. This big revelation that you spend the entire book reading about is indeed unpredictable, but the way you find out about it is so anti-climactic that you’re left with disbelief. There could have been a lot more plot twists and shady characters that could make the story a lot more sinister, but I guess Letts decided to play it safe.

As for the writing style, I also found it boring. Letts tries to be descriptive but falls short of her attempt, and immediately after said attempt, the subsequent sentences were undescriptive. I’m not sure if this is her writing cadence but it’s definitely jarring. The characters’ personalities are also quite uneventful. They’re like robots, simply acting within the set parameters and never showing any dynamic.

Overall, Shoot the Moon had the potential to be something more. The premise is very interesting and there are a lot of workable possibilities to really keep the reader on its toes. Unfortunately, Letts chose the vanilla route, leaving the book as interesting as a town whose residents know each other, with Walmart as its main commercial hangout spot.

[Cranky Commentary (Melinda) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waiting for my book order to arrive, knowing I had another few days, and a blizzard that made traveling to the nearest bookstore more than I wanted to take on, I found this book in the back of my bookcase. After reading "Where the Heart Is", I had followed up with "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon". Ms. Letts' characters charmed me in the first book, but by the second, they began to wear thin and even border on annoying, so this third aquisition had gone unread. I forced myself to begin reading, and found this book to be a nice surprise. The characters are still poor, colorful, small town residents of Oklahoma, but this time involved in the brutal murder case of a young mother and the disappearance of her baby, which makes for more balance against the quirky town and it's people. The diary entries of the young soon-to-be mother are at first simply facts the reader can use to solve this crime, but by the end of the book, one grieves for the girl who wrote the entries. Good mystery, good romance, good entertainment.

[Sharon Huether · Rating 5 out of 5]

1972 in De Clare Oklahoma, a child is missing; the mother Gaylene Harjo is found murdered.

Thirty years later a stranger come to town to find his birth mother and something about his real family. Mark Albright found out the family name "Harjo" before he arrived in De Clare.

The town was buzzing with the information. Could this be little "Jack Harjo" ? Mark did a lot of searching of the family and his late mother's friends and her diary.

When the truth was uncovered; it never soothed the wound. It causes more hurt than before in some families.
Mark was able to move on and was happy.

The author's words brought the reader into the town with the characters; getting lost in a different place.

Loved the book.

[Ginger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could give this way more than 5 stars. The book drew me in from the beginning and didn’t let me go until the last page. I couldn’t put it down. So many twists and turns which the reader will never see coming.

It has a little bit of everything...mystery, a smidge of romance, lies, family drama and determination to get to the truth.

[Cait S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm realizing recently that this is my favorite genre. This small town, buried secrets, serious drama murder mystery. The books always go so fast and I get entirely wrapped up in the storyline and how it's all unfolding.

This book was great. I wasn't as taken with some of the characters as I usually am but the mystery itself made up for it in this case. I just went through Billie Letts' list of works and I wish she had more books! I would pick them all up after reading this one.

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a sort of Hallmark card of a story. The cover promises "a little bit of mystery, a small piece of romance" and that's what you get. It's the sort of thing you're gonna like if you like that sort of thing. It's not a great story, but it's a story. If you like absurdly happy endings, don't mind absurdities & reading about Wal-Mart as THE place to shop, and can deal with simplistic characters grab some Billie Letts.

[Jerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book fit a bit better with my tastes as a mystery than the previous Letts book, Where the Heart Is.
Lou Diamond Phillips narrated the audio book and did a pretty good job. It was an older audible so it had all that irritating background music. I had it almost figured out but there was a twist that did surprise me. I’ll admit I got a bit teary at the epilogue. As before – entertaining but not exceptional.

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this as an unabridged audiobook and though the reader did a great job with all of the voices (and there sure were a heck of a lot of characters!) and kept up a nice casual pace which didn't put me to sleep, I found the book to be disappointingly average.

Shoot The Moon starts out describing life and gossiping about the inhabitants of a small town that is shocked when a young boy goes missing and his mother is found dead. The boy "Nicky Jack" is never found but his pajama bottoms are ominiously located. The book then fast forwards to the present day when the child, now a grown man, heads back to town to learn about his mysterious past.

Mark is now a successful veterinarian and has always had the very best that money can buy but when his adoptive parents die he finds evidence that maybe his life wasn't meant to be lead tending to pampered pooches in California. When he arrives in Oklahoma his appearance opens a great big moldery bag of worms.

Mark or "Nicky Jack" as he's known in Oklahoma is alright as characters go and the cast full of small time folks are okay as well. Unfortunately, it's all pretty average. There isn't a lot of spark to hold this little mystery tale together and I have a feeling that if I were reading this as a regular book it would've been far too easy to put down. It needed more life, more humor, more something . . .

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well.
I ended up LOVING this book. I had read a few pages and had read the back blurb a couple of times and had convinced myself that I was NOT going to like this book. I finally picked it back up (because I was SO tired of Jane Eyre) and read it in 1 day. I LOVED this book.
Its the story of a young girl, who finds herself pregnant, gives birth and then is murdered (and its never solved) and supposedly, her son is murdered as well. Fast forward 20+ years and a young man comes in to the town looking for the young girl, claiming she was his mom, HE is the long-thought-dead child and turning everyone and everything on its ear.
Just when I thought I knew who did it, the author would throw something else into the mix and make me doubt everything. And the ending was a COMPLETE surprise to me, which is rare.
A really good book!

[Corina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rare book. I am so glad that I stumbled on to this one. It's a complicated story, simply told. It has the feel of the author sitting down with a friend and telling the story.

It's the story of Nicky Harjo who is ten months old when his mother, an unwed teen, is brutally murdered and Nicky goes missing. After days of searching, the baby is presumed dead. A suspect is arrested and although there is little, if any evidence against him, he kills himself before trial. And so the case is closed. However, 30 years later, Mark Albright, upon the death of both of his parents, discovers that he was adopted when he was ten months old. He travels from California to Oklahoma to confront his mother about why she didn't want him. When he arrives in the small rural town, he finds out his mother was killed and her ten month old baby was taken, a most likely, murdered as well. What follows is the story of Mark/Nicky investigating not only the murder but who his mother really was and discovering who he is.

Excellently written.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fine. Nothing to "write home about", and certainly not one I'd rush out to go buy... but it was fine. Unfortunately the audiobook producers thought it wise to insert obnoxious chimes in-between every chapter that covered up that last few words spoken at the end, so I think that took me out of being in the moment enough to spoil it for me. I never really felt a bond with any of the characters, nor lost myself in the story, and I didn't buy all of their motives for acting the way they did. Sure, a mother wanting to protect her disabled son, I get - not wanting him taken away, sure. But to murder an 18yr old girl living in a trailer because she MIGHT tell someone about something that she SUSPECTED had happened?! Who would've believed her!? She had been disowned by her father, and forced to live apart from the family home, while the murderer's husband was the freaking CHIEF OF POLICE!! Who would be more believed/ believable, I ask you...

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is something of a boomlet for Billie Letts among the critics, but I can't really see it. This book doesn't hold together very well. For instance, the central character morphs from the mild-mannered, Gucci-wearing, latte-sipping, Volvo-driving veterinarian to the stars from Beverly Hills into the part-Indian, tough-as-nails, Oklahoman getting to the bottom of a family mystery. Not convincing. Neither was the love story between him and his cousin. The minor characters were very colorful, but it wasn't enough.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery. As someone from Oklahoma, I did shake my head at the cousin trope. 😮


Summer Reading Challenge - A Book A Friend Has Read - Book Club Read

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book

[Rickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book because it was once a #1 New York Times Bestseller and because the author, Billie Letts, is an Oklahoman. Being an Okie author myself, I wanted to get a feel for what it takes to be a New York Times Bestseller. Shoot the Moon was an enjoyable read. It was easy to get into the story, was a quick page-turner, and had some unexpected twists and turns.

The story begins when Mark Albright, an upscale Hollywood veterinarian, learns that he is adopted and returns to Oklahoma to discover his roots. When he gets to DeClare, Oklahoma, he is shocked to find that his mother had been murdered some thirty years earlier. At the time it was presumed that her ten-month-old baby had also been murdered even though the baby’s body had never been found. He believes he is this baby. It is an unsolved crime that Albright is determined to solve. He is also intent on learning who his biological father is. Some in DeClare, however, are not happy to see him return and do not want this crime reinvestigated.

Lett’s description of life in small-town Oklahoma seemed authentic and her characters were well drawn. I thought the racial prejudice regarding Indians in the late sixties was exaggerated. Growing up in Oklahoma, I didn’t feel there was much racial tension between Indians and whites. Of course, your perception of how much prejudice exists is a very personal experience depending on your viewpoint. I grew up near a town that had a military base, and different races and religions were more easily accepted. If I had lived in a different part of Oklahoma, perhaps I would have been more aware of this prejudice. I do know that there was a prejudice against Indians in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, but I didn’t think it still existed in the sixties and seventies.

One incident in the story that caught my attention was when Albright was shot in the leg and the bullet goes completely through his leg. As Lett’s describes it, it “didn’t involve bone, artery or nerve. Even missed muscle.” I think most would find it hard to believe that a bullet could go completely through a person’s thigh and not hit anything unless that person were quite obese, and Albight is described as being slender. Also, Albright, a veterinarian seemed quite unschooled in some of the basics of medicine. For example he seems to have very little knowledge of blood types and DNA tests. I think most of us by junior high school have already learned something of blood typing.

The diary inserts were a stroke of writing genius on Lett’s part. Through these pages scattered throughout the book, you gradually get to know the private thoughts and feelings of Albight’s murdered teenage mother.

The ending of the book came across as being rushed. It seemed as if Lett’s was in a hurry to tie up all of the loose ends and get on to her next book. I wish that Goodreads would allow us to give half stars. My actual rating for this book is 4 ½ stars because of this rushed ending, which also seemed a little too contrived as it tied up all the loose ends. I enjoyed the book - a recommended read that includes romance, mystery, action, and gives the reader a true-to-life feeling of small town Oklahoma.

[PAUL STARR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shoot the Moon, a novel by Billie Letts, landed in my to-read pile after a spring cleaning of my bookshelf. The paperback was hiding behind a couple of books that I had read long ago, but couldn’t part with. Originally published in 2005, Shoot the Moon is an excellent piece of storytelling that cannot be put down.
Picture, if you will, DeClare, a small, dusty town in rural Oklahoma. The year is 1972. Gaylene Harjo lives in a sad trailer just outside of town with her ten month old son, Nicky Jack. Gaylene is a single mother and a talented artist. Her baby boy is the result of an apparent rape, but Gaylene will never reveal the name of her son’s father. On a warm spring day, Gaylene Harjo is discovered brutally stabbed to death. Her son is nowhere to be found. The search for little Nicky Jack Harjo goes on for several weeks, but the boy is never discovered. The deputy sheriff of DeClare, one O’Boy Daniels, is a mean tough-looking drunk, and the father of an eight year old boy with Downs’s syndrome. The murder of Gaylene is pinned on Joe Dawson, an African-American farmer who lived nearby. Dawson pleads his innocence, but he is tried and convicted, and ends up committing suicide while in prison. His son never gives up trying to clear his father’s name.
Now, zoom ahead to 1999. The local general store has been replaced by a Wal-Mart and the main street café is now a McDonalds. O’Boy Daniels is sheriff. Yellow and brittled with age, a flyer with little Nicki’s faded picture is still taped to the window of Teeve Harjo’s pool hall and tea shop. A stranger arrives in DeClare. A man named Mark Albright, a wealthy veterinarian from Los Angeles, starts stalking Teeve Harjo in her pool hall. Unsettled by the by weird actions of this interloper, Teeve confronts him. Mark, it seems, thinks that his real name is Nicki Jack Harjo and he has the documents to prove it. His adoption papers are dated 27 years ago, just a few days after his disappearance from DeClare and his mother’s brutal murder.
Now Mark/Nicki is trying to reconnect with his past. He wants to know who killed his mother and how he ended up as the privileged son of a Beverly Hills couple. His adopted parents are both dead and Nicki must try to put together clues by interviewing the people in DeClare who were related to or knew his birth mother, much to the ire of Sheriff Daniels.
The novel reads well, moving seamlessly from past to present. Chapters are interspersed with pages from Gaylene’s diary, that help the reader understand the delicate and often challenging situations that affected her life and lead to her early demise. The reader will thoroughly enjoy the characters, especially Nicki’s “cousin”, Ivy Harjo, and the town stoner, Kyle Leander, who works at DeClare’s only radio station. I am not sure how I missed this novel when it first came out, but I am happy to have finally read it. ****

[Stephen DiBartola · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up “Shoot the Moon” by Billie Letts because the synopsis on the back cover of the book intrigued me and I was vaguely familiar with her novel, “Where the Heart is.” It’s a “whodunit” and a potent one that kept me reading until I finished the book in a couple of days – not my typical slow reading pace. The women in the novel like Teeve, Ivy, and the murdered girl Gaylene are very strongly drawn, appealing characters. The male characters are evil (O Boy Daniels, Arthur McFadden) or, in the case of Kyle Leander, a burned out relic of the hippy era. Even Mark Albright/Nicky Jack Harjo, the long lost son of Gaylene in search of his identity, comes off as insecure and stuck on himself. The gay lawyer Hap Duchamp and his ex-fireman culinary crazed partner Matthew are appealing exceptions. Letts’ technique of revealing the murdered girl’s personality through her diary entries of the late 1960’s was very effective. Having been a veterinarian for over 30 years, I have to say however that I was disappointed in the way Letts portrayed small animal practice. She apparently didn’t spend much time (if any) researching veterinary medicine. Even though Dr. Albright’s practice is in Beverly Hills, the types of cosmetic procedures he relates performing on rich clients' pets are simply ridiculous and not performed by any veterinarian I’ve ever known. For example, “scrotum tucks on aging dogs, breast reductions on cats that were allowed to deliver too many litters. I’ve performed a nose job on a poodle because the owner thought her precious ‘Pearl’ felt self-conscious about her appearance. I’ve done penile implants on animals more interested in sleep than breeding and eye jobs on Pekingese so they wouldn’t look so Asian.” Is this passage supposed to be a joke? Do veterinarians perform cosmetic procedures? Yes, things like tail docks and ear crops to satisfy breed standards are dubious procedures that are performed regularly, but none of the things Letts describes. Maybe I just over-reacted to what was meant to be a joke, but I found Letts’ portrayal of veterinary medicine offensive. Despite this minor irritation, the question of exactly what happened to Gaylene Harjo and her baby 30 years ago compels you to read page after page until you find out. It was a very enjoyable book that would keep anyone occupied on a long plane ride.

[korey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although not as good as "Where the Heart Is", this book should be on your must read list. Billie Letts is an incredible writer. Her characters are so well defined they just bounce off the pages. You can actually "see" them, and what's fun in this book, is that she holds off on giving you all the details of some characters, you make assumptions of what they might look like, and you're wrong. I love when she does that.

This book is a crime mystery, but in a very personal way and not spooky or gross. It takes place in Oklahoma and captures the true light of the midwest. Very much like Carson McCullers writing. Walmart is mentioned a lot! It reads just like "Where the Heart Is", easy and fast. That's my only complaint about Billie's writing - it's just so damn easy and conversational I go through the book too fast! She always leaves me wanting more - just one more chapter!

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a smooth read with some great unexpected turns along the way. Teaches the importance of motherhood and the special role a mother has in a child's life, no matter what. Also a little brutal in parts.

Summary:
This book was based on an adopted child that searches for his biological mother as an adult. It was unexpected to the Californian Veterinarian to find back in Oklahoma, that his mother was murdered, the adoption clearly beyond her control. Get to know the town personalities while you investigate this murder mystery of an orphan. In the end she was murdered by an unexpected character in the book. Just when it seems so obvious who the killer seems to be-a confession gives light to the true killer. There actually is a lot of death in this book, but that is not what I took from it. Topics include: Small Towns, Murders, suicides, The Good-Ol-Boy-Network, adoption, love and motherhood.

[Linda Lipko · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a grown man, living near Hollywood, California, he has a rather large and interesting vet practice. Ashe ages, he grows restless and wants to find his biological parents.

His adoptive parents gave him a lot of monetary items, but still he felt something was missing.

Learning his mother was killed when he was young, and the newspaper headlines read that the baby (him) was stolen) make it all the more challenging to dig up the truth of his early life.

Traveling back to small town Oklahoma, he finds his mother's relatives, including his grandmother. He receives his mother's diary and a few trinkets. He learns his mother had a full scholarship for college, until she became pregnant.

From her on the book plot twists and turns with good, and bad small town people.

The ending is a surprise.

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[Wendy Welch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm... The Honk and Holler Opening Soon was full of weird characters and dysfunctional functioning and just plain fun rollocking action.

The writing in this book is sweet and clear, but it's fairly predictable what's going to happen. Maybe she peaked with the second book. Dunno. The other books were more atmospheric too.

But I LIKE Billie Letts, the person/brand/writer. She has a nice feel, a decency, she doesn't try to impress with craft at the expense of clarity and she's got such sweet honesty in her dialogue.

But even for someone who likes sweet girl books, this book is too sweet for me.

[Anna Engel · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Sometimes you just want to read something you can speed through without thinking too much. Shoot the Moon is such a book.

Part detective story, party family drama, Shoot the Moon follows Nick/Mark in his search for his birth mother. Except she was murdered, so Nick/Mark decides to look for the truth, which leads him on a violence-strewn path of familial revelations: I'm Cherokee! My cousin isn't really my cousin! I'm really an Okie!

The end is as lame as I expected it to be – heartwarming and satisfying.

It took me three commutes to finish – not bad. The entire story is completely implausible, but that's why you read trashy books – to escape.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Billie Letts' stories and writing. Shoot the Moon is an engaging story, easy to read or listen to as I did. Someone killed a young mother years ago and her baby disappeared. A man was charged with the murder and for over two decades, his son tried to clear his name. A stranger arrives in town quietly claiming to be the murdered woman's child, now grown. So unravels the story of the people of a small town and what really happened all those years ago, and what's still happening now. Believable, down-home characters, wonderful details.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, first of all....I'm not sure if I'd give this a 3.5 or a 4. The beginning to me was extremely slow, I'm not a quitter, but had the mentality of ok, hurry & read this so I can move on to the next book. But as I started reading further, I found I was actually entangled in a web of who did it, and enjoyed it more then I thought. By the end I was happy that I stuck with it, I certainly didn't see the "who did it" coming.