A Voice for Independent Authors

“You can kill a book quicker by your silence than by a bad review.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri

REVIEWING TODAY: BRIGHT MOON RIDGE BY LINUS TREEFOOT

Bright Moon Ridge by Linus Treefoot begins with a rapid-fire mystery introduced in the form of a diary/journal written by Simon Bartooth, the lifelong-absent father of the novel’s narrator, John Bartooth. The journal entries first attended to by John after receiving this delayed bequest by way of his father’s hippie friend, Heron, read as quickly and engagingly as any modern thriller. The hook is set deep. Just like the son, the reader is hell-bent to discover what transpired after Simon conspired to escape post-Mao China with his illegitimate son and the culturally tainted woman he loved. Why has John never known his real mother’s name, never known the presence of his father in his life, and never heard the real story of how he came to be an American without his birth parents there to raise him? Thus begins a separate thrilling adventure to locate Simon Bartooth, the father, and his one true love, the mother.

Leading us into the heart of that gigantic dragon known as China, Linus Treefoot’s novel Bright Moon Ridge reads like a deceptively fictional account of true events – one never stops suspecting this is true – and those events are related with such casual observation and stirring personal revelation the reader feels like he is sharing a legendary story told annually around the dining room table during an extended-family gathering. And yet, this tale consistently retains the pulse-straining urgency found in contemporary who-dun-its. Dammit, the anxious reader wants some answers now! When those answers do arrive, believe it or not, the story gets even better, and the details we all crave to know are filled in like the finest brush strokes on a perfect piece of art. This is, after all, a great love story.