Crescent Moon (Nightcreature Novel, Bk 4) by Lori Handeland

Book four in this series starts out with someone we have not yet met. In fact, this book leaves us at such a loss as to what is going on, it may as well have been the first book in the series. I didn't like that. At all. One of the purposes of reading books in a series is so that you don't have to meet everyone, you already know them. Another purpose is that you already know the "rules" of that particular universe, and this book at first didn't fit any of the rules we already knew of this universe. By the end of the book everything was okay again, but nothing in previous books helps us out in this book until we are over three quarters into this book.

Since I'm not really sure where to start here, I'll start with the blurb from the author's site:

An ancient evil hunts by the crescent moon...

New Orleans is known for sinful pleasures and strange magic, but for cryptozoologist Diana Malone it offers one irresistible attraction. For over a hundred years there have been whispers of wolves around the Crescent City, and the recent discovery of bodies in the nearby swamps hints at a creature even more dangerous…one that could make Diana's career and fortune, if she lives to capture it.

And desire may be a fatal mistake…

Adam Ruelle is a reclusive former Special Forces officer, the last of a mysterious Cajun family rumored to be cursed, and the only person skilled enough to guide Diana in her search. Rugged and captivating, he fills her nights with desire…but by day, Diana is plagued with doubts. Adam clearly knows more than he's telling, but is his aim to protect her or distract her? Something is stalking its prey in the Louisiana bayous, and every step towards the horrifying truth brings Diana closer to a centuries-old enemy that lives for the smell of fear and the thrill of killing, again and again…

I'll start with explaining what a cryptozoologist is: someone who looks for proof of a species of animals that most people don't believe really exists. In this case, Diana is looking for proof of werewolves.

The kicker is that she doesn't believe they exist. She made a promise to her now-dead-fiance' that she would continue his quest. So now, years later, she's still looking. Even though she doesn't believe.

The book is set in New Orleans, so it should come as no surprise that Crescent Moon is probably more about voodoo than it is about werewolves, and lucky for Diana she befriends a voodoo priestess. And not your stereotypical voodoo priestess, either.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I didn't much like it the first third of the book. Once I got to know a few people it was better, and by the end of the book things got okay again. But I think I'm going to give this one a 6 of 10. If this were the first book in the series it might have been a 7 or 8, but for the fourth book in the series one should not feel lost through so much of the book.

I'm also downgrading the series to a 7 of 10.

Book Rating: 6 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10





Blue Moon (2004)
Hunter's Moon (2005)
Dark Moon (2005)
Crescent Moon (2006)
Midnight Moon (2006)
Rising Moon (2007)
Hidden Moon (2007)
Thunder Moon (2008)