Book Review: The Birth Of A New Moon

Reviewed By: Fiona Walker

The Birth Of A New Moon     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Laurie R. King
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Religious Fiction
Series: Anne Waverly
HarperCollins, 1999

When FBI agent Glen McCarthy goes once again to Professor Anne Waverly for help, she knows, despite initial misgivings, that she will agree. Several times already - fuelled by a tragic event in her past in which both her husband and young daughter fell victim to a mass suicide pact - Anne has gone undercover for Glen, to infiltrate and then investigate potentially sinister cults, and this particular one ­ known as Change ­ seems no different from all the rest.

So, Anne goes undercover once more, but no sooner has she done so that she meets a child hauntingly similar to her own darling Abby, now many years dead, which will possibly throw her judgement off track in ways that could easily bring her, and this young child, into great danger.

Despite all the good things I’ve heard about Laurie King, this has to be one of the most disappointing books I’ve read in a long while. The plot takes an age to get going, and when something does finally appear to happen, it’s dull and pointless in the extreme. There is so much irrelevant detail, adding nothing to the story, that it cancels out anything which might be even vaguely interesting. There are whole passages not germane to the plot, and I’m sure that even more patient readers than I will be tempted to skip sections.

There’s no real suspense or mystery, and the cult itself completely lacks any menace (too, much of it’s "philosophy" seems nonsensical to me), which is essential in books like this. The climax is abrupt, and there’s no power to it because there’s almost no build-up of tension.

The actual writing is of high quality, and the lead character is certainly likeable and well-developed, which is even more disappointing to me in a way, because I can tell from reading this that King clearly can write, but that I’ve just chosen completely the wrong book for my first taste. I’ll definitely try her again some time in the future, but I’ll probably stick with the Mary Russell series, which sounds much more to my taste.

Cult novels have been done before, and far better, by other writers (for example, Joanna Hines’ brilliant "Surface Tension" or Kathy Reichs’ "Death du Jour"), so I would advise you leave this one alone. There’s not enough time to waste on below-average novels.

Fiona Walker

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Fiona Walker