Moonshine

Moonshine (2007) Rob Thurman

Moonshine is the sequel to Nightlife. Now that Cal and Niko have defeated the monsters who were trying to possess Cal, they have moved onto the more mundane task of simply living their lives–something they were never given the luxury to do when they were constantly on the run.

They’re currently working as independent bodyguards and investigators. The skills they developed while they were on the run from the Auphie have trained them well for that line of work, and since Promise is now a partner in their business, they’re finally able to settle into something that for them resembles a normal life. They have a home, they have a job, and they even have friends–and luxury they never allowed themselves previously. But as with the previous book, what they have most of all is each other.

Just like Nightlife, Moonshine is a very good book. However, it took perusing the reviews on Amazon to make me realize that I liked best about Moonshine — it’s a supernatural fantasy with no boinking! Well, sex exists, and it’s talked about and joked about, but there aren’t any sex scenes.

Dear Ms Thurman–PLEASE don’t be tempted to add boinking to any further books about Cal and Niko. These books are wonderful as is and don’t need to be… enhanced.

So if there is no boinking, just what is so great about Moonshine? The characters, the dialog, and the writing. Rob Thurman pulls everything together to create a compelling story with sarcastic, realistic dialog. And although Cal is often overwrought, he does have good reason to be, and those around him do they best through humor (and with Niko often a good dope slap) to keep him from focusing upon his monster side.

But the heart of the story is the relationship between Cal and Niko. They are family, which means more to them than to most brothers. They still tend to display their affection for each other through sarcasm and well placed elbows, but considering their life, one could hardly expect anything else.

The dialog, as mentioned, is also marvelous. Cal is constantly and continually sarcastic, and feels the need to comment on everything. But he doesn’t get all the good lines.

“You don’t actually believe in gypsy curses, do you?” I asked with a faint overlay of scorn.

Green eyes narrowed on me with impatience. “Of course not. I, an immortal creature, am only standing here with a vampire, a half Auphie, and a walking talking wolf. Why would I possible believe in something as ludicrous as a Gypsy curse?” He rubbed the heel of both hands over tired eyes and went on to snap, “And then there’s that entire year I spent impotent thanks to one.”

Also, as with Nightlife, I really like the cover of Moonshine. It does an excellent job matching the feel of the book.

Although this book sets up events for future stories, the story arc in Moonshine is complete. There is plenty of material for a sequel, but we aren’t left dangling. The need for another book comes not from a cliffhanger ending or even threads that were started in this book and then dropped, but from the desired to spend a lot more time reading about Cal and Niko.

I’d say the only drawback to this book is that I wouldn’t recommend reading it before Nightlife. The story itself should be fine, but you want to read these books in order, as events of the previous book are mentioned. Also, as a warning, there are several gruesome scenes in Moonshine. They didn’t bother me, but then reading gruesome rarely does.

If you read Nightlife, then you will definitely want to pick up Moonshine. If you like supernatural fantasy, the you should go back and read Nightlife and the pick up Moonshine. Then we can all hope together that Rob Thurman writes a third book soon.
Rating: 9/10

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