Alexandra SokoloffAlexandra SokoloffI love a good, tightly written thriller, and Alexandra Sokoloff delivers with “Huntress Moon” and “Blood Moon,” both part of a series known as The Huntress/FBI Thrillers.

And because the books are two parts of a series, they do need to be read in sequence. While you could read “Blood Moon” by itself, you’d miss out on a lot of character development, and while “Huntress Moon” doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, you’d miss out on an important part of the story if you didn’t read the sequel.

The story focuses on two characters. The first is FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke, involved in the bust of a major crime organization in San Francisco when one of his undercover operatives was murdered in front of him. The second is a young woman who was present at the death of the operative and in a years-long series of “accidents” and murders.

Alexandra Sokoloff
Alexandra Sokoloff

There is mystery around the woman, and it’s that mystery that drives both books. Who is she? How is she tied in to the series of events she’s been present at, and is she an ally to Rourke … or an enemy? Although we, as readers, know there’s something odd about her, finding out who she is a satisfying and intriguing plot line.

Characterization was strong, and both books move along at a good clip. Sokoloff is a good writer, and don’t be fooled by the fact that these are self-published. She’s been traditionally published and won numerous awards. She’s also written screenplays, and that shows in the writing of these books. They’d make good movies.

Solokoff uses a technique I generally don’t like, but it works well in these books. All the scenes from Roarke’s point of view are in past tense, while the woman’s are in present. I’m not a fan of present tense, and switching between tenses is usually a reason for me to put a book down unread, but I stuck with it here, and it worked. There’s something fey about the woman, and writing her in present tense makes that stronger.

“Huntress Moon” was the better of the two, although they are both worth reading. I found more typos/formatting errors in “Blood Moon,” although they didn’t greatly impact the reading of the book. There was less mystery in “Blood Moon” because we knew more about the woman, but I still enjoyed it.

Both books are in the Kindle Select Program, so they’re only available on Amazon. But since they’re DRM-free, it’s easy enough to convert them to another format. (I read both as EPUBs in Marvin.)

TeleRead Rating for Huntress Moon:

Alexandra Sokoloff

TeleRead Rating for Blood Moon:

Alexandra Sokoloff

Buy “Huntress Moon” at Amazon for Kindle ($3.99)
Buy “Blood Moon” at Amazon for Kindle ($3.99)

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