Wilderness #64

DEVIL MOON

as by David Thompson

Leisure, June 2010

Nate King has tried to teach his daughter Evelyn all about the dangers of the wilderness. She is certainly no stranger to predators on the prowl. Even on what’s supposed to be a carefree picnic, she and her friend Dega need to be on their guard. Because something is stalking them, a relentless foe just waiting to pounce.

If Evelyn has learned the lessons of her father, she might just escape. But what about the things Nate neglected to warn her of? What about the enemy who disguises itself as a friend and sneaks in at the most vulnerable moment? Can anyone ever be truly prepared for that?

David Thompson (David Robbins) takes a slightly different approach to how this book is presented, choosing to divide it into three parts, two short sections that don’t involve the King’s, and then the final part, that covers most of the book, bringing all we’ve met during the earlier parts together – at least those still alive – that in turn leads to a nail-biting climax.

There are many suspenseful sequences throughout the story as the creature stalks, and takes out, its prey. Many of these scenes could be equally at home in a horror story as a western and will surely have you holding your breath when Evelyn becomes the target. How can she possibly survive?

The story also continues the growing love between Dega and Evelyn, Dega’s struggle to understand the meanings of the white peoples language leads to many humorous moments and others that could end their relationship permanently.

The second paragraph above mentions an “enemy who disguises itself as a friend” and this could prove to end all of Evelyn’s – and Dega’s – dreams, but I’m not going to say anything else here as I don’t want to spoil the who and why for those who’ve yet to read the book.

Full of action, great dialogue and well-written descriptions, Devil Moon proves to be another excellent entry into this long-running series.

Oh yeah, and something on the back of the book proved to be a great, and very welcome, surprise to me!