Moonrise (King)

Book Reviews
Cassandra King’s new novel Moonrise is both something familiar, like a well-loved leather recliner, and a writer’s mind game, which challenges the reader to keep up with sentences, plot and characters.... The tour de force of writing comes from King’s choice of voice.... [T]he plot moves along, and there are enough twists to make it a satisfying Southern read, with men and women the reader feels could be met along the small street in Highlands, or overhear their conversations at the local watering hole.
Stephanie Harvin - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


At this point many will recall, correctly, Daphne Du Maurier’s modern gothic masterpiece Rebecca, published in 1939 and set in Cornwall, England, in 1927. King happily acknowledges the inspiration, but Moonrise is fully her own, not a retelling or an adaptation.
Tuscaloosa News


In Moonrise, Cassandra King weaves the mystery of place and event into the truths of heart and heartlessness that shape human relationships.
Susan Zurenda - Spartanburg Herald Journal


Moonrise touches all the right notes to make it a suspenseful story and also a romantic one. Kudos to Ms. King for getting it right.... King's best asset is her ability to create a glowing array of characters in this story.... This is King's first novel since Queen of Broken Hearts was published in 2006 and her popular writing style has been missed. She has always been able to create heart-warming stories that play to the reader's emotions and intelligence and with Moonrise she continues that tradition. This is a story that impacts the reader, and its mixture of emotions will linger long after you have closed the book.
Jackie K. Cooper - Huffington Post


King’s latest novel takes inspiration from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, keeping the best of the latter’s atmospheric tension without falling into melodramatic cliche.... [Moonrise is] a suspenseful modern Gothic that gives a nod to its predecessors while still being fresh. The choice of present-tense narrative is an unfortunate distraction, but King’s light touch even in scenes that could have bogged down, and her deep understanding of her characters’ motivations makes this an exciting read.
Publishers Weekly


Much is made in this work's publicity of its homage to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, which is not surprising. There's an almost scarily magnetic husband, a somewhat gauche second wife gingerly following a universally admired first one, and a misty, strikingly beautiful estate.... King nicely focuses on untangling...complex emotions, which makes for the real suspense. Verdict: Though occasionally too stiff in the Rebecca parallels, this is a fresh and charming read. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal


When a book is inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s classic Rebecca, you know it is going to be darkly romantic and full of perplexing secrets. In Cassandra King’s hands, the bones of the story remain, but the setting is new and the characters are differently motivated, making Moonrise feel both fresh and familiar.... By the end of the book, it has become less of a ghost story and more about jealousy and sabotage of a different kind than we read in Rebecca, thus both mimicking and moving farther away from the du Maurier model.... Moonrise is a compelling and readable novel, and is a nice companion for brisk fall evenings or stormy nights.
Bookreporter


[A] rhododendron tunnel leading to a beguiling ancestral home, the strange death of a first wife, an increasingly confused heroine—King's latest alludes heavily to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca....[C]onstant reminders of Rosalyn's elegance make [Helen] only more keenly aware of her own shortcomings. [N]arrative shifts, however, deflect attention from Helen's mounting fears, deflating du Maurier's haunting psychological thriller into a predictable tale of romantic obstacles.... Gothic echoes of Manderley and the first Mrs. de Winter set up unfulfilled promises.
Kirkus Reviews