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Isabella Moon MP3 CD – MP3 Audio, September 25, 2007

by Laura Benedict (Author), Renée Raudman (Reader)

3.8 39 ratings

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Two years ago, in idyllic Carystown, Kentucky, nine-year-old Isabella Moon disappeared on her way home from school. Is it just coincidence that Kate Russell, a young woman with no discernible past, arrived in town just months before Isabella’s disappearance? When Kate walks into Sheriff Bill Delaney’s office to tell him that Isabella’s ghost has led her to the child’s hidden grave, he immediately views her as a suspect. Mystery follows mystery as a local athlete drops dead, inexplicably, on the basketball court, and someone close to Kate is viciously murdered. Quiet Carystown was to be Kate’s salvation, and she’s settled into a comfortable job, a charming cottage, and a blissful romance. But having lied to her boyfriend, Caleb, for so long about the terrors of her past life, she finds she can’t trust him to understand the terror that Isabella Moon has now brought. And Kate’s best friend, Francie, is too wrapped up in her own troubles - particularly a secret affair with a man she at once loves and despises - to give Kate the help she needs. Utterly alone, Kate is torn between finding justice for the dead child and keeping away old ghosts of her own. The unsolved disappearance of Isabella Moon has been the biggest disappointment of Sheriff Delaney’s career. But he senses that Kate is trouble. As he investigates her impossible claims, he also uncovers a series of unsettling truths about Carystown itself. Behind his hometown’s genteel façade is a morass of lies and murder, drugs and destruction. And Carystown’s residents are about to discover that even though the past is buried, it can rise again - with a vengeance. Dark and suspenseful, tense and eerie, tinged with the supernatural, Isabella Moon is an engrossing, beautifully written debut novel, a breathtaking and artful story of the dark mysteries that can lurk in the most bucolic of places - and the ghost of a little girl who watches as evil rises unstoppably to the surface.

Language

English
Publisher

Brilliance Audio
Publication date

September 25, 2007
Dimensions

5.25 x 0.5 x 6.75 inches
ISBN-10

1423334337
ISBN-13

978-1423334330
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brilliance Audio; Unabridged edition (September 25, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1423334337
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1423334330
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.52 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.5 x 6.75 inches

Customer Reviews:
3.8 39 ratings

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About the author

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Laura Benedict

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Laura Benedict is the Edgar- and ITW Thriller Award- nominated author of eight novels of suspense, including the THE STRANGER INSIDE (Publishers Weekly starred review). Her Bliss House gothic trilogy includes: THE ABANDONED HEART, CHARLOTTE'S STORY (Booklist starred review), and BLISS HOUSE. Her short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and in numerous anthologies like THRILLERS: 100 MUST-READS, THE LINEUP: 20 PROVOCATIVE WOMEN WRITERS, ST. LOUIS NOIR, AT HOME IN THE DARK, and A THOUSAND DOORS. A native of Cincinnati, she lives in Southern Illinois with her family. Visit her at www.laurabenedict.com to read her blog and sign up for her quarterly newsletter.

Twitter: @laurabenedict

Instagram: @laura_benedict

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurabenedict

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3.8 out of 5

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samantha

Page turner

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2014

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Warning_ you might consider what I'm writing a spoiler. But it's just my feelings on the ending. Okay, so I have mixed feelings. I really liked this book. It didn't capture me at first though. But once I started I just couldn't stop. There were so many twists and turns and murder and ghosts. It was really fun to read. Written from different characters perspectives. Why I have it only 4 stars is because I really didn't like the ending. I'm mad! I mean I get it-it's poetic I guess. But I would have liked something else. I don't feel justice was served to everyone!

One person found this helpful

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Myfanwy Collins

a page turner

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2008

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Any of you city slickers who imagine small-town life is dull ought to read Laura Benedict's suspenseful, sexy, and haunting debut novel, Isabella Moon, as this book set in Carystown, Kentucky, proves otherwise. It's a page turner that is just as much about character as it is about plot. In fact, the characters are richly, artfully drawn with Benedict's deft hand.

And just who is Isabella Moon? Well, she's the missing girl who comes back to haunt the novel's protagonist, Kate, and reveal her secret. But like pulling a thread--one secret revealed leads to another, until all of the town's ugly skeletons are revealed and we learn once and for all that secrets are dangerous and that buried secrets don't stay that way for long.

I was drawn to this book when I saw the spooky book trailer last year and I have to say it did not disappoint and many a night after I'd put the book down and shut out the light, I kept the covers pulled up tight under my chin.

If you like books that keep you guessing, that keep you on the edge of your seat, and that present you with believable, sympathetic characters, then this book is for you. Read it.

3 people found this helpful

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lara

Nice read.

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2013

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good book. I was quickly absorbed in the characters and the storyline. the end left a lot to be desired, though. I would've liked to have more of a "conclusion" to some of the characters' stories. I had a great deal of questions that the author offers no answer for. I would recommend it to those who like intriguing, page-turning, quick reads!

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Ratmammy

Was somewhat disappointed, but it sure was a page turner!

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2007

ISABELLA MOON by Laura Benedict
October 29, 2007

Rating: 3/5 Stars

ISABELLA MOON starts off with a bang and showed great promise in being a really good book. The story is a blend of paranormal, thriller, and what ends up being a mish mash of soap opera. It starts off with introducing main character Kate Russell, who is trying to report information on a missing person's case. Isabella Moon was a child who disappeared a few years ago and was never seen again. There are no clues as to what happened to her, but Kate has seen visions of the dead child, and says she knows where the girl is buried. The sheriff thinks she's a nut case, because Kate had arrived in town only a few months prior to Isabella's disappearance, but Kate is adamant that what she knows is true.

Other happenings, such as the death of a school athlete, also stirs up the gossip mill in town, and there is a rumor that this death may be drug related. But the parents do not believe their son had anything to do with drugs, although there is evidence that the parents could be wrong.

Kate herself has a secret past, and she does her best to hide her true identity. But the reader slowly learns about Kate's past, through flash backs about a man that she had married and thought she had loved, but who ended up to be controlling and violent. Kate escaped this past, hoping that this small town of Carystown, Kentucky would be the answer to her prayers. Kate is now dating a nice man named Caleb, has two best friends Francie and Francie's mother, none of whom know Kate's true story.

This book works on one level, if you are looking for a book with a lot of soap opera twists thrown in. Unfortunately, the book has a very disorganized feel to it, meandering and never really letting the reader know who young Isabella Moon is. She has almost nothing to do with the story, except Kate's obsession in finding the girl and the visions she and a few others have of the dead girl. While I was hoping for a story similar to THE LOVELY BONES, where it was a paranormal type of situation with the narrator looking at the life she had left, ISABELLA MOON is nothing like that novel at all. The story lines are much more focused on the goings on of various characters, including Francie and her illicit love affair with a man (Paxton) her mother doesn't approve of, Paxton's involvement in something illegal, Kate's horrific past with her awful husband Miles, and it goes on and on. Yes, the various plot lines are juicy and may keep one glued to the book, but it's not a good book. I felt that I was reading something bordering on what one would classify as a "trashy paper back novel", something with no redeeming quality but to entertain, but it is not something that will end up on people's "best of 2007" lists. I was very disappointed with the way the book turned out, but I will say this, that the author can write and that maybe her next book will be better focused and stay away from sensationalistic type writing.

One person found this helpful

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M. Meyers

A Struggle to finish.

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2009

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I listen to a lot of audiobooks on CD in my car. The story was just barely interesting enough for me to want to see how it ended. Plus, I hate paying good money for an audio book that I don't finish. But in the actual end, it wasn't worth it and I wished I had given up after the first CD. I felt it was poorly written - and even worse for the audio format because of the way the story jumped from present to past and from this character to that character without clarity. There was no clear point of view and I felt like I was being bounced around all over the place without any clear guidance of where my frame of reference for character and story should be. There was really no likeable character in the story. Maybe the author was trying to create complex characters, but it was too much. I didn't care about anyone in the story - not even the supposed "heroine." I especially hate plots about supposedly smart characters who do seriously idiotic things just to move a plot point. This book was full of that. Technically speaking, I felt it was poorly read. The Kentucky accents weren't very good. The southern accent was worse and the characterizations of the men's voices were positively annoying. It passed the time on a long drive, but just barely, and I was sorry I wasted my time on it after it was over. All in all, it was a major disappointment.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Exciting and unexpected....

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2012

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Laura Benedict's first novel, "Isabella Moon," is an exciting and unconventional thriller. It is a mystery, a ghost story, and filled with suspense. Definitely a page turner with some unexpected twists.

One person found this helpful

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Kai

Good ghost story

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2016

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entertaining story.

One person found this helpful

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