Carolina Moonset Review

Author: Matt Goldman

Genre: Suspense Thriller

Publisher: Forge Books

Release Date: May 31, 2022

Order Link: Amazon 

Rating: 4 Forgetful Hearts

Many thanks to Forge Books for an arc of this book.

Review published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

Both suspenseful and deeply moving, Carolina Moonset is an engrossing novel about family, memories both golden and terrible, and secrets too dangerous to stay hidden forever, from New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award-winning author, Matt Goldman.

Review:

In Carolina Moonset, Matt Goldman probes beneath the seemingly smooth surface of small town life to explore inner family relationships as well as the complex, often volatile relationships between families - especially those of different social status. He takes readers on a journey inside the mind of a man with dementia with virtually no short-term memory, but perfect recall of past memories that threaten to destroy the lives of loved ones in the here and now.  Carolina Moonset is a twisted story of how past memories that refuse to stay buried change the present and future of one small town and its people.

Joey Green returns to his childhood home to help his mom care for his dad Marshall Green who is suffering from advanced dementia.  Joey's surprised how badly his father has deteriorated since he last saw him and is baffled by the weird one-sided conversations his dad is carrying on with deceased childhood friends.  When Joey convinces his mom to take a much needed few days away with friends, he's left to care for his father alone.  There are locks on the doors preventing his dad from getting out, and so Joey leaves him alone for a few hours while he pursues a budding relationship with the daughter of family friends next door.  When Joey returns home to find the back door unlocked and his father eating a fresh picked orange, he has an ominous feeling that something is seriously wrong.  He's proven right when news of the late night murder of a prominent businessman circulates through the town's people the next morning . . . a man his father repeatedly proclaimed to hate.  As the investigation progresses, the past and present clash as all roads lead back to Joey's father as the murderer.  Joey doesn't believe his father capable of murder, but if he didn't do it, who did?  The one character who knows the truth about the past is highly unreliable in spite of his ability to remember past events with precision, and his inability to recall the present means he can not truthfully say that he did not murder a man he considered his arch enemy.  As Joey works to clear his father's name, shocking past events threaten to rock his world and destroy his family.  Will the truth set them free?  Or shatter his family into a million pieces?

Carolina Moonset is an intriguing, twisted story that unfolds at a steady pace charging readers with finding the connection between past and present murders and how they tie to the Green family.  Goldman has rendered a potent story about the power of family, love and secrets.  The poignant late life journey of a man with a mentally debilitating disease is brilliantly depicted, along with the consequences of his past actions to both him and his family.   I found the plot line to be intriguing as I worked to solve the mystery of both past and present murders.  With the introduction of several red herrings, the list of suspects expanded.  I was lucky to figure things out fairly early in the second half, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment of this book in any way.  I highly recommend Carolina Moonset to fans of family dramas, mystery and suspense.  Carve out some time to dive into this mystery and see where it leads you.

Synopsis:

Joey Green has returned to Beaufort, South Carolina, with its palmettos and shrimp boats, to look after his ailing father, who is succumbing to dementia, while his overstressed mother takes a break. Marshall Green’s short-term memory has all but evaporated, but, as if in compensation, his oldest memories are more vivid than ever. His mind keeps slipping backwards in time, retreating into long-ago yesterdays of growing up in Beaufort as a boy.

At first this seems like a blessing of sorts, with the past providing a refuge from a shrinking future, but Joey grows increasingly anxious as his father’s hallucinatory arguments with figures from his youth begin to hint at deadly secrets, scandals, and suspicions long buried and forgotten. Resurfacing from decades past are mysteries that still have the power to shatter lives—and change everything Joey thought he knew.

Especially when a new murder brings the police to his door...