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340th out of 675 books
—
2,036 voters
Shoot the Moon
by
Billie Letts
From one of America's best-loved storytellers - the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller WHERE THE HEART IS - comes a tale of a small Oklahoma town and the mystery that has haunted its residents for years.
In 1972, windswept DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the murder of a young mother, Gaylene Harjo, and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's...more
In 1972, windswept DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the murder of a young mother, Gaylene Harjo, and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's...more
Paperback, 368 pages
Published
July 1st 2005
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published January 1st 2004)
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Although not as good as "Where the Heart Is", this book should be on your must read list. Billie Letts is an incredible writer. Her characters are so well defined they just bounce off the pages. You can actually "see" them, and what's fun in this book, is that she holds off on giving you all the details of some characters, you make assumptions of what they might look like, and you're wrong. I love when she does that.
This book is a crime mystery, but in a very personal way and not spooky or gross...more
This book is a crime mystery, but in a very personal way and not spooky or gross...more
It was a smooth read with some great unexpected turns along the way. Teaches the importance of motherhood and the special role a mother has in a child's life, no matter what. Also a little brutal in parts.
Summary:
This book was based on an adopted child that searches for his biological mother as an adult. It was unexpected to the Californian Veterinarian to find back in Oklahoma, that his mother was murdered, the adoption clearly beyond her control. Get to know the town personalities while you i...more
Summary:
This book was based on an adopted child that searches for his biological mother as an adult. It was unexpected to the Californian Veterinarian to find back in Oklahoma, that his mother was murdered, the adoption clearly beyond her control. Get to know the town personalities while you i...more
This story started out really strong, but it began to drag at just the part where it should have been gathering steam.
It was an interesting premise--a man finds out he was adopted, so he travels to his birth mother's hometown to learn more about her. When he gets there, he's shocked to learn his mother was murdered--and her baby was presumed dead as well.
At the beginning, it was an interesting thriller, and it really had me wondering who was responsible for the murder, and who was the baby's fat...more
It was an interesting premise--a man finds out he was adopted, so he travels to his birth mother's hometown to learn more about her. When he gets there, he's shocked to learn his mother was murdered--and her baby was presumed dead as well.
At the beginning, it was an interesting thriller, and it really had me wondering who was responsible for the murder, and who was the baby's fat...more
read this as an unabridged audiobook and though the reader did a great job with all of the voices (and there sure were a heck of a lot of characters!) and kept up a nice casual pace which didn't put me to sleep, I found the book to be disappointingly average.
Shoot The Moon starts out describing life and gossiping about the inhabitants of a small town that is shocked when a young boy goes missing and his mother is found dead. The boy "Nicky Jack" is never found but his pajama bottoms are ominio...more
Shoot The Moon starts out describing life and gossiping about the inhabitants of a small town that is shocked when a young boy goes missing and his mother is found dead. The boy "Nicky Jack" is never found but his pajama bottoms are ominio...more
Waiting for my book order to arrive, knowing I had another few days, and a blizzard that made traveling to the nearest bookstore more than I wanted to take on, I found this book in the back of my bookcase. After reading "Where the Heart Is", I had followed up with "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon". Ms. Letts' characters charmed me in the first book, but by the second, they began to wear thin and even border on annoying, so this third aquisition had gone unread. I forced myself to begin reading,...more
This was a great after-work, getaway book. The story line was unique and interesting to me (Veterinarian, my father; adopted, me).
Dr. Mark Albright, Hollywood Veterinarian complete with fancy car and uptight clothing, mourns the loss of his parents and soon discovers he has a 'past' that he can not remember. He was adopted at 10 months old, never being told, and he begins his search with the only piece of information he has... His original birth cert. listing Gaylene Hjaro as his birthmother.
Dr....more
Dr. Mark Albright, Hollywood Veterinarian complete with fancy car and uptight clothing, mourns the loss of his parents and soon discovers he has a 'past' that he can not remember. He was adopted at 10 months old, never being told, and he begins his search with the only piece of information he has... His original birth cert. listing Gaylene Hjaro as his birthmother.
Dr....more
A rare book. I am so glad that I stumbled on to this one. It's a complicated story, simply told. It has the feel of the author sitting down with a friend and telling the story.
It's the story of Nicky Harjo who is ten months old when his mother, an unwed teen, is brutally murdered and Nicky goes missing. After days of searching, the baby is presumed dead. A suspect is arrested and although there is little, if any evidence against him, he kills himself before trial. And so the case is closed. How...more
It's the story of Nicky Harjo who is ten months old when his mother, an unwed teen, is brutally murdered and Nicky goes missing. After days of searching, the baby is presumed dead. A suspect is arrested and although there is little, if any evidence against him, he kills himself before trial. And so the case is closed. How...more
Almost 30 years after Nicky Jack Harjo was presumed dead, he returns to the town where he was born, DeClare, Oklahoma.Nicky had just recently found out he was adopted and came to find his birth mother and father and the reason why he was given up. What he finds is something entirely different from what he could have ever imagined. Nicky's mother, Gaylene Harjo, was found murdered (30 years ago), Nicky Jack was missing and his pajamas were found next to a river....so he was presumed dead. Nicky J...more
The premise is interesting - a man travels to a small Oklahoma town to research his origins after learning he's adopted. He comes to find out that his birth mother was murdered and decides to solve the case. Interspersed with the main story are journal entries from the murdered mother.
The small-town setting is drawn nicely, and I found the answer to who murdered the mother surprising but well done. However, I did not enjoy reading this. It's overdramatic; people are constantly declaring things w...more
The small-town setting is drawn nicely, and I found the answer to who murdered the mother surprising but well done. However, I did not enjoy reading this. It's overdramatic; people are constantly declaring things w...more
This book had a little bit of everything: thrill, mystery, romance...I did not want it to end. I fell completely in love with the main characters.
DeClare, Oklahoma is rocked by the tragic murder of a young mother, Gaylene Harjo. Her ten month old son's body was never found and he was suspected dead. Thirty years later, a man by the name of Dr. Mark Airbright saunters into the small, dusty town and causes massive upheaval by claiming to be baby Nicky Jack Harjo.
Only weeks earlier, Mark Airbright...more
DeClare, Oklahoma is rocked by the tragic murder of a young mother, Gaylene Harjo. Her ten month old son's body was never found and he was suspected dead. Thirty years later, a man by the name of Dr. Mark Airbright saunters into the small, dusty town and causes massive upheaval by claiming to be baby Nicky Jack Harjo.
Only weeks earlier, Mark Airbright...more
This is a sort of Hallmark card of a story. The cover promises "a little bit of mystery, a small piece of romance" and that's what you get. It's the sort of thing you're gonna like if you like that sort of thing. It's not a great story, but it's a story. If you like absurdly happy endings, don't mind absurdities & reading about Wal-Mart as THE place to shop, and can deal with simplistic characters grab some Billie Letts.
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Mark Albright, a Beverly Hill veterinarian, has come to DeClare, Oklahoma looking for his birth mother. Only after the recent death of his father did he learn that he had been adopted and his mother’s name was Gaylene Harjo. Once in the small Oklahoma town of his birth he finds that he and his birth mother are at the heart of a 30 year old mystery. His birth name was Nicky Jack and he was presumed dead when he was 10 months old.
The town is full of quirky characters and villainous men. The stoner...more
The town is full of quirky characters and villainous men. The stoner...more
This was an interesting book. I really enjoyed Where the Heart Is by the author, so I figured I'd give this one a try. Not too bad, it hooked my interest from the very beginning, and was fast-paced enough to keep it moving. The only thing that was a bit disappointing was how rushed the ending felt. The entire book is leading up to : who killed Gaylene and who fathered Nicky Jack/Mark, and then boom, everything is solved in two pages, the end happy ending insert here. It needed to be fleshed out...more
Billie Letts is a true writer. Her characters are alive and struggling to get off the page and into your reading room. Once again she has chosen to focus on the issue of racial prejudice and bigotry in America directed especially towards young single pregnant women who are making the biggest decision of their lives..to abort, keep or give away their newborns. This is a re-occuring topic in her novels but it never gets old. Is an 18 year old mother who dies trying to save her baby boy a misguided...more
Three and a half stars. I read this without realizing I'd read a previous book by this author - Where the heart is. I liked that one and I like this one too. I wasn't sure I would at the start because the introductory style threw me a little but once I got into the story, it was enjoyable
A child is thought to have died and then turns up 30 years later, not knowing anything about his past. His adoptive parents have died and he's returned to the place he was born to find his mother. No secret she...more
A child is thought to have died and then turns up 30 years later, not knowing anything about his past. His adoptive parents have died and he's returned to the place he was born to find his mother. No secret she...more
"In 1972, the town of DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the terrifying murder of Gaylene Harjo and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's pajama bottoms were found on the banks of Willow Creek, everyone feared Nicky Jack was dead, although his body was never found." Nearly thirty years later, Nicky Jack mysteriously returns to DeClare. His sudden reappearance will stun the people of DeClare and stir up long-buried emotions and memories. But what Nicky Jack discovers among t...more
I loved Billie Letts' first two novels: Where The Heart Is and The Honk and Holler and this one was just as good!! I hope she continues to write.
"In 1972, the town of DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the terrifying murder of Gaylene Harjo and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's pajama bottoms were found on the banks of Willow Creek, everyone feared Nicky Jack was dead, although his body was never found.
Nearly thirty years later, Nicky Jack mysteriously returns to DeClar...more
"In 1972, the town of DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the terrifying murder of Gaylene Harjo and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's pajama bottoms were found on the banks of Willow Creek, everyone feared Nicky Jack was dead, although his body was never found.
Nearly thirty years later, Nicky Jack mysteriously returns to DeClar...more
This is an interesting combination of mystery and romance. The main character is a successful veterinarian to the stars in LA and he discovers that he is adopted. He goes to find his birth mother, only to find out that she was murdered when he was an infant and he was presumed dead as well. He joins forces with a less than ethical journalist to find out the truth, and falls in love with a woman in his "hometown" along the way. I really like the character development in this book. I wanted to giv...more
2.5 stars
Sometimes you just want to read something you can speed through without thinking too much. Shoot the Moon is such a book.
Part detective story, party family drama, Shoot the Moon follows Nick/Mark in his search for his birth mother. Except she was murdered, so Nick/Mark decides to look for the truth, which leads him on a violence-strewn path of familial revelations: I'm Cherokee! My cousin isn't really my cousin! I'm really an Okie!
The end is as lame as I expected it to be – heartwarmin...more
Sometimes you just want to read something you can speed through without thinking too much. Shoot the Moon is such a book.
Part detective story, party family drama, Shoot the Moon follows Nick/Mark in his search for his birth mother. Except she was murdered, so Nick/Mark decides to look for the truth, which leads him on a violence-strewn path of familial revelations: I'm Cherokee! My cousin isn't really my cousin! I'm really an Okie!
The end is as lame as I expected it to be – heartwarmin...more
Found this on the book shelf of the place where we're staying at the beach on the Pacific side near Zihuatanejo. Both of the books I brought with me were too intense, just not a beach book. But this one certainly was. The setting is a small town in Oklahoma where there is a death and a child disappears. Thirty years later the child returns to find that his mother was murdered and he's the missing child. Through a period of discovery by talking to the towns' people the mystery surrounding this in...more
This is the third book by this author, but the first one I read. Definitely going to dig out her first book (Where the Heart Is) I had somewhere in the house later.
The plot and the way the story unveils caught me since the beginning. The story begins with a murder that shook the community and a missing baby boy who shows up almost 30 years later without any hint of what happened. He comes to find the mother who abandoned him, but instead he finds the mother who gave up her dream--also her life--...more
The plot and the way the story unveils caught me since the beginning. The story begins with a murder that shook the community and a missing baby boy who shows up almost 30 years later without any hint of what happened. He comes to find the mother who abandoned him, but instead he finds the mother who gave up her dream--also her life--...more
Billie Letts is an awesome author! I have read one other of hers, Made in the U.S.A., and both books were so powerfully written. I definitely felt lots of emotions while reading this book; you could tell what each of the characters were feeling. I love that she included a little peek into the modern-day Cherokee culture - I have always respected Native American culture and find it mystical. I also love how Billie Letts built on the mystery - throughout the book, the reader gets more and more clu...more
This book is and will be one of my favorite books. It tells a story about a kid named Mark and he is in a family he doesn't quite fit in and he doesn't know why. He soons find out that he is actually Nick Harjo and he is now trying to find his identity. After searching and searching, he finds out that his mother is dead and he is trying to find who did it. So, he returns to her hometown to find out what has happened in those years.
Nick then meets his cousin and gets new friends. They continue th...more
Nick then meets his cousin and gets new friends. They continue th...more
Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts is a mystery that really captivates readers. The novel is about a man who journeys back to his home town to find out where he came from. The man discovers that there is a mystery in the town that he was born and the man cannot locate his parents that were from this town. Everyone he asks about his parents either shy away from the subject or skip town for a couple weeks. The man knows something is up and it is up to him to uncover the thirty year-old mystery. In my...more
Hmm... The Honk and Holler Opening Soon was full of weird characters and dysfunctional functioning and just plain fun rollocking action.
The writing in this book is sweet and clear, but it's fairly predictable what's going to happen. Maybe she peaked with the second book. Dunno. The other books were more atmospheric too.
But I LIKE Billie Letts, the person/brand/writer. She has a nice feel, a decency, she doesn't try to impress with craft at the expense of clarity and she's got such sweet honesty...more
The writing in this book is sweet and clear, but it's fairly predictable what's going to happen. Maybe she peaked with the second book. Dunno. The other books were more atmospheric too.
But I LIKE Billie Letts, the person/brand/writer. She has a nice feel, a decency, she doesn't try to impress with craft at the expense of clarity and she's got such sweet honesty...more
I found this novel to be unpredictable. I loved the manner in which the author twisted her story so that one moment you would be so sure that you knew who the father was and who the murderer was only to turn the page and discover you are wrong. The two main characters falling in love was obvious from the start but ended up playing out nicely.
I also felt that the author did a terrific job of introducing her characters and creating emotions for the reader with them. She was even able to uniquely g...more
I also felt that the author did a terrific job of introducing her characters and creating emotions for the reader with them. She was even able to uniquely g...more
This book was exactly what I thought it was going to be: A quick, sweet little book about a quirky southern town. I've read Billie Letts' other 2 books and really enjoyed them for being all of those things. Sometimes I just need a book like that, and she always delivers.
This one was a little different because there was a little murder mystery mixed in, which I am always all for.
I figured out whodunit about halfway through the book, but that in no way ruined it for me.
This wasn't the best writte...more
This one was a little different because there was a little murder mystery mixed in, which I am always all for.
I figured out whodunit about halfway through the book, but that in no way ruined it for me.
This wasn't the best writte...more
In 1972, the town of DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by a terrifying crime - Gaylene Harjo a teenaged single mother was brutally murdered and her 10 month old son Nicky Jack Harjo has disappeared. Nicky Jack’s pajama bottoms were found on the banks of Willow Creek and nothing was heard of him for nearly 30 years.
Shortly after his father’s death, Mark Albright finds documents revealing he was adopted. He always felt that he never fit in and was somewhat of an outcast, yet he followed in his fathe...more
Shortly after his father’s death, Mark Albright finds documents revealing he was adopted. He always felt that he never fit in and was somewhat of an outcast, yet he followed in his fathe...more
CD/Abridged/Mystery: I really liked this book. It's about a 30 year old murder of a mother and her son missing and presumed dead. Only when a Beverly Hills veterinarian comes to town to find his birth parents, only to find he is the missing son. There were great characters, great plot lines. The narrator is Lou Diamond Phillips and he did a wonderful job with the voices and reading. I don't think I could have handled unabridged. As it was, I had to take the CD out of my car and listen to it on m...more
Mark returns to his home town in the Midwest from Los Angeles after finding out he had been adopted.
Searching for his real parents after his adopted parents had died, what Mark uncovers is a horrific murder that involved the death of his real mother and his disappearance as a baby from this small town.
about in page 60. page turning. reads more like a plot driven book than my favorite book of hers "Where the heart is," but I still am enjoying the story.
Looking forward to uncovering the mystery.
W...more
Searching for his real parents after his adopted parents had died, what Mark uncovers is a horrific murder that involved the death of his real mother and his disappearance as a baby from this small town.
about in page 60. page turning. reads more like a plot driven book than my favorite book of hers "Where the heart is," but I still am enjoying the story.
Looking forward to uncovering the mystery.
W...more
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Billie Letts (born in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American author. Earlier she worked as a professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She was married to Dennis Letts until his death in 2008, and is the mother of playwright and actor Tracy Letts and jazz musician and composer Shawn Letts.
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“And the needles of the pine trees, freshly washed to a deep, rich green, shimmered with droplets that blinked like clear crystals.”
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Feb 09, 2008 05:40pm