Reviews

The Moonshine Messiah by Russell W. Johnson

hedgehognerd's review

4.0

This book is a fun read.
Really enjoyed the West Virginia setting.
The people are rich and complex. The connections between the characters are varied and how the author links the current issues to the past is done very well.
Recommend.

itsmarkyall's review

5.0

Russell Johnson’s THE MOONSHINE MESSIAH is Justified meets Fargo and with as many twists and turns as a Blue Ridge mountain pass you won’t put this book down. It’s one I wish I could read again with fresh eyes. —Mark Westmoreland, A Violent Gospel and A Mourning Song

chymerra's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 

Sherriff Mary Beth Cain is not having the best week. She is under investigation by the DoJ for corruption after an expose revealed her unorthodox and sometimes illegal policing ways. Her brother, Sawyer, is holed up in an abandoned mine and preaching about waging war on the government. Her mother, who runs the hill billy crime syndicate, is trying to work out a deal with Mary Beth regarding crime in the area. But things came to a head when Mary Beth’s former high school sweetheart, a lawyer for the DoJ, approached her with a deal. Any charges against her will go away if she can arrest her brother. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Mary Beth agrees. But, as Mary Beth starts investigating the case, she finds some discrepancies and decides to follow the trail. What she discovers changes everything but doesn’t change the fact that she needs to arrest Sawyer. What did Mary Beth uncover? Will Mary Beth be able to capture her brother?

When I agreed to review The Moonshine Messiah, I thought I would be reviewing a book that followed the generic mystery/crime genre. Let me stop you right here and tell you that this book is anything but typical. This is a twisty-turny mystery with morally gray characters that are multifaceted. To say that I enjoyed reading The Moonshine Messiah is an understatement.

The Moonshine Messiah is a fast-paced book. The pacing of this book was spot on. It would have thrown everything off if this book had slowed the pace. There was a bit of lag when Mary Beth led Sawyer through the tunnels and during the big battle scene, but it wasn’t enough to bother me.

The Moonshine Messiah is set entirely in the state of West Virginia. More importantly, the author set the book in the coal fields of West Virginia. I haven’t visited West Virginia (unless you count stopping at a rest stop while traveling to Massachusetts visiting). So, I was very much interested in how the author described that area. And to be honest, it didn’t sound much different than where I currently live, except for maybe a slightly bigger city.

The main storyline in The Moonshine Messiah centers around Mary Beth. The storyline was well-written and was supported by several secondary storylines. I didn’t feel lost or confused while reading. I knew exactly where I was and what I was dealing with (until the last few chapters when the author turned everything upside down). What I liked the most about this storyline was that the characters were morally gray. That allowed the characters more range than if the author had decided to follow the traditional good guy vs. bad guy storyline.

Mary Beth is the main character in The Moonshine Messiah. I didn’t necessarily like her and didn’t at first. But, as with all the characters in this book, she was layered, and what I saw at the beginning of the book wasn’t exactly who Mary Beth was. She was tough when she needed to be, and she did deserve that DoJ investigation. But she was also brilliant, and she used those smarts to outwit the DoJ and strike a deal with someone she probably shouldn’t have (her mother).

Patrick is the other main character that I am going to highlight here. Like Mary Beth, he was multi-layered, and like Mary Beth, I didn’t like him at first. But, unlike Mary Beth, my dislike and distrust of him stayed. There was something about him that rubbed me wrong, and I was happy that I was proven right about him in the end. But he did help Mary Beth when she needed it the most, which counts for something.

The mystery angle of The Moonshine Messiah was wonderfully written. It was your typical mystery until after Sawyer was arrested. Then, the author does something that I didn’t expect. He turns everything upside down. There were a couple of massive twists that I didn’t see coming. Both involved Mary Beth and members of her immediate family. I finished the book with my mouth hanging open; that’s how off guard I was taken. And bravo to the author for being able to do that.

As I stated above, the end of The Moonshine Messiah is twisty-turny. The author ended all of the storylines in ways that I liked (and took me by surprise). The author also left open enough at the end for there to be a book 2.

I would recommend The Moonshine Messiah to anyone over 21. There is graphic violence, sexual situations, and language.

Many thanks to Russell W. Johnson for allowing me to read and review The Moonshine Messiah. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

 

bookanonjeff's review

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Complex Almost Anti-Hero Leads Layered World Into Promising New Series. This is one of those books that touches on a lot of things - the opioid epidemic, the crash of coal in the push for so-called "green" energy, land speculation, family, the complexities of being on the right side of the "law" when your family isn't, high school romance and the fallout thereof, traditional Southern living vs the newer get-rich-quick ethos... and even a strong dash of the militia movement and the mistakes on both sides of Ruby Ridge and Waco and the long shadows both of those events cast in certain communities. In the process, it creates a truly layered and compelling world that while just as complex as our own, still allows for a high degree of escapism (for most). And yet, it is also a brutal tale of survival and betrayal, of losing yourself and finding yourself over and over and over again. Of trying to become something you want to be, even as your community and even family are doing their damndest to drag you in other directions. Overall truly a remarkable tale for what it is, and one I am very much looking forward to coming back into this world. Very much recommended.