“There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.” There are many great quotes in BLOOD MOON. But I found this one from Alexander Hamilton, which opens the book, to be my favorite as it’s an indication of what’s to come.

The first installment of this series, 2017’s THE RISING, introduced us to high school seniors Alex Chin and Samantha Dixon. We saw Alex’s adopted parents brutally killed by otherworldly forces, which will come back to haunt the pair in a major way in this sequel. They were successful once in fighting off an alien threat, but the forces coming for them and Earth may be too much to handle this time around.

"[B]uckle up and hang on throughout this wild ride. Once again, the brilliant pairing of Heather Graham and Jon Land proves to be literary kismet, with their immense talents complementing each other to near perfection."

Alex is carrying a computer chip located near his brain that may contain the only information capable of defeating these invaders. When he learns that they were the ones responsible for the death of his parents, the gloves come off completely. They say it takes a village to raise someone. In BLOOD MOON, there is an entire village worth of characters on both sides of the battle who keep the narrative pumping.

One of the worst is Langston Marsh, an earthbound villain who spends the early part of the novel with Raiff, a “colleague” of Alex’s who is being held by him in an effort to get details about the coming horde of invaders. Another standout is an initially unknown female who enters Earth via some sort of wormhole and lands in a hospital with a fever of 111. She waxes on about those who may have followed her through the same portal whose intentions are not as amiable as hers.

Throw in a budding romance between Alex and Sam (readers of THE RISING have been waiting a long time for this!), and you literally have something for everyone to bite into here.

The bulk of the novel is difficult to discuss without revealing too much of the superb plotting and storytelling. Let’s just say that the nonstop adrenaline ride we were taken on in THE RISING was just a taste of what to expect in BLOOD MOON. The mix of science fiction and cutting-edge technology is fully on display here, along with some international jet-setting, which reveals the secrets that were first implied in the prologue set in 1865 Austria. This will bring us to the jungles of Guatemala and a lost Mayan civilization, where the answers to what the alien invaders could be seeking may very well exist.

I will leave it up to you to discover what happens next. All I can do is suggest that you buckle up and hang on throughout this wild ride. Once again, the brilliant pairing of Heather Graham and Jon Land proves to be literary kismet, with their immense talents complementing each other to near perfection. Thankfully this is not the conclusion to Alex and Sam’s story, so I can only pray that we won’t have to wait another five years to continue enjoying their saga.