Moonlight Becomes You by Robert Herold

Moonlight Becomes You by Robert Herold
An Eidola Project Novel, Book 2
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Paranormal, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Eidola Project travels to Petersburg, Virginia, to investigate a series of murders in the Black community—rumored to be caused by a werewolf. Once there, danger comes from all quarters. Not only do they face threats from the supernatural, the KKK objects to the team’s activities, and the group is falling apart. Can they overcome their human frailties to defeat the evil that surrounds them?

Monsters can lurk anywhere.

Honestly, the werewolf was what originally nudged me to request this book, and I was pleased with how much time the author took to explore what would happen if a town was terrorized by such a creature. Werewolves don’t seem to be a common antagonist in the modern fantasy I usually read, so it was refreshing to revisit the tropes and legends about them here. The narrator assumed the audience already knew the basics about what this creature was and how it worked, but they did provide enough information to help readers who were less familiar with them get caught up on what to expect.

I struggled with the slow pacing of this tale, especially after the first few chapters when all of the introductions had taken place and the characters began diving into their newest case. There was plenty of material here for the author to work with, from a large cast of characters to a mystery that threatened to kill many innocent people if it wasn’t quickly unraveled. I simply found myself wishing that everything had moved forward faster.

Some of the most interesting portions of the storyline were the ones that discussed the prejudice faced by the characters who were African American, women, or African American women. Everyone who fell into these groups were deeply aware of the limitations society placed on them because of their identities, and they had to be cautious about where they went and how they behaved because of it. I appreciated the attention the author paid to these topics as it made the setting feel much more realistic for these characters given when and where they lived. It also made their accomplishments even more meaningful once they figured out ways to reach their goals within the confines of what they were allowed to do in that era.

This is the second installment of a series. I’d recommend reading it in order due to the character and plot development from The Eidola Project that affected this sequel so much. There were also dozens of characters to keep track of, so already knowing some of them from the previous book will make it much easier for readers to dive into this one.

Moonlight Becomes You was a satisfying read.