I never thought Sarah Crossan could have written a better book than 'One' but I think she has managed that amazing feat. Moonrise is poignant, sad, funny, heart breaking and uplifting all at once. Joe is the sort of character that everybody can relate to, and to see him suffer so much really opens the readers eyes. Who thinks of the families of criminals who are sentenced to death? Very few. But Crossan makes the reader pause and consider these facts.
Beautiful story, beautiful poetry, this book is flawless in my opinion. Every teenager who walks into my workplace will leave with this book!!

Every verse novel of Sarah Crossan’s has been getting better and better and this is no exception. She just picks the absolute best characters to write about and tells stories you don’t normally hear that mean you can’t put the book down until it’s done.

Moonrise tells the story of Joe, who’s brother, Ed, is on death row. He hasn’t seen him in ten years, and now that he’s been given a death date, he decides to move to Texas for the opportunity to reconnect with him, and get the truth about what happened the day he was arrested.

What I loved about the story was how unassuming it was. It could have been from Ed’s perspective, and been a huge mystery like The Life of David Gale, that film with Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. Instead, with the focus on Joe, there’s a stronger emphasis on strength and family and needing support. If you want to get angry about the justice system, watch the film instead, because while it does get mentioned, trying to save Ed is never at the heart of the book, it’s more about both brothers coming to terms with his fate.

My favourite moments of the book were Ed’s letters to Joe – the last one definitely had me tearing up – and when Nell turned up in Joe’s life because it was such a sweet and real relationship against a harsh reality that offered Joe some escape.

While the prospect of counting down the days until your brother dies sounds morbid, Moonrise strikes the perfect balance between touching and melancholy, never fully dipping into complete sadness, but never letting you forget that life is unfair sometimes.

Succinct and moving, I’m giving Moonrise 4 stars, and it’s definitely going to be something I’m thinking about for months to come!

Sarah doesn't disappoint with this novel. Joe's world comes to life as the story to's and fro's between past and present. We follow Joe as he reconnects with his brother Ed on Death Row. Moving at times and always the randomness of being accused of murder in the wrong state in the back of your mind.

Review I've been thinking about this book a lot since I finished it yesterday. The story of Ed and Jo Moon and their family is very moving, well it would be, given Ed is on death row and due to execution in the very near future. Sadly the odds of saving Ed are stacked against him. Even though he didn't commit the crime that he is accused of and his lawyer is working hard to save him it doesn't seem like there is going to be a last minute reprieve. This is Joe's story, the story of how he deals with the horror of the looming death of his brother, how he relives the memories of his childhood with Ed in flashbacks. Joe has always looked up to Ed, the much older brother who was kind to him, a support for him while their mum was being flakey and someone to look up to. Now Joe is all alone in a prison town, he is drawn to be with Ed, he has no money and and he knows nobody in the town. Luckily for him he falls on his feet and even finds a kindred spirit.

This is a wonderful book. A book that will stay with you and haunt you, it will make you consider the impact of the death sentence on those left behind. Those who physically put the person to death and all the people on the periphery. Sarah Crossan is a wonderful writer, the prose style makes this very easy to read and the language is perfect. An excellent book.

I love Sarah Crossan, the contribution she is making to YA is enormous, and I know I'll be discussing her for the rest of my career. To my mind, she's yet to surpass The Weight Of Water- it's perfection is in it's smallness. Moonrise is, like One, a big, American novel, tackling class and politics in a new way from a more confident author after her Carnegie win. It is a huge achievement, each word is delicately placed, especially in the flashbacks. I could have lost the romance, but that tethers the book in YA. I'd love to see her break into adult appeal but this grand story isn't the book. This is unputdownable, a thriller in verse, and hugely accessible.

I love this authors writing. Fell in love with it in "one" and again in " we come apart"

I was surprised that I didn't love this one quite as much as the other two. The subject matter of a boy awaiting the execution of his older brother on death row certainly had all the right ingredients. And the author certainly doesn't shy away from hitting us hard with the realities of life, which I hugely admire.

Maybe because of the previous 2 I read I knew this and thus the non happy endings are no longer the emotional shock.

Regardless I still enjoyed and would recommend to all. Especially young adults in a powerful, brutal way of giving them access to the horrors of the penal system, and the devastation "justice" can serve on the families left behind, and the hidden victims.

Another winner from Sarah Crossan! This had me gripped all the way through the ticking down to the inevitable end.

I powered through this in less 24 hours despite being very busy at the time, sneaking in a few minutes reading it every chance I got. Powerful, sparse writing, emotionally wrenching

Joe's older brother Ed, arrested at eighteen, has been in jail since Joe was seven. An already tenuous family life - a shady neighbourhood, a dead drug dealing father - crumbled with Ed gone. Abandoned by an alcoholic mother who never showed she wanted them anyway, Joe and his sister Angela were left to either fend for themselves or be taken in by their religious Aunt Karen. Ed's kept in touch through letters from Texas, but now that he's been given a date of execution, Joe feels one of them must answer his request for a visit. At first, the person behind the glass seems like a stranger: ten years older, tattooed, hardened and bruised by his time in the prison system. Piece by piece, Joe finds that his brother is still his brother: he talks, he cares, he hopes. But his fate rests on a final series of appeals, and Joe can't yet bear to think beyond each visit.

Punchy, audacious and carefully constructed, Crossan's choice of characters - many flawed, others unlikeable - in this book aligns with her established narrative interest in outsiders. The fallout of Ed's sentence has created invisible casualties Joe and Angela, but the loyalty between them is persistent. She emphasises tremendous humanity while anticipating, and asking, questions of her audience. The minor characters are forgettable and it's not exactly an enjoyable read, but it's almost impossible not to get swept into Crossan's writing. For fans of particularly stunning poetry or twisty, complex plots, her unflashy verse ('like a rock into a river / she fell') may a little too close to functional here, but there is a whole story packed into its pages. There are hints of books like Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas to the subjects of Moonrise - social disintegration, family breakdown, corruption, injustice and capital punishment - but it's written in Crossan's unmistakable style.

A full version of this review will appear on my blog closer to publication.