Keith Rosson’s new book, Coffin Moon, hits like a hammer (a very bloody hammer), which should come as no surprise to anyone who has read any of his previous books. The story centers around Duane Minor, a Vietnam vet, and Julia his niece who end up on a quest for vengeance after their family is devastated when Duane crosses paths with the embodiment of pure evil. Rosson’s puts a wonderfully fresh spin on the vampire lore. Dark, graphic, bloody, and incredibly inventive. You’ll sit down with this one intending to only read a chapter or two only to look up and find you’ve been reading for hours. If you aren’t already a fan of Keith Rosson, you will be once you’ve finished this book. Thanks so much to Random House of the ARC.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/coffin-moon-keith-rosson/1146662133?ean=9780593733400&bvnotificationId=2d976273-8e57-11f0-98b7-12c7007eb9af&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/356901942

Let me start by saying this isn’t a bad book—it’s a “me” thing. I absolutely adore the Fever House series. I made so many videos hyping it up that the author himself told me I was one of his biggest cheerleaders… until Stephen King came along and stole my thunder 😂.

That said, I’m just not a slow-paced vampire girly. The story is well written, and Rosson’s talent is undeniable, but my personal taste leans away from dreary, atmospheric slow burns. Still, Rosson can do no wrong in my eyes, and I’d recommend this to anyone who thrives on mood, atmosphere, and patient storytelling.

This modern day (1975) vampire novel was just what I needed to start off this fall. Intriguing, gruesome, emotional at times, this revenge story will have you wanting to read straight through to the end in one sitting. I will definitely be recommending this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: woah what an incredible journey that was. This is my first book by the author but I LOVED it. This is a horror book and I would say on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the most horror) this is about a 3. The horrors are grief, childhood trauma, PTSD, vampires, revenge, and substance use. I thought Keith Rosson handled those things with such a human and careful heart. I really loved these characters a lot and will be thinking about them long after this book. I will for sure reread this in the future and I highly recommend it.

Duane Minor has enough experience with violence to be comfortable around it. Anger comes quickly, it's always right there under the surface, accessible, waiting for the slightest invitation. When you're comfortable with violence, sensing that it might be near reminds you how good it feels, reminds you that you miss it.

Duane is in luck. The invitation arrives at the Last Call Tavern in the form of two men in biker vests who walk around like rules don't apply to them.

Duane doesn't know why they're around but when he finds out he also finds a whole different kind of violence comes with them. From this moment on the story becomes a fast paced chase fueled with bloodshed and vengeance while Duane and his niece hunt for the man known as John Varley. Varley is not your average villain and Duane might not be up to the task. This story takes you places you wouldn't expect.

The vampire lore here is as fresh as it is unsettling. The characters who join in, even if only for a short time, are memorable and feed the narrative in their own ways. The dialogue is gritty and entertaining, it reveals the types of people who are involved.

How far would you go for revenge? What are you willing to give up? And what are you willing to offer in exchange? These questions and more will be answered by the end of this bloody affair. When it's over you'll go back to the beginning to experience it at least one more time because Keith Rosson is a damned good writer who knows how to tell a story.

If you haven't read this, you're missing out. If you have, meet me at Kenton Park, we're going to ask about the Children's Museum.

This seems to be a good year for vampires, vampire stories and this book is no exception! I can’t resist a vampire tale and this book was really good. I have never read of any Keith Rosson’s books before and now I will have to go find his other books. This was a good story. There’s love, family, PTSD, addiction, past mistakes, revenge and of course vampires. The story is well told and hooks you from the beginning. The story switches between different points of view and gives a lot of back story of the characters. Highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good vampire tale.

Set in 1975 Portland, Oregon, Duane Minor is working as a bartender after a tour in Vietnam. Julia, his thirteen year old niece is living with him after some troubling life events, and he is struggling to connect with her.

One day, a brutal vampire named John Varley walks into the bar, and Duane makes the mistake of getting on his bad side. In retaliation, Varley viciously murders Duane’s wife Heidi, and in their grief and rage, Duane and Julia decide to hunt the monster down and get the vengeance they desperately desire.

——

This one had a cool blend of vintage vampire lore with some new inventive ideas. John Varley is not just a vampire, but seeded heavily in organized crime. Rossen hit the nail on the coffin with this guy. Varley is a character to absolutely loathe.

Duane is a character you just want to root for. Despite all the family flaws, He’s just trying to do his best and you really want him to succeed. Character development is a big draw for me and I thought both Duane and Julia were so multi dimensional and interesting.

There are some other unsavory characters to meet in this one, both dead and undead, and they were all fantastic. I definitely wouldn’t want to visit the children’s museum anytime soon 👀.

Maybe I’m just old, lol, but I prefer stories set in simpler times with no social media, COVID or politics so I love that there was no heavy topics such as these to weigh the story down.

I give this one 🩸 🩸🩸🩸 drops of blood out of 5.

Between the movie Sinner and Keith Rosson’s new novel, Coffin Moon, it’s a been a great year for new vampire tales. After Rosson’s excellent Fever House duology, I was anxious to see what he’d come out with next. Would it live up to those wild books? I’m delighted to say, while quite different, Rosson has again knocked it out of the park. Forgive the pun, but Rosson breathes new life into the vampire genre. If you’ve read the Fever House books then you know Rosson is not adverse to getting a little crazy and delivering a story that is over the top bloody and brutal, and that is exactly the case here. After introducing us to the main players, namely Duane Minor (Vietnam vet trying to deal with being back in the real world) and his 13 year old niece Julia, Rosson throws a Molotov cocktail of blood and gore their way, altering their lives forever and setting them on a path for revenge. This story is a dark, rough, and emotional gut punch. Rosson knows how to weave a tale and these characters, especially Varley, are unforgettable. If you’re reading this one late at night, I guarantee you that you’ll be turning on all the lights and double checking that all the doors are locked. I’d like to thank Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Coffin Moon.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/coffin-moon-keith-rosson/1146662133?ean=9780593733400&bvnotificationId=4cfb468b-8dad-11f0-ba64-0affe38ef9b5&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/356862567

I've said it before, I'll say it again: It's a great time to be a horror reader, and Keith Rosson's books serve as the perfect proof.

Coffin Moon is about vampires—scary ones. Original ones. It's also about grief, trauma, family, war, mistakes, and love. And all of this is told in a huge scale while still connecting the reader to the characters on a surprisingly intimate level.

Rosson's writing is literary, but approachable. If you want to pay attention to all the little details that make you experience each scene with the characters, pick out themes and literary devices, you can. But you can also just read this as a damn good, entertaining novel—he's so much like King in that regard.

I don't know if I'll be able to pick a favorite horor book this year because there are so many exceptional ones, but I know Coffin Moon is going on that "top books of all time" list I carry around in my heart.

A gritty 1970s nostalgic but brutal take on the vampire story, Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson is excellent. Set in Portland in the mid 70s, it is a tale of love, grief, and vengeance with some very scary and gruesome monsters, human and vampire. I loved the smaller tighter focus on the main characters of this story, Minor, Julia, and Varley. This book definitely goes there with the blood and gore, while being the perfect offset for the heart and trauma of life and its myriad relationships. All of this told in a thrilling propulsive and cinematic style that captured me right away and never let go until the end. I had no idea where the story was going and loved the ending. A great addition to the vampire story, Coffin Moon is a favorite read of the year.

Okay - seriously: perfection!! I’m not big on vampire novels but this one is chefs kiss! If you like horror, you’ll want to add this terrifying vampire novel to your TBR!

Rosson’s newest will be a hit for fans of Stephen King’s classics. A mesh of retro horror vibes (imagine grainy 70s film with no music) and well written morally grey characters (not to mention a hell of a villain) keeps this revenge story well-paced and feeing fresh.

Full review on GR!

Vietnam Vet working as a bartender while trying to be sober, saving his marriage, and trying to connect with his niece—why not add a vampire?

And why not have that vampire do heinous things, pushing the Vet deeper into grief and rage?

Why not? Because Keith Rosson just did the damn thing with Coffin Moon.

Every page drips with grief and pain and hurt.

This is perfect.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

If you’d have told me at the start of the year that two of my candidates for my favorite book of the year would be vampire books, I probably would have believed you but I would have also been a bit surprised. We started off the year with the fantastic The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones which got a rare dual mention by both Ed and I for K&G. Now, just in time for SpookySeason, we have Keith Rosson’s Coffin Moon which is another brilliant vampire novel that dives into PTSD, addiction and what it means to be family.

It’s 1975 and Duane Minor is a man who is working through his demons, which at this point in the story are mostly metaphorical. He’s working at his wife’s family bar and raising his thirteen year old niece who came to live with Duane in mysterious circumstances. He’s toiling away and trying to keep to the straight and narrow when a late night encounter with the menacing John Varley throws his life into disarray. When Duane makes a decision to try and protect his fragile home/life balance and it goes horribly wrong, Duane and his niece, Julia, find themselves drawn into a long conflict with Varley, who you may have guessed is a vampire.

This book was fantastic and is probably a shoe-in for a place on my top reads of the year list. In terms of plotting and pace, it’s perfect. Chef’s kiss! I read an ARC of this on my honeymoon and I blew through it in less than 24 hours (it helped that it was a sea day on a cruise). I couldn’t put this book down and each time that I thought I knew what Rosson was doing, he’d switch it up and I’d be utterly surprised. By the time the horrific climax arrives, I was utterly drawn into this story. I’d already grown to love Rosson’s writing with his Fever House duology but this one cemented that I’ll be picking up all of his books in the future.

The characters are some of my favorites, as well. Duane is a pitch perfect protagonist. He’s imperfect in the most compelling ways and it’s impossible to not root for him as he tries to keep his very precariously balanced family steady. When everything falls apart, his grief and rage are utterly authentic and his struggle to somehow get himself and Julia out of the chaos of the back half never felt unrealistic.

On the other hand, John Varley is a fantastic villain. He’s menacing and mysterious and Rosson deftly keeps him just distant enough to be a mystery until he deftly starts adding back story to the mix to add incredible depth to his antagonist. It never redeems Varley but it makes him a much more fascinating character.

I also think that Varley is a truly brilliant vampire. It feels weird to talk about the, in my opinion, erroneous notion that “vampires are played out” in a year where we had Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter do everything it did with vampires and Rosson’s Coffin Moon is just another dispelling of that notion. Varley is genuinely terrifying but the way that Rosson works his own traumas and past into his character in the back third of this book is so well done that it adds so much depth on top of his character. The climatic show down is excellent and our heroes finally facing off with Varley is so well done.

The most interesting thing about this book is how it explores family and trauma and how we balance those two things. Duane is working through his PTSD of being a soldier in Vietnam, his alcoholism, and also the events that led to Julia living with him and his wife. It’s completely believable that he would make the choices he makes when Varley first appears and unsettles that fragile balance he’s created for himself. We know that it’s not going to go well for him (because it’s the first third of a horror story) but we root for him nonetheless. Rosson has created probably my favorite protagonist this year and a huge part of that is how compelling Duane’s character is.

It’s been a great year for vampire novels and if you are looking for the perfect book for SpookySeason, I heartily recommend Keith Rosson’s Coffin Moon. It’s heart-breaking and beautiful and utterly terrifying. Duane Minor is one of my favorite protagonists so far this year and I think he’ll be one of yours as well.

After reading Fever House and The Devil By Name I was excited that Keith Rosson had a new book out. The Coffin Moon is really good and pretty f*cked up take on vampires but also Vietnam War and that period of time. All the characters were flawed by something which I liked a lot cause it's real but all had something to keep them going. The short chapters made it easy to read but packed alot in. Keith has become one of my new favorites to read. Thanks to Madison Dettlinger from Random House Marketing for sending me a free copy to read before it came out and Netgalley.

Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson is another exciting, suspenseful and horrifying story!
I’m addicted to Rosson’s writing. Like can’t get enough of it.
And all you had to say was vampires and gore….. boy was I down for it!
The pacing is fantastic, never slowing down but never feeling rushed either. I love the world building that Keith Rosson does.
The writing was fantastically done.
I thought this was a very well-executed read that gave me more of what I was looking for.
Rosson hits it out of the park here.

Coffin Moon by Keith Rossen, it’s the late 70s and Vietnam vet Dwayne Minor and his wife Heidi live above the bar The Last Call, where he works for his mother and father-in-law. They’ve recently gained custody of 13-year-old Julia Shaw Heidi‘s sister‘s daughter because her mom was sent to prison for killing her abusive stepdad Ray Ray. Dwayne and Julia have both seen things that most adults won’t see in their lifetime and have a tentative bond because of it. When his mother-in-law Joanne learns her husband has cancer she thinks she has found a solution but when Dwayne puts a stop to it it will be the beginning of a nightmare. when Julia goes on her first sleep out she calls and wants to go home and when Dwayne tells her to call Heidi upstairs she says Heidi didn’t answer. This is when he finds Heidi ripped apart a fate also endured by his in-laws and he vows to keep Julia safe but at the same time to get revenge. when Dwayne found Joanne making the deal with John Varley he also took Polaroid pictures of Varley and his two companions but later when looking at the picture the one of Varley was just smoke he will search for John Varley a man much more dangerous than a vampire he is like a vampire plus but right when Dwayne and Julia think things can’t get any worse Julia makes a decision on her own that affects them both but this is just the beginning of “if you think that’s bad… Watch this“ scenarios that keep popping up in this great twisty sci-fi read. The only one who knows what Dwayne and Julia are up against is the detective investigating the case but when it comes to hunting down this super predator it will only be Dwayne and Julia who will see it through. There is so much more in this book from silver bullets the first time Love a supernatural hit will be put out on Dwayne and it seems every time they’re up against the impossible they somehow get out of it but always come off worse in the end. This book was so so freaking good. I have read many books with many villains and I don’t believe I have ever wanted one to get what was coming to them so bad as I did with John Varley and not to mention his vicious love Johannes. this book doesn’t isn’t about the supernatural but about family the promises we make in the outcome of vengeance. I do want to say I love this book but I really wasn’t a big fan of the ending with Dwayne but ultimately I think I understand why the author did that. such a great read with the weirdest orphanage you will ever see in your life. A definite recommend. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #KeithRawson, #CoffinMoon,

This exceptional novel follows Duane Minor, a Vietnam vet, and his niece, Julia, through a plethora of horrors and tribulations. After a monster savages his wife and in-laws, Duane and Julia set off on a course of revenge they may not survive. Heartbreaking in its savagery.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this digital e-arc.*

Coffin Moon is a really good vampire story. The characters made things feel fresh, and I cared about how things would turn out. My only issue was that Julia never felt right for her age. Even if she was more mature, she felt a bit off and I wanted to put her closer to twenty than thirteen.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A whole new breed of vampire novel. Just an amazing story from beginning to end. Rosson has no doubt created in John Varley the most brutal and bloodthirsty vampire in the history of modern literature. He just takes killing to a whole new level of brutality. Such an original and fresh take on a vampire story. Can't say enough about it.