Literary horror at its finest. Rosson spends as much time delving deeply into his character's inner lives and motivations as he does with the gore. This is heartfelt, tragic, and yet hopeful at the same time. The writing, on a sentence level, spectacular. Highly recommended.

This story had its complexities and its strong points but at the end of the day it just seems to drag on. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters- save maybe Julia. I thought the swapping of POVs definitely told a story, but not one that I really cared about. The concept was cool, but nothing new. I found myself not really caring what happened to the characters, and found it predictable. I think it’s definitely worth a read, but is not a book that’ll stick with me, if that makes sense.

This is my first novel by this author and I really enjoyed it. The writing is great, clipped in some places but in a stylistic way, and the characters, though familiar to some I’ve encountered before, are fleshed out well. The author is really good at action sequences, and the dialogue feels natural. I’ll be reading Fever House next.

*Coffin Moon* completely took me by surprise. I’m not usually drawn to vampire tales, but this one had me hooked from page one. The characters felt heartbreakingly real, and my heart aches for Duane.

Julia has endured far too much for someone just 13 years old. After losing her entire family, she’s raised by her aunt and uncle—but when tragedy strikes again, she becomes consumed by vengeance. How far will she go to settle the score? And how far will Duane go to protect her in her relentless quest? You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

This book is brilliantly crafted. The prose felt unconventional at first, but by the third chapter, it hit its stride, and suddenly, it was full throttle to the end. By the time the extreme gore kicked in, I was absolutely ravenous for more vampire havoc.

An absolute must-read. 5 stars.

Keith Rosson, the writer that you are! I feel so lucky to have received an ARC of Coffin Moon from NetGalley and Random House.

Duane Minor, a Vietnam war veteran and recovering alcoholic loses everything and goes on a journey of vengeance with his niece, Julia. This path toward revenge is following John Varley, a cold and cruel villain with a set of fangs and the tendency to not show up in photos.

Duane and Julia’s journey is gut-wrenching from start to finish. Their stories individually and together are filled with hardships, trauma, and lots of bad decisions. I loved the character building for both of them and how they navigate the world in their flawed ways.

Our villain, John Varley, is probably my new favorite bad guy. He has lived a LIFE and his part in this story is just as heartbreaking in its own brutal way. This book made me ask what is good and evil? Who gets to decide that? Is there ever a right choice?

The gore was perfect, as I expected. Keith Rosson’s writing is gripping and visceral. I did have some questions that were never fully answered and a few gaps in the story that I wanted more from. Bouncing through a few timelines was challenging here and there, but overall, this was the vampire book I needed and knew I would get.

Can’t wait for this to be out in September so I can tell everyone I know to read it!

Keith Rosson had me at Fever House and its sequel, but this book is another masterpiece! I would have given it 10/5 stars, but I am only able to give it 5. Rosson's portrayal of family, revenge, and grief is spot on, raw, and gritty. While this is a vampire novel, I feel that it was so much more than that. This book is set in the 70s when Duane Minor comes back from war and finally finds some peace. Clearly, that doesn't happen. Rosson's characters are amazingly created, and you feel everything for them. This book will drive a stake into your heart!

Wow. Wow. Wow. This is such an excellent book. Empathy, anger, encouragement & surprise
from surprise to finish, making me glad I took a chance on an unknown Author and unusual cover art.
I’m still blinded by Julia, whom I want to bring home and love, until I came to the place where I knew
she was going to be OK.
This book is every single human need and emotion all in one, and I now know I have to hit the other
books when I have time. I recommend d this to everyone!
My thanks to Random House via. NetGalley for the download copy of the book for review purposes.

Another banger of a book by Keith Rosson. I love his unique style of storytelling and prose. This is a fun vampire 70s revenge story and trust me when I say you want to pick this up!

2.5 stars
Oh my god! Vampires in the 1970s? A revenge driven story?
I knew right then and there I had to read it!
However, it seems the description made the book in theory sound far more exciting than it was...

Wish the main characters guardian relationship would've been more fleshed out throughout the journey. I also found myself preferring the niece, rather than our main character.

On the bright side the writing was enjoyable! Though, I think the story does suffer a lot in pacing.
Overall not a terrible book, but just didn't hit the spot for me despite being a huge vampire fan.

Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson snuck up on me. I began the book and became so engrossed in the daily lives of Julia and Minor, I had nearly forgotten what exactly I had signed up for until the monstrousness of their antagonist revealed itself. The story is equally as gritty and dark as its setting in 1970s Portland, dropping locations and streets that felt like Easter eggs for those lucky enough to have spent time in the city (though it was a bit surprising to have the climax of the novel take place in the cemetery where I’ve attended Shakespeare plays and eaten ice cream in the summer). I’m not usually someone who’s drawn to thrillers, but Coffin Moon had me staying up late and reading through lunch to find out what would happen next.

A revenge story about a Vietnam vet trying to avenge the death of the woman he loves could have easily fallen into tired tropes, but Rosson manages to avoid them by centering Julia, a young girl with a propensity for violence and a stubborn determination.

Bonus points for queer vampires and thralls, no matter how evil they might end up being.

Thanks to Random House for the ARC.

The cover is perfect. It’s eye catching and makes me want to know more about the book.

I’ve been on a vampire kick recently so this was the perfect book. I wasn’t looking for something romantic or fluffy, I wanted the darker side of the vampire story and this was absolutely perfect.

Having it set it the 70s was great, the details added in the plot not just for the time but to build up the characters was done well.

VAMPIRES!

I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Written by Keith Rosson and published by Random House in 2025, this is a dark Fantasy story about vampires. The opening scenes are set in Portland, Oregon, where the primary protagonist tends bar at The Last Call, his in-law’s establishment. Duane Minor is a Vietnam combat veteran who has returned to the love of his life, his wife, Heidi. Her parents, Ed and Joanne inherited the bar with its upstairs apartment from Joanne’s father. Duane and Heidi live there now. Ed has terminal cancer, and Joanne makes a deal with a master vampire named John Varley. Varley will heal Ed’s cancer in exchange for Varley and his biker gang buddies being able to sell heroin from the back room of the bar.

Heidi’s sister was married to an evil man named Raymond Sikes, and they lived back East, in New York. Ray physically abused her and her daughter, Julia, on an almost daily basis. She soon tires of the abuse and murders Ray. When she is sent to prison, thirteen-year-old Julia is sent to live with Heidi and Duane in Portland. Julia is the second protagonist in this story.

Ed’s health takes a turn for the worse, and Duane must go downstairs and tend bar for a while. Varley and his biker gang friends are present, and Duane kicks them out of the bar. John Varley decides to take vengeance on Duane for evicting him and his fellow drug dealers from the bar. He slaughters both Ed and Joanne and then goes to the apartment above the bar and murders Heidi. They are not only killed but are also dismembered. Duane returns home to find a bloody, gory mess in the bedroom where Heidi was working on her first novel, called The Hollow. Of course, she never finishes it. Also, we never learn anything about it, like what it is about.

The remainder of the story is about Duane’s and Julia’s search for John Varley so that they can exact revenge on him. Their travels take them as far east as Fargo, North Dakota before eventually returning them to Portland. Vampirism saturates this story, which has a medium pace. At the end of the novel, we learn what eventually happens to Julia, but are left wondering about Duane. All of the other loose ends appear to be tied up, and few logical errors were noted. At one point, however, the author describes a police radio as a “CB radio,” which it clearly is not. If you like this kind of dark fiction, you might like this story. I award three of the available five stars.

A wonderful tale of revenge and what it brings us to do. How it can control us. Coffin Moon makes one ask: How far would you go, to avenge someone taken from you long before their time?

A bloody tale of retribution and revenge, COFFIN MOON breaths new life into the vampiric lore. Keith Rosson establishes something fresh and inspired, adding another masterpiece to the horror genre.

(Thank you to Madison Dettlinger of Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the ARC).

***5 out of 5 stars***

It took me a bit (25-35% of the book) to get into the writing style but this book is just hands down amazing. I will be recommending it to all my goth friends tbh

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Marketing for the opportunity to read Coffin Moon.

Genre: Gothic Horror
Descriptors: Vampires, Death, Bloody, Cat and Mouse, 1970's, Revenge,
Spice: No
Standalone: Yes
Would I recommend? Yes

Duane Minor served his country in Vietnam and upon return, suffers from PTSD and addiction. But none of that compares to the pain of losing his wife and her parents after crossing a man made of shadows. John Varley is his name, and he is all teeth and anger in every sense of the words. Duane and his niece Julia refuse to let Varley's crimes go unpunished, and in the process discover a world where silver is your only protection.

I almost DNFed this book and am so incredibly happy I did not. The writing style isn't what I normally gravitate towards, and veterans aren't a main character I can generally relate to. I was also slightly confused at the sudden turn to the undead because it was marketed as a historical mystery/thriller on NetGalley. But every time I considered moving on, I found myself picking Coffin Moon up to see what twist happened next. Duane and Julia are such complex characters, and I enjoyed the occasional Varley POV chapters for background information.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC! Projected publishing date: September 9th, 2025

"Coffin Moon", Keith Rosson's follow up to the "Fever House" duology, is much smaller in scope but no less compulsive a read. Taking place in the mid-1970's, the novel introduces readers to Duane Minor, a Vietnam Vet with PTSD who is trying to get back to some semblance of normal. He tends bar at a place owned by his in-laws. He is raising his niece, Julia, who saw her mother kill her abusive stepfather and get life in prison for the crime. He's haunted by what happened in Vietnam and has trouble with his anger, but is maybe on the verge of pulling it all back together. Until a Vampire named John Varley kills his in laws and his wife, shattering his life and leaving Julia, already carrying a deep well of anger, on a path of revenge that takes some very dark turns.

There's that old saying about how when you set out on a mission of revenge, dig two graves. Clearly Keith Rosson has heard that one. This is a horror novel, bloody and terrifying, but it's also a deeply sad story of what happens when all you have left is a need for payback, no matter the cost.. Both Duane and Julia are broken before the murders, and the sheer needlessness of the initial crime and then everything that happens after seems to be Rosson's take on what is left when hope for anything but revenge takes over. Rosson has also created a terrific, fitting villain with John Varley. He has a very interesting backstory that gives the reader a glimpse into the loose society of vampires in this world. Between this book and the recent movies "Sinners" and "Nosferatu", the horror of being a vampire, the loneliness of it, has been brought back to the forefront in storytelling after too many years of vampires as sexy or cool. It's not just what a vampire does that is horrific, it's what becoming a vampire does to the person. Rosson gets this which makes the book resonate after you've put it down.

This is a great horror novel. I finished it in two days. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Marketing for the invitation to read this eARC! This book was a vibe. It was very atmospheric and was unique in its handling. Never once did the plot go where I expected it to, especially based on the synopsis. I found this to be fast-paced and an engaging read. The multiple POVs, including the antagonist was great. It gave me the same feeling I would get from watching one of the OG horror films like Halloween, but scarier and more violent. The epilogue was even unhinged, Julia’s plan gave me chills. Very nice 4.25/5⭐️

Let me start off by saying I have never had a book make me so sad because I wasn’t able to share it with my dad that is no longer with us. He was a Vietnam vet, a lover of vampire novels, and all books Dean Koontz and Stephen King. As soon as I finished this I broke down in tears wishing I could walk into the other room and go “Dad, you have to read this.” Thank you to Keith for bringing me a story that made me feel a little more connected to the man I lost years ago.

With that being said, this story is more than just a great written vampire villain, but a story of loss, grief, complexities of adulthood and childhood, love, and what it means to be a daughter, a mother, a father, wether given the choice or playing the role as it came. Minor is all about the people he loves and not all about him. Julia is a young girl trying to survive in the only way she knows how. This pairing both doing everything they can to protect each other as both try to navigate their traumatic lives individually, but together. As I mentioned, Varley is one of the best villainous vampires I’ve read to date. Nothing about him is redeeming in quality but you’re also somehow rooting for him to do more effed up shit simply because he’s a effed up guy. This story had me grinding my teeth and muttering “oh no” more times than I can count. I can’t wait to reread this once the physical copy is in my hands and I hope this story connects with the readers in the way it did with me.