𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪:

I found my love for Rossons writing long ago and I have and will never ever look back. I ache for the next one and now I am going to impatiently wait for the next haha! If you’re looking for a truly WILD time of a read with extraordinary characters who are so well written you’ll forget they are just characters and packed with some gruesome horror read that will show you grief, revenge, vengeance and grit!
When our MC goes hunting for who murdered his wife and in-laws he comes face to face with just that but will he meet the same fate as well by John’s hand? This is a must read on your fall TBR list and while you get ready for this release in September, go and read all the others by Rosson and thank me later.

𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗦: Vampires, Revenge, Vengence, Horror, Grief, Fast Pace, Thriller

Large thank you to our Author, NetGalley as well as Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Random House

I did not finish this book. Couldn't connect to the characters. Wasn't for me. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher.

I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC, really enjoyed reading this book it got me ready for spooky season!!!
Surprisingly this book was good, I did not think it would be. The beginning was very slow, but it started getting really interesting and fast paced. I really enjoyed Duane’s character and Julia’s as well. And I liked the background story, I thought it was going to be a little bit of horror in it, but it really wasn’t. I also liked learning. about Duane and Julia’s background and why they basically started hunting Varley, and also Varley’s background as well was good!

Vengeance takes a road trip in this historical (mid-1970s) vampire thriller with a side order of splatterpunk. Starting off in Portland, OR, the novel follows Duane Minor, a Vietnam vet coping with PTSD and temper issues. He's trying to make a go of life post-Nam with his wife Heidi, her parents, and her thirteen-year-old niece Julia. All he wants is to tend bar, stay sober, and make some sort of connection with Julia, who is living with them after her own mother shot her stepfather and got sentenced to life in prison.

Unfortunately -- at least partly due to Duane's temper -- this isn't going to happen. Instead, he gets crosswise with a vampire whose fuse is even shorter than his own. John Varley wasn't a nice guy before he got turned somewhere back in the Old West, and fangs haven't improved him. In the bloody chaos that follows, Duane manages to get Julia safely away from Portland. His niece, however, is determined to avenge everyone they've lost; and she'll do anything to accomplish this.

The rest of the novel follows Duane as he tries to keep Julia safe, John Varley as he tries to escape what he's done (not for the first time), and Julia herself as she works toward her vengeance. This makes for suspenseful reading, but also for a good bit of confusion as points of view shift and blend. The novel is solidly character-forward, but Rosson devotes nearly as much time to background as he does to keeping the plot flowing. Though his vampire mythology is well structured and violent, it doesn't offer much explanation past that absolutely required. A lot happens in this short (320 pp. in hard copy) novel, but I for one was left wondering why. Or, in the tradition of some bleak films of the era, if why was even a question worth asking.

Coffin Moon is a reliable thrill ride, recommended for vampire fans who prefer their sub-genre gritty and graphic. The ending may not completely satisfy, but it's true to the 1970s film feeling.

Not my typical read but I'm glad I gave this one a chance definitely enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Solid horror read would recommend it to anyone who likes that genre or who wants to try something different. I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Coffin Moon begins in the winter of 1975. We follow Duane Minor, who is fresh off a tour in Vietnam and back home in Portland, Oregon. He is struggling to keep his anger and drinking under control amidst building further upon his young marriage, helping run a bar the couple has inherited from their in-laws, and enduring terrible nightmares every time he sleeps. Then, after a series of unfortunate events, they must take in their 13 year old niece Julia. There are many secrets beneath the surface in this family, threatening to come to light. Duane ends up crossing paths with the absolute worst individual I have probably ever read about. John Varney pissed me all the way off. ALL. THE. WAY. OFF!! I really don't want to divulge a lot of plot points, but this tale becomes one of vengeance and rage that spans years and hundreds of miles. The amount of blood shed is … a lot. The kills? SUPERB. Is Keith okay? Haha, jokes aside, this is a creeping vampire novel, seeping under your skin and pushing the envelope until the bitter end. There were a couple of moments in the story when I had to put the book down to yell. This book is intense. It's dark. It's visceral. And, its about love. I really am a sucker for an underlying theme of love (pun intended). Holy heck, what a story! Thank you immensely to Penguin Random House for reaching out to me and sending me an ARC. Also thank you to NetGalley. You definitely need to pick this up when it publishes September 09, 2025.

When Minor discovers something nefarious going on in the back of his in-laws bar, he jumped in to protect them. This seemingly heroic action turns south when his wife & in-laws end up brutally murdered. Minor & his niece, Julia, stay low key at first, as no one knows exactly who did this. Minor has a hunch who it is, but the guy is as mysterious as he is untraceable, so far. Julia, with her teenage fearlessness, takes charge & takes on seeking vengeance on whoever, or whatever, slayed her family.

Coffin Heads was a wild ride. I thought I was just diving into a macabre thriller, the horrors seemingly normal-ish, despite the level of brutality. And then bam, enter the vampires. This isn’t your cheesy Twilight story, or a far fetched Hollywood film style of story. The villain in this story is certainly an unhinged dickhead, but I wasn’t expecting him to be a vampire until, well, he started feasting on people. Minor is the main character, but he’s flawed and average. Julia, on the other hand is a force to be reckoned with, and I’d love to read a sequel with her as the central character.

I am fairly new to the horror genre, but this was amazing. Nothing happened the way I thought it would, so the book kept me pretty well on the edge of my seat. I’d been needing something to grab my attention, so this was great. I will say, the book was not as violent as I expected; much of the violence was “closed door”, so to speak. That was fine with me and didn’t take anything away, but some people might prefer something grittier. All in all, a very good vampire book. Thank you to Net Galley, Random House, and Keith Rosson for this ARC in exchange for a review.

First, a moment of silence for my youth—because apparently the 1970s are now “historical fiction.” I wasn’t prepared to process that, and frankly, I’m still recovering from the existential whiplash.

This is a modern vampire novel with a historical setting, and yes, that oxymoron works gloriously. It’s got the grit of a revenge thriller, the ache of a grief-soaked reckoning, and the pulse of a horror story that knows exactly when to bare its fangs. It’s bloody and tender and it’s coming for you—and it’s not asking permission.

Duane Minor is the kind of protagonist you root for with your whole chest. He’s a man trying to outrun his past, living a quiet life with his wife Heidi and their niece Julia. But when a crew of rough-looking men stroll into the bar he tends, led by a man who looked like he was after trouble, Duane makes the mistake of kicking them out. And that moment? That’s the match strike. And the fire that follows is brutal.

This story is fast, furious, and feral. It’s soaked in regret and revenge, but it never loses its heart. The pacing is relentless and Duane’s character arc? Chef’s kiss. He’s flawed, fierce, and unforgettable.

If you like your vampire fiction with bite, brains, and bruises, this one’s got all three... and then some.

My fave read of the hear so far!!!!
It was dark, gritty and absolutely breath taking. Keith did such an awesome job with the characters and the plot. It was direct and desolate. Even when I saw they would get a glimmer of hope, Keith snatched right from my hands. This book is like ‘the road’ and ‘the lost boys’ in its apocalyptic feelings and tone. I truly felt like I was right along side Duane and Julia in the 70’s just trying to live.. that ending had me reeling. Absolutely amazing job on this one.

This was a really solid horror book that captured my attention and really made me care about the characters.

This was an incredible, breakneck thriller. I'm still processing my thoughts. I can't wait to speak with Keith in depth about his book soon!

**Review for *Coffin Moon***
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.25 stars)

This was *dark*. Like *really* dark. Set in Portland in the late '70s, *Coffin Moon* follows a Vietnam vet in his late 20s who's grappling with a brutal past. He sets off on a gritty, vengeful road trip with his equally troubled niece, and their bond was one of my favorite parts of the book. Both of them are carrying so much grief and trauma, and watching their relationship grow was surprisingly moving. The writing was great, the story was compelling, and the characters were fantastic. If you’re into gritty, noir-ish horror with a beating heart underneath all the blood, this one's worth picking up!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, NetGalley, and Keith Rosson for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A man’s effort to stabilize his life after returning from a tour in Vietnam and helping to raise his niece is irrevocably complicated after a vampire walks into the bar he tends in Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson.
Working at the bar that his wife’s family owns, Duane Minor is putting in effort to stay sober, survive the nightmares from his tour in Vietnam, save the embers of his marriage with Heidi, and help raise his thirteen-year-old niece, Julia. Just as things seem to be in a manageable state, Minor disrupts some bikers dealing heroin out of the bar, drawing the attention of the one responsible: John Varley, an eerie figure with an impossible history who brutally murders Heidi and Minor’s in-laws as retaliation. As Minor is wracked with guilt that his actions brought about his family’s deaths and Julia is consumed by determination and rage to get revenge, these last two of their fractured family are united in their desire for vengeance, though for how they attain it their opinions differ. After Julia makes a deal with an undead child that permits her a chance to exact revenge upon Varley, she and Minor spend eighteen months following leads, gathering supplies, and hunting him down; with trades made in blood, choices are made for the sake of those they love.
The writing conveys the brutality, gore, and grit of the actions taken and the situation at hand well, making it all too easy to envision the dark scenes the characters find themselves in or set up for others to endure. While the violence was graphic and, at times, extreme, it served a purpose of furthering the plot and/or developing or providing insight into a character. With the story progressing forward as Minor and Julia pursue Varley and their vengeance against him, there are snippets of all their pasts interspersed throughout that flesh out their characters and demonstrate how much of their humanity they’ve retained by the end; the choices that they make, for themselves or for or in service of those they love, drive the emotional complexities that provide the characters, protagonists and villains alike, with depth, even though Minor and Julia read as much older than their stated ages. Incorporating vampiric elements and lore in rather subtle ways and morphing them to suit the story’s needs adds to the unsettling atmosphere depicted and fuels the changes that the characters undergo as the plot moves swiftly forward, but beyond making events possible and adding to the general disconcerting nature of the story’s vibe there’s not much elaboration to this aspect of the narrative, though there’s plenty left open to explore in this regard.
Overall, I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dito pelo ChatGPT:
⭐⭐⭐⭐½
As a longtime horror fan, I devoured Coffin Moon in a single sitting—Rosson pulls no punches. Set in gritty 1975 Portland, we follow Vietnam vet Duane Minor and his teenage niece Julia on a bloody revenge mission after their family is brutally murdered by the vampire John Varley. The pacing is relentless, the prose raw, and the body horror scenes linger viscerally.

What's striking is how tender the emotional core feels amid the carnage—Duane and Julia’s bond, forged in trauma, is what truly drives the novel. Their grief and rage are palpable, and Rosson handles Julia’s fierce complexity without ever reducing her to a victim.

For me, this was like Stephen King meets Tarantino in vampire novel form—atmospheric, unflinching, unforgettable. The crimes, the magic, the grief, the grit—it all melds into something deeply satisfying.

Unflinching and razor-edged, Rosson pushes vampire storytelling into new directions without re-inventing the mythology, and that combination of old and new, retro-chic with diamond-edged fangs, is remarkably alluring. The best part of this story is its heart, with a conflicted and complicated main characters right in the bloody center of it. The story doesn’t shy away from being emotional and it finds the perfect vehicle for that vulnerability in its characters. The main character, primary antagonist, and handful of ancillary characters are all unique and engaging, each with their own jagged edges and personal tragedies. No one feels convenient or phoned in, but genuine and messy and real, and that really shines through.

Compared to Fever House the story is much less frenetic, but it still has a good sense of momentum. The tragic events that are given away in the description don’t happen immediately, we have a hefty section of the story where we are getting to know these characters and start to care for them and their difficulties as well as their triumphs before the rug is pulled out from under us. On one hand the set-up is a very tried and true revenge story set-up, and although it has a few uncommon shades thrown in to decorate it the larger plot is not unexpected in the genre. However, he uses that formula to great effect, adding enough backstory and twists and turns to keep it lively, again exploiting the retro feel of the world-building and the narrative conceit to give a timeless story about love and responsibility. After the initial setup the story moves at a good pace, never frenetic or out of control feeling but always with an air of desperation, a devil-may-care attitude of nothing left to lose that really kept me invested. The writing is crisp and descriptive, doing a good job of helping set the atmosphere and explore our characters’ inner lives without ever feeling treacly or manipulative. There are a handful of action scenes that all feel energetic and well-choreographed, they are easy to visualize but still feel sloppy and realistic. There isn’t an excess of gore but when blood and guts are called for Rosson doesn’t shy away from them, using spectacle to move the story and characters forward.

I do think there was some missed potential here. The story is short and propulsive, and the length fits the story told, but I feel like there was a chance to expand the story a bit and add more speedbumps to the journey that would have been fun. There is a dark road trip at the center of this story, a going and a returning, and there is more that could have been done with that. I am all for a lean story and generally that’s preferred to one bloated and unwieldy, but I wouldn’t have minded if some character motivations were a little more fleshed out and there was just a little more gristle to chew on. Thematically, though, Rosson hits the mark. Every character, antagonists included, is a complicated combination of tragedy, circumstance, and bad decisions. Ideas of family and redemption are front and center, but trauma/PTSD, substance abuse, dedication, loyalty, self-awareness, and what it means to be a perpetual outsider are all woven into the story. The vampire mythos isn’t wildly new, but it is a fresh take, both in terms of vampire morphology and vampiric emotional reality. The atmosphere and general world-building are tight and really immersive, and the story is exploiting its genre sensibilities to tell a painfully human story.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Random House, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Coffin Moon A Novel by Keith Rosson was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I have read Keiths books in the past, and like most authors I have a love/not so much relatinship with his books. This book is probably the best book he has written. The characters kept me riveted, the bad guy vampire was a villain you like to see in the book and overall, the heartwarming yet brutal storyline kept me reading and not skimming. An author that can take a tried but true genre and keep it exciting and explore new boundaries is an author to come back to. This seems like a good gift for those who like this author or the vampire genre overall.

I’d like to start off this review by saying that the thing I loved most about Fever House was the characterization of every single person in the story. Rosson has such an incredible talent for fleshing out the worlds that he writes about and creating such dynamic and complex characters. Coffin Moon continues this legacy with his protagonists, antagonists, and even the background characters- everyone is so distinctly complicated that it’s such a delicious meal to consume.

I absolutely adore vampire books- especially ones that give me something new to think about and change up lore. Some of the vampire concepts have been done before, but my favorites have a unique spin to it. This book used silver in a way that I have never actually seen with vampire stories, but I found it to be effective and helps paint a gruesome picture of how a vampire can actually be taken out.

Coffin Moon was captivating, gory, shocking, upsetting, but overall satisfying and such a delight to read for fans of horror and the vampire genre in general. The plot starts off on the slower side, but it takes its time to acquaint you with the characters and helps you develop your relationship with them and how they navigate this world. I highly recommend this book and hope you support it by picking it up when it’s released on September 9th!

Side note: I would love to have a novella, spinoff, or sequel to give me more to read about the other Makers, more vampire lore from this world, or how Adeline came to be.

I am not the target audience for this book. If you like dark, gothic vampire stories with lots of body horror, you will enjoy it. The publisher reached out to me, and I agreed to read it through NetGalley, having really no idea what it was about.

Well, it’s about vampires. And revenge. And grief. It contains a lot of blood and guts. Just not really my thing.