The Measure of the Moon

Description

"If you ever say anything to anyone, they all die." When eight-year-old Greer Donner falls off his horse in the Washington wilderness, he braces himself to face the long hike home alone. But screams pierce the darkness, and he stumbles upon a dead-end road where a man is beating a woman-nearly to death. In a moment of courage, he stops the assault, but he's left to face the man, who turns his wrath into an ominous threat: if the boy ever reveals what he has seen, his family will pay the ultimate price. The secret Greer now carries begins his emotional unraveling. In Seattle, Gillian Trett is a photographer with a troubled marriage and a childhood she's trying to forget. Domestic tension mounts when her husband's stepsister arrives. Desperate for a distraction, and a way to advance her career, Gillian throws herself into uncovering the history behind an old man's Holocaust photo of boys in a forest. The mysterious children and the truth behind the scene haunt her-she can't let go of the image, or of her own shadowed past. Then a horrifying revelation entangles Gillian's path with young Greer's. The boy and the woman, separated by a generation and a hundred miles, each confront the terrible power of harbored secrets-not only to eclipse the truth but also to illuminate the dark, unknown dimensions of their loved ones and themselves.

Lisa Preston's debut novel follows several nonfiction books on animal care. Her experiences as a mountain climber, fire department paramedic, and police sergeant are channeled into fiction that is suspenseful, fast-paced, and well acquainted with human drama. She has lived in Arizona, California, and Alaska and now makes her home in western Washington.

"Childhood traumas reverberate throughout Preston's (Orchids and Stone) gripping thriller set in Washington State....Preston milks each of them for every bit of drama and horror." -Publishers Weekly "The Measure of the Moon...starts off with a bang....The author writes so realistically that readers will engage and not want to put this book down." -Night Owl Reviews "Gripping...Preston does a great job of weaving multiple characters' stories together to make a whole integrated narrative that is engrossing and full of suspense." -San Diego Book Reviews "Lisa Preston has crafted a novel with ingenious connecting facets: how a lost child in the woods, a woman with a troubled past, and a forgotten photo meld. The mystery is sustained throughout this pleasingly unpredictable novel." -Criminal Element "Preston creates believable and somewhat tragic characters... This novel is more psychologically oriented than most mysteries." -Gumshoe Review "The Measure of the -Moon is well written with many spots that will tug at your heartstrings... It's a wonderful read that you will not want to miss." Bookloons "No good deed goes unpunished: that's the moral of the story in The Measure of the Moon....Young Greer Donner helps a desperate stranger, and that brave act sends his life and the lives of everyone around him spiraling out of control. Atmospheric and suspenseful, this noir thriller will keep you turning the pages well past your bedtime. I thoroughly enjoyed it!" -Karen Robards, New York Times bestselling author "The Measure of the Moon is the mesmerizing and deeply moving story about family and the secrets that spill out when one little boy happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. With spare and lovely writing, Lisa Preston asks whether we can ever truly overcome the ghosts of our past in order to reshape our future." -Carla Buckley, bestselling author of The Things That Keep Us Here "Part mystery, part domestic suspense, The Measure of the Moon is a compelling story of love, lies, and stunning revelations that will remain in the reader's mind long after the last page is turned." -A.J. Banner, bestselling author of The Good Neighbor and The Twilight Wife "A powerful follow-up to Orchids and Stone, Lisa Preston's The Measure of the Moon is a beautifully rendered story-in fact, two stories-which weave together the certainty of how our actions and choices affect one another with far-reaching consequences." -Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of Damaged