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    Shoot the Moon
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    Shoot the Moon
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    Shoot the Moon
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    Shoot the Moon

    Written by Billie Letts

    Narrated by Lou Diamond Phillips

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In 1972, the town of DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the terrifying murder of Gaylene Harjo and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's pajama bottoms were found on the banks of Willow Creek, everyone feared Nicky Jack was dead, although his body was never found.Nearly 30 years later, Nicky Jack mysteriously returns to DeClare. His sudden reappearance will stun the people of DeClare and stir up long-buried emotions and memories. But what Nicky Jack discovers among the people who remember the night he vanished is far more than he, or anyone, bargains for. Piece by piece, what emerges is a story of dashed hopes, desperate love, and a shocking act with repercussions that will cry out for justice...and redemption.Full of the authentic heartland characters that Billie Letts writes about so beautifully, Shoot the Moon is a hypnotic tale filled with suspense and emotional truth. It further establishes Billie Letts as an American writer to be reckoned with, an original storyteller whose words go straight to our heart.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateApr 1, 2005
    ISBN9781594831577
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Shoot the Moon

    3.5/5

    399 ratings25 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I found this to be a very light read where good is good and bad is bad and never shall they blend in complex characters. Story moved along well, but this isn't one that will stay with me.
    • 4/5
      A great story: Nick, seeking his birth mother, brings to light the hidden secrets of a rural community and finds a sense of belonging. For me, a bonus was the thread of the relationship of Carrie (a minor character) with her Down Syndrome son.The novel develops in present time action interspersed with diary entries from Nick's mother, which led me on wondering when she would reveal the truth of what happened. One part that didn't fit well was how Nick could up & leave his successful Vet business to make this trip, how long it took for him to call the office & let them know where he was.
    • 3/5
      Once again I picked up this book because I liked the author only to find that I had read it before. It was long enough ago that I remembered the "just" of the book, but not all the details. I ended up reading it again, not because it was a good book, more because I wanted something to read while floating in my swimming pool. Letts once again sets her story in Oklahoma with down to earh characters and a somewhat predictable plot. A good summer read, but her other books are much better.
    • 3/5
      Billie Letts does small town America very well. This book took us to a small, close-knit town in Oklahoma where secrets are many and the Oakie twang is thick.The story and mystery behind it all was intriguing, but more interesting to me was the interplay between characters, old relationships, blood relationships etc. I thought both Letts and the reader (Lou Diamond Phillips) did an exceptional job portraying Kippy.All in all 6 hours of good listening.
    • 4/5
      Mark finds out only after both his parents pass away that they adopted him as an infant. He returns to the small Oklahoma town he was born in to find his birth mother, only to discover she was murdered and her infant son was missing and thought to be dead.
    • 4/5
      This was a good book not the best but good.The characters are well written and the mystery of what happened all those years ago was a good one.I however listened to this on audio and wasn't thrilled with Lou Diamond Phillips reading of it.Kippy sounded like Forrest Gump and he didn't seem able to do a woman's voice and a southern accent at the same time.So was dissapointed in the audio version of this book.That being said I did enjoy this one good southern fiction with a mystery and a little romance thrown in.
    • 3/5
      A successful vet from LA, Mark loses his Mom and then later his Dad passes away. It is during this time Mark discovers his birth certificate & his adoption file. This discovery takes Mark back to a small town in Oklahoma where he searches for his birthmother and learns of her murder and his assumed death or abduction when Mark was only 10 months old. Mark pursues the trail where others do not want him to venture.The story is interesting, Mark is likeable and you do want to know the outcome.
    • 3/5
      This is the perfect summer book. I whizzed through it in a day. Seriously. I mean it's not the best book ever but it's a great feel-good mystery story.Here's the plot:Small town Oklahoma, 1972: 18 year old single mom found stabbed to death and her 10 month old son, Nicky Jack, is missing. Unsolved case.About 30 years later, a man shows up in town saying he just found out he was adopted. He wants to confront his biological mom and ask why he was put up for adoption. Problem? He claims he is Nicky Jack.So there's a great little mystery here. Why was his mom murdered? Who did it? Is he really Nicky Jack? Who was the father? Etc. Etc. Etc.But I really liked the characters. It's written through the perspective of Mark, a.k.a. Nicky Jack, and I really liked him. And he stays with his Aunt and Cousin who are just great characters. And what I really liked was how Nicky Jack tries to figure out who his mom was...and interspersed with the story are excerpts of his mom's diary she kept through high school. So it makes her a real character and her death that more personal.Funny thing about Billie Letts' novels, well the three I am familiar with, are they 1) have some setting in Oklahoma and 2) involve a Wal-mart somewhere in the storyIf you've never read a Billie Letts novel you may be familiar with one of her books, Where the Heart Is, that was turned into a movie. I normally would have never watched that movie but it has Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd in it. And I actually did think it was a kind of cute movie.
    • 3/5
      In 1972, Nicky Jack Harjo, then 10 months old, was discovered missing, and presumed dead, after his mother was found stabbed to death in their trailer in Oklahoma. Now, 30 years later, he returns, knowing nothing of his family, but eager to learn everything he can. Interesting, though it dragged a bit at times.
    • 5/5
      This is my first experience with Billie Letts, but it will not be my last. She tells a compelling story, with characters who live after the final page is turned. Mark or Nicky Jack, as he was named at birth, finds more than he hoped for when he travels to DeClare, Oklahoma, searching for the mother who birthed him.The town is astir as they find out that Nicky Jack is alive. When the story leaks, reporters camp out and trail him. I can tell no more without giving away things the reader must discover for himself.If I could wish for anything, it would be that the profanity not be included.
    • 5/5
      Why I chose it: Loved the book Where the heart is What I thought: I thought this was a well written book, enjoyed the story, found it difficult to keep the many different characters straight in my mind (had to make a list;)
    • 4/5
      In 1972, 10 month old Nicky Jack Harjo disappears when his mother is murdered. The police believe that Nicky was killed and his body taken elsewhere and the case is closed. Now, thirty years later, Nicky Jack (Mark Albright) shows up in De Clare hoping to meet his birth mother. He jut found out he was adopted and has no idea about the events that happened so long. When he discovers what happened to his mother, Galeen, he begins to investigate her murder and there are people in De Clare who really don't want him poking around. This novel is full of unique and authentic small town characters. It's impossible to put down as the plot slowly unfolds through details in Galeen's journal and through facts that Nicky Jack discovers. The story is heartwarming, with a suspenseful plot, a sweet romance and an ending you won't see coming.
    • 4/5
      Mark Albright's parents have died and he has just discovered that he was adopted almost 30 years ago. He sets off to Oklahoma to meet the mother who gave him up only to discover that he has walked into the town's deepest kept secret. Mark (or Nicky Jack as he was born) disappeared when he was 10 months old and his mother was found murdered. Nicky Jack decides to stay in town to find out more about his mother and who murdered her and kidnapped him. As he stays he finds that he is changing in ways that will change his life forever. This was a wonderful story. It is a quick, easy read and very charming. I loved the characters and wished the book just kept on going instead of ending. It has an intriguing plot line but is much more a story of characters. I really enjoyed this and will be looking for the author's first two books.
    • 2/5
      This was disappointing to me. I liked Where the Heart Is and Honk & Holler Opening Soon SO SO much better.
    • 5/5
      LOVED IT! Very well written... kept me guessing. But I have to admit I only read it because my favorite actor read it!
    • 3/5
      The characters were interesting, but I felt the whole novel felt rushed specially the last chapters. I think a slower paced was needed to fully appreciate not only the characters but the setting.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of a grown man, living near Hollywood, California, he has a rather large and interesting vet practice. Ashe ages, he grows restless and wants to find his biological parents.His adoptive parents gave him a lot of monetary items, but still he felt something was missing.Learning his mother was killed when he was young, and the newspaper headlines read that the baby (him) was stolen) make it all the more challenging to dig up the truth of his early life.Traveling back to small town Oklahoma, he finds his mother's relatives, including his grandmother. He receives his mother's diary and a few trinkets. He learns his mother had a full scholarship for college, until she became pregnant.From her on the book plot twists and turns with good, and bad small town people.The ending is a surprise.
    • 3/5
      Questions about the long-unsolved murder of a young woman in a small Oklahoma town are revived when a man appears, claiming to be the baby boy who disappeared from his mother's murder scene.Letts does a good job when she's concentrating on Mark Albright's / Nicky Jack Harjo's search for his past and for the mother he never knew, and populates her story with a colorful cast of well-drawn characters. The resolution of the mystery is less well handled, with a whirlwind seven-page denouement to a 300-page setup, all (okay, most) plot noodles tucked neatly away and an unlikely romance rushed to what feels like an obligatory happy ending.Not a bad read, but nothing outstanding, either.
    • 4/5
      I love Billie Letts' stories and writing. Shoot the Moon is an engaging story, easy to read or listen to as I did. Someone killed a young mother years ago and her baby disappeared. A man was charged with the murder and for over two decades, his son tried to clear his name. A stranger arrives in town quietly claiming to be the murdered woman's child, now grown. So unravels the story of the people of a small town and what really happened all those years ago, and what's still happening now. Believable, down-home characters, wonderful details.
    • 4/5
      Book on CD read by Kathe Mazur

      In 1972 the citizens of DeClare, Oklahoma were shocked by a brutal crime. Gaylene Harjo’s body was found in her trailer with multiple stab wounds, and her baby, Nicky Jack, was missing. Nicky Jack’s body was never found, though the sheriff dug up most of the land around the presumed killer’s home after finding the infant’s torn and bloody pajamas nearby. Nearly thirty years later, a tall man comes to town and claims to be the missing Nicky Jack. His reappearance stuns the populace, challenges long-held assumptions, and angers the sheriff who doesn’t like to have his crime-solving ability questioned.

      Letts has crafted a fine mystery here. Originally intending only to meet the mother who gave birth to him and find out why she gave him up, Mark’s discovery that she died only leads to more questions. How did Mark Albright (a/k/a Nicodemus Jack Harjo) wind up adopted by a California couple? Who was his father? Who killed his mother? As he begins to dig for answers he is helped by his aunt, Teeve Harjo, his cousin Ivy, and a tenacious reporter turned true-crime author with an axe to grind. Along the way he finds love and has to make some decisions about how he’ll live the rest of his life and the man he’ll be.

      This is the third book by Billie Letts that I’ve read, and I’ve enjoyed them all. She has a way with dialogue and dialect that really brings her characters to life. Even the minor characters are fully drawn and interesting. Her plotting is pretty good, as well – keeping the reader turning pages and busy trying to figure out the truth behind all those efforts to conceal and derail. And while I did guess the real culprit before Letts revealed the answer … I was only a page or so ahead of the characters as they uncovered the truth.

      I have one tiny quibble … a doctor explaining the injury to a shooting victim states: ”Fortunately, it’s a through-and-through, didn’t involve bone, artery or nerve. Even missed muscle.” Huh? How can a bullet go through someone’s leg and involve absolutely NOTHING? (Note: Sorry for obsessing, but this just jumped off the page at me. I work for surgeons in a Level 1 Trauma unit, and I’ve read more than one report about gunshot wounds. A “through-and-through” should at least involve muscle – otherwise it’s just a grazing wound.)

      Kathe Mazur does a fine job of the audio, although her voice is a little high-pitched for many of the male characters. Still, I enjoyed her performance. I admit that I stopped listening and read the text at about 2/3 of the way through the book. Not because there was anything wrong with Mazur’s reading, but because I wanted to get the book finished for a challenge. That experience really showed that it is really Billie Letts’s words that bring the novel to life.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed it and it was a quick read. I never guessed who killed Gaylene until it was finally revealed. I liked how all the characters got wrapped up in the end.
    • 5/5
      Shoot The Moon by Billie Letts4.5 starsFrom the Book:a tale of a small Oklahoma town and the mystery that has haunted its residents for years. In 1972, windswept DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the murder of a young mother, Gaylene Harjo, and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's pajama bottoms were discovered on the banks of Willow Creek, everyone feared that he, too, had been killed, although his body was never found.Nearly thirty years later, Nicky Jack mysteriously returns to DeClare, shocking the town and stirring up long-buried memories. But what he discovers about the night he vanished is more astonishing than he or anyone could have imagine. Piece by piece, what emerges is a story of dashed hopes, desperate love, and a secret that still cries out for justice...and redemption.My Views:Those who've read other books by Billy Letts will recognize the familiar Oklahoma territory as well as the well-polished dialogue and heart-warming humor in this part murder mystery, part romance, part humorous study of human nature. It was an enjoyable story of a small town.... a murder.... and a missing child The author created a cast of interesting characters that you wanted to get to know more about. The only thing that I could have done without was the "love story" that came across as not only unbelievable but unnecessary. Otherwise it was an excellent read.
    • 4/5
      Another haunting story about the unexpected love and personal tragedy leading to eventual happiness. Nick Harjo ends up in DeClare, OK looking for the mother he just discovered he had. His father day recently died and he found his birth certificate and adoption papers in his things. That was the first he knew he was adopted. What he found in OK was not what he expected. His mom had been brutally stabbed and he had disappeared as a tiny baby. He found his mom’s siyer-in-law Teeve and her daughter Ivy (not his cousin). The two help him to try to solve the 30 year old mystery. Again Letts creates characters that you care about and that you want to follow. And as always there is a twist in the end!! This was another great story by Billie Letts!
    • 4/5
      In 1972, the town of DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by a terrifying crime - Gaylene Harjo a teenaged single mother was brutally murdered and her 10 month old son Nicky Jack Harjo had disappeared. Nicky Jack’s pajama bottoms were found on the banks of Willow Creek and nothing was heard of him for nearly 30 years. Shortly after his father’s death, Mark Albright finds documents revealing he was adopted. He always felt that he never fit in and was somewhat of an outcast, yet he followed in his father’s footsteps and became a successful veterinarian to the stars pets in Beverly Hills.In search of his roots, Mark traces his biological mother to the town of DeClare where sadly he is informed of her untimely death and his mysterious disappearance. Befriending some of the local townsfolk and some of his long lost relatives, he reopens Gaylene’s murder case, making him the "talk of the town" but also placing him in danger since someone doesn’t want this case to be investigated any further. Shoot the Moon is full of the authentic heartland characters that Billie Letts writes about so beautifully. This book is a fun, light read with some neat and quirky characters, suspense and even romance. I will admit it wasn’t as predictable as I thought since I was sure I knew "whodunnit" and was thrown for a loop when I found out who really "dunnit". It did have too neat an ending but it was still very enjoyable - if you don't want to think too much.
    • 3/5
      Shoot the Moon, by Billie Letts, is a fun, humorous, and serviceable work of popular fiction. Don’t expect too much from this book and you might actually enjoy the short few hours it takes to read it. The prose is better than average; the plot moves along quickly with both surprising and predictable twists; the characters are unique, eccentric, and vividly drawn—but don’t expect the plot or the characters to be very realistic. If anything, the singular beauty of this work is the endearing sense of place that Letts creates for the fictional town of DeClare, Oklahoma. If you remember anything about this book, a few weeks or months after finishing it, most likely, you will remember the town of DeClare. It’s a loving satirical portrait of a small contemporary Okie town. Read it for that and you won’t be disappointed.