Finding Moon

In 1975, journalist Moon Mathias ventures into the turmoil of Southeast Asia in search of the child of his recently deceased brother, a quest that takes him from Manila to the Cambodian jungles as he uncovers a dangerous trail of smuggling, intrigue, and possible murder. 400,000 first printing. $300,000 ad/promo.

Location figures powerfully in Hillerman's newest novel, but it isn't the Southwest of his Navajo mysteries (Sacred Clowns, etc.), nor is this a Joe Leaphorn story. In April 1975, Moon Mathias, managing editor of a small-town Colorado newspaper, begins a redemptive journey that takes him first to Manila and then across the South China Sea to Cambodia, just as Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge begin their reign of terror. Moon's brother Ricky, owner of a helicopter transportation service based in Cambodia, has recently died in a jungle crash. Their mother receives word that Ricky's baby daughter is being smuggled out of Vietnam to the Philippines. After his mother has a heart attack in the Manila airport, Moon takes over her mission, but the child does not arrive. Finding and contacting Ricky's acquaintances, Moon fights time, political exigencies and his ignorance of his brother's life as he tries doggedly to locate his niece. The effort involves an appealing cast, including a wealthy Chinese man seeking his ancestors' bones, a Dutch woman searching for her missionary brother and Vietnamese refugees, who join Moon on a suspenseful, albeit not quite credible, journey to a series of villages along the Mekong River. In the end, as the title suggests, Moon finds more than he'd known was lost. Hillerman's mastery of setting and his compassionate, patient characterization are fully present in this tale, which is otherwise somewhat formulaic. 350,000 first printing; $300,000 ad/promo; HarperAudio.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Beginning with The Blessing Way (LJ 5/15/70), Hillerman has contrasted the contemporary cultures of Southwestern Native Americans with the dominant U.S. culture, creating best-selling mysteries in the process. Finding Moon is a dramatic departure, but it contains similar cultural contrasts. Set mostly in Vietnam during the fall of Saigon in 1975, it is the tale of Moon Mathias, self-described third-rate editor of a third-rate Colorado newspaper who, when his younger brother dies in Southeast Asia, discovers that there is a baby daughter missing somewhere in Vietnam. Reluctantly drawn into a search for the child, Moon is thereby drawn into a search for his own values. He leads a motley group of culturally varied misfits in his quest. With its vivid characters and a strong sense of place, trademarks of Hillerman mysteries, this tale will likely receive a strong reception in libraries everywhere.
--Roland Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hillerman apologizes in his introduction for "wandering away" from his usual southwestern setting and from the extraordinarily popular Chee/Leaphorn duo, but the departure has resulted in what is undoubtedly one of Hillerman's most affecting, strongest, best-told tales yet. Set in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War, the story follows Colorado newspaper editor Malcolm "Moon" Mathias, who labors under the misapprehension that he's "third-rate" --unsuccessful in his career, unlucky in love, and unwise about life. As the story begins, Moon gets a call from an L.A. hospital reporting that his mother has collapsed at the airport after suffering a serious heart attack. She was headed for the Philippines, so Moon figures her trip must have had something to do with his younger brother, Ricky, a former air force pilot who had set up his own transport business in Vietnam, then died in a plane crash. When Moon reaches L.A., he finds papers in his mother's purse that reveal Ricky was the father of a Vietnamese daughter--whom Moon's mother was obviously on her way to rescue. Of course, responsibility for finding the baby falls on Moon's capable shoulders. And it's on his heartrending, dangerous, surprising journey into his brother's past on the Mekong Delta that Moon eventually finds not only the child, but his own destiny. A tragic tale of war, a suspenseful adventure story, a gripping journey into man's deepest fears, and an engrossing love story. Emily Melton