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Friday, January 19, 2018

REVIEW: The Night Market by Jonathan Moore #allthebookreviews @hmhco #jonathanmoore

The Night Market
by Jonathan Moore

Thank you to much to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for these copies in return for our honest reviews.


Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published:  January 16, 2018
Pages:  304
Hardcover
Stand alone

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s late Thursday night, and Inspector Ross Carver is at a crime scene in one of the city’s last luxury homes. The dead man on the floor is covered by an unknown substance that’s eating through his skin. Before Carver can identify it, six FBI agents burst in and remove him from the premises. He's pushed into a disinfectant trailer, forced to drink a liquid that sends him into seizures, and is shocked unconscious. On Sunday he wakes in his bed to find his neighbor, Mia—who he’s barely ever spoken to—reading aloud to him. He can’t remember the crime scene or how he got home; he has no idea two days have passed. Mia says she saw him being carried into their building by plainclothes police officers, who told her he’d been poisoned. Carver doesn’t really know this woman and has no way of disproving her, but his gut says to keep her close.

A mind-bending, masterfully plotted thriller—written in Moore's "lush, intoxicating style" (Justin Cronin)—that will captivate fans of Blake Crouch, China Miéville, and Lauren Beukes, The Night Market follows Carver as he works to find out what happened to him, soon realizing he's entangled in a web of conspiracy that spans the nation. And that Mia may know a lot more than she lets on. 

My Review:


My first Jonathan Moore book!  A dystopian sci-fi "thriller" set in a unique world.  Quite an intriguing read.

A bit mobster feel, tied in with sci-fi themes with memory loss and a weird gray moss that turns people into pulp.  WHAT?!  After being around this element, Carver and his partner Jenner, wake up days later with no memory of the event and things just don't make sense. 

I felt there were a ton of elements to this story - thriller, mobster, sci-fi and romance.  At times it felt all over the place and I felt like maybe I had also been introduced to this memory loss poisoning thing that was happening to Carver.  WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER WHAT'S HAPPENING???  The author did a great job in making some lighter moments happen mixed in with the darker theme.  Quite frankly, I may start peeling the labels off my wine bottles like Mia does.  I really love the idea of this! I did get a little lost along the way, yet I was absolutely and totally intrigued with this book.  It's a weird mixture of feeling to have when reading a book.  Sci-fi isn't necessarily my go-to genre, so please take that into account.  (I believe someone once said that it's only sci-fi if you don't believe!).

I could've done without the romance - I felt it was a bit too much in this read.  I also didn't feel connected to any of the characters.  I'm not sure if it's because of the way the world is and that's how people just are... or if there was just something missing for me that I can't quite pin point.  While I needed to know what was going to happen and was absolutely interested in the storyline, it just didn't QUITE work for me as well as I had hoped it would.  Things felt a little bit rushed at the end.  I do admire the author's unique writing style and think this is better suited for those who really like those sci-fi books with a little strange.

★★★

Jessica's Review:

I hadn't heard much about Jonathan Moore or his bother books before picking up THE NIGHT MARKET, but I will definitely have to go back and visit his previous work. This was a dark thriller meets sci-fi set in the not-so-distant future and it grabbed me right from the start.
Late one night, Inspector Ross Carver is investigating a crime scene of a single male victim in one of the last luxury homes in the area. The strange part is that he's covered in a substance that is eating through his skin. Before Carver can investigate further, FBI agents invade his crime scene and quickly escort him away to be disinfected and forced to drink some liquid. What follows are seizures and shock-enduced coma and him regaining consciousness two days later.
His neighbor, Mia, is in his apartment with him. He has no memory of what happened or what he saw at the crime scene. Mia informs him that he was poisoned - at least that's what the police told her that carried him home. Can he trust what Mia is telling him? Will he be able to get to the bottom of what happened to him and why did the FBI remove him so quickly and erase him memory?
The mystery surrounding this story was great. It kept me reeled in and I needed to know what happened to him and what that unknown substance was. Moore can weave a thrilling story, there's no doubt about that. I'm not the biggest sci-fi reader, but I'm glad I picked this one up. It's always good to step outside your comfort genres every once in awhile. There is a romance element to this story as well, but I didn't find it to be too overwhelming to the story.
Overall, if you want a dark sci-fi mystery, then you need to check out THE NIGHT MARKET. It'll grab you and not let go!
I give this 4/5 stars!

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