Long Night Moon: A Novel

A new job. A new city. Even a new girlfriend—Santiago Silva is poised on the edge of a new life in San Francisco, miles away from his family in Esperanza, New Mexico. But before he can do more than settle in, fate intervenes. Rosalinda—a woman he dated briefly—has appeared at his mother’s front door with her three-year-old son, who she claims is Santiago’s. Asking only for a safe place to stay so she can leave her dangerous boyfriend, Rosalinda denies wanting anything else from Santiago or his family. But how can Santiago walk away from his child or the woman he once loved as much as life itself?

The authors paint a rich diorama of a community built of intertwined ranch families in the New Mexico farmland, and the drama of their relationships poses a complex backdrop for their stories. Yet the fertile ground of potential family conflict is left largely unmined, giving the story a decided lack of urgency. Even the run-in with the police and would-be criminal is neatly concluded within the space of a couple of chapters, leaving the reader pleased with the ending but still somewhat unsatisfied.