“The Slow Moon” by Elizabeth Cox was a book I picked up while scanning the shelves at the library.
The library was quiet, and when I slid the book out, it made a soft “shhh” noise, a needless reminder. The cover, of feet in running water made me open the book for further inspection, although the phrase, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” ran through my mind.
Scanning the inside cover, I saw the word “rape” and began to actually read the summary. It hooked me.
“The Slow Moon” is about two teenagers, Sophie and Crow, who leave a party one night. They walk down to the river with a blanket and the intention to have sex. It’s Sophie’s first time, and she wants Crow to be her first. They have planned this entire thing out for days before.
It all starts with a kiss, and then they are fumbling to remove each other’s clothes. As they lay, too focused on each other to be cold, Sophie stops Crow from entering her, and asks for a condom.
They talked about this before. Crow forgot the condoms in the car, and offers to run back to retrieve them. He leaves Sophie, beautiful and pale, lying on the blanket, wrapped in shadows.
Expecting to come back to a cold, angry Sophie, Crow creeps through the darkness of the woods, having been delayed at the car. Instead, he finds her glowing body unconscious, and covered in blood.
The only thing on Crow’s mind is, “Did I do that?” He does the one thing he can handle at the moment. He runs away.
So begins the haunting tale of the poor girl who was raped, and the town wondering who did it. Was it Crow, the handsome boy with an attitude? Maybe it was the older, greasy construction workers who are in town for a short while?
The books keeps you guessing until pages from the very end. All-in-all, it was a very fast, satisfying read. I was happy to finally know who raped Sophie so brutally, and left her out in the dark, lonely forest, seemingly to die.
Sincerely...Cassandra. 