Bad Moon Rising by John Galligan

Published by Atria Books on June 29, 2021

Thrillers with original or unusual plots are difficult to find. Bad Moon Rising combines a variety of plot elements — homeless men gone missing, a sheriff running for relection who receives mysterious opposition research, a man who believes a creepy diet will flush chronic wasting disease from his system, Amish witnesses to crime who see no evil, and a couple of damaged teens — into a flavorful stew.

The novel is set in fictitious Bad Axe County, near (and perhaps modeled upon) Richland County in western Wisconsin. Wisconsin might not be as crazy as Florida, but its memorable serial killers include a cannibal and a man who made lampshades out of his victims. One of the killers in Bad Moon Rising might have been shaped by that history.

Rumors are flying about Bad Axe County Sheriff Heidi Kick. Some of the rumors are being spread by Barry Rickreiner or his mother. Barry is running against Heidi in the next election. One rumor is that Heidi is pregnant and that her husband Harley isn’t the father. The pregnancy, at least, seems to be more than a rumor.

Heidi and Harley already have three kids. Their daughter is at a summer camp for gender nonconforming youth. Their two boys, Taylor and Dylan, are bothered by Barry’s nasty election campaign. Taylor is the more sensitive and therefore the more disturbed of the two, which makes Heidi wonder whether she needs to involve a therapist. All of Heidi’s woes make her a more multifaceted protagonist than crime fiction typically produces.

Heidi has received anonymous emails that include “opposition research” about Barry, including the possibility that he poisoned his former girlfriend, whose death was regarded as a suicide. That potential crime plays a role in the plot, as does a priest who worries that homeless men are picked to join work crews and never seen again. The priest’s concern seems well-founded when Heidi chases a runaway Amish buggy that is carrying the dead body of a homeless drifter.

Other characters who contribute to the story include: a 17-year-old schizophrenic boy who mostly disobeys the voices that tell him to harm people; a girl of about the same age whose parents allowed her to be sexually abused; a couple of brothers (the bad one and the really bad one) who might or might not be Amish; and a newspaper reporter named Leroy “Grape” Fanta whose newspaper has not survived the arrival of electronic media. Fanta plays a significant role while invetigating crazy screeds about deer prions that, in the screed writer's view, are transferring chronic wasting disease to humans.

Bad Moon Rising might be seen as an indictment of an underfunded mental health system that fails to detect and treat mental illness, leaving it to law enforcement to address the aftermath of that public health failure. Yet John Galligan doesn’t use the novel to make an overt political statement. Rather, he weaves multiple story threads into a tight knit, generates excitement with timely action scenes, and builds tension as one of the deranged characters places Heidi’s family members at risk. Heidi’s troubles make her a convincing and sympathetic character, but she doesn’t lose the reader’s support by endlessly reflecting upon her imperfect life.

Bad Moon Rising tells an engaging story about colorful characters. Galligan moves the plot at a good pace without sacrificing atmosphere or characterization. Only a skilled writer can tell such an offbeat story and make it seem so real. Bad Moon Rising is the third book in a series that deserves a long life.

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