The Heat of the Moon

By Sarah Parshall

Veterinarian Rachel Goddard has a panicky flashback when a child's dog is injured.  Is she just imagining her sister as a child, crying and terrified during a rainstorm?  Her mother sees no reason to discuss the past, and no reason to talk about their dead father.  When Rachel tries to discover the truth on her own, her manipulative mother does everything she can to stop her.  Only Luke, Rachel's boss, seems to sympathize and support her, which only turns Rachel's mother & sister against him.  But Rachel has no idea what she is about to uncover about her family.

This was kind of a cross between Mommie Dearest meets James Herriot. Weird combination, but it works.  There are the inevitable plot holes, but the characters were interesting and the story suspenseful.  I just kept wondering why she keep her revelations from her sister --- every time she talked to her, she either flipped out, or ran & told their mother.  Rachel could have saved herself a lot of grief by leaving her sister out of the loop.