Chase the Moon

September 29, 1997
Near Little Rome, Ky., John Jacob Baretta is shot and mortally wounded. Hundreds of miles away in Tijuana, Mexico, his identical twin, Jacob John Baretta, feels the pain of the bullet slicing through his shoulder. The dying sib whispers to Jacob, who has helicoptered to his side, "Chase the moon." John, an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, was living undercover with a militia group in a Christian community called New Zion. Jacob, who also works for the government, is determined to take his twin's place to "find the back-shooting bastard and make him pay." Instead, at New Zion, he meets his true love, Gracie Moon, a former teacher who has come to the compound to care of her elderly father, Elijah. Perhaps to evoke the frontier mentality of New Zion, Jake holds, protects, comforts and loves Gracie in prose almost as primitive as the Kentucky hill folk on whom he spies. For her part, Gracie learns that "a woman's role in life is to bear the most pain." Who knew?

August 1, 1997
When Jake Baretta's twin brother, John, ends up murdered while undercover, investigating a suspicious "religious" community in rural Kentucky, Jake vows vengeance and heads for Kentucky to take his brother's place. He expects his "return" to precipitate violence and danger--even death; he does not expect it to produce love and eventual healing. While the story has depressingly contemporary relevance, this is a compelling story of treachery, insanity, and retribution that will involve readers emotionally. McCall (Tallchief, Harper, 1997) also writes under her real name, Sharon Sala, and has a knack for creating empathetic, larger-than-life characters. She lives in Oklahoma.