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mikecnorthrup's review
5.0
This was an unexpected delight with an engaging plot, rich imagery, and characters that came to life right on the page.
paulataua's review
3.0
It starts in Brooklyn in 1996 with two teenagers running away after inadvertently causing the death of a young female driver while playing a game of throwing small rocks at cars. Time then moves on a few years and a whole range of characters with their own situations that may somehow be linked to that original story are introduced. It’s a great start and within a couple of chapters I thought I found another five star read, but then the plot drifted off so many directions that it tended to lose the core story. New characters were introduced even late into the book and their stories were developed and it all became less rather than more intriguing. I had a feeling that the author had some different objective than following the core story through, but it that was true, either I didn’t get it, or he didn’t really succeed in presenting it. The writing is good enough to make me read something else by the same author, but this didn’t really work for me.
annarella's review
5.0
A noir that kept me reading as I was fascinated by the characters and the plot.
It's a story that starts slow but always keeps you turning pages as you want to know what will happen to the characters.
Excellent plot and character development, good storytelling.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
It's a story that starts slow but always keeps you turning pages as you want to know what will happen to the characters.
Excellent plot and character development, good storytelling.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
brewtifulfiction's review
4.0
The story begins in 1996 in Brooklyn, when teenage boys Bobby and Zeke after encouraging each other to throw rocks into traffic, cause a fatal accident.
We also have Jack, who is a widow and a parent to an only child but also I guess you could describe him as a vigilante.
Fast forward to 2001 and we are re-introduced to both Bobby and Jack.
Given a glimpse as to what became of them.
And this is where my feelings about this not reading like a crime novel come from. Boyle does a great job of writing something quite complex. With characters that interconnect as their lives begin to cross over.
Each chapter switches to a different character's point of view. Every one adding another layer to the story and giving us as the reader more detail. And as these specifics are revealed it becomes clearer as to just why the author as chosen to share certain things. Connections getting stronger.
The building smaller events and meaningful chance encounters all lead to consequences that I don't think anyone could have seen coming.
Raw motion bled from the pages, I felt its honestly on every page that I read.
It was refreshing because there were no picture perfect characters. Each one was flawed, broken in some way and I think that was a necessary and purposeful decision made by Boyle to make the story come across as real.
Over all I wouldn't say that the stories main focus was the crime, it was on the feeling of loss and what it can do to a person. The crime was almost an after thought.
Shoot The Moonlight Out is a great piece of literary crime fiction.
We also have Jack, who is a widow and a parent to an only child but also I guess you could describe him as a vigilante.
Fast forward to 2001 and we are re-introduced to both Bobby and Jack.
Given a glimpse as to what became of them.
And this is where my feelings about this not reading like a crime novel come from. Boyle does a great job of writing something quite complex. With characters that interconnect as their lives begin to cross over.
Each chapter switches to a different character's point of view. Every one adding another layer to the story and giving us as the reader more detail. And as these specifics are revealed it becomes clearer as to just why the author as chosen to share certain things. Connections getting stronger.
The building smaller events and meaningful chance encounters all lead to consequences that I don't think anyone could have seen coming.
Raw motion bled from the pages, I felt its honestly on every page that I read.
It was refreshing because there were no picture perfect characters. Each one was flawed, broken in some way and I think that was a necessary and purposeful decision made by Boyle to make the story come across as real.
Over all I wouldn't say that the stories main focus was the crime, it was on the feeling of loss and what it can do to a person. The crime was almost an after thought.
Shoot The Moonlight Out is a great piece of literary crime fiction.
rosecityreader's review
4.0
Shoot the Moonlight Out, the new thriller by William Boyle, starts in 1996 with a tragedy that plays out in the main events of the book that take place in 2001.
The book is dense with plot and characters who have individual personalities but are all shady, shabby, or broken in some way. The setting is as much a character as the people. It’s south Brooklyn the day before yesterday, so there is a grey haze of gritty nostalgia over the whole thing. It’s clear that Boyle knows south Brooklyn down to the last crack in the sidewalk and he brings it to life for the reader.
All in all, Shoot the Moonlight Out is a gripping, character-driven crime novel, perfect for fans of urban noir.
The book is dense with plot and characters who have individual personalities but are all shady, shabby, or broken in some way. The setting is as much a character as the people. It’s south Brooklyn the day before yesterday, so there is a grey haze of gritty nostalgia over the whole thing. It’s clear that Boyle knows south Brooklyn down to the last crack in the sidewalk and he brings it to life for the reader.
All in all, Shoot the Moonlight Out is a gripping, character-driven crime novel, perfect for fans of urban noir.
vvijayanti's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
stuartjash's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
13rebecca13's review
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a really wonderful novel. I went into this book excited because I love any type of crime novel but this gave me so much more.
The story is told from many perspectives which in the beginning I felt was a bit much, more than what I'm used to, but it wasn't confusing at all by the end.
The story starts in Brooklyn in 1996, with fourteen year old Bobby Santovasco and his thirteen year old friend Zeke keeping themselves entertained by throwing rocks at cars, until something awful happens.
We then hear about Jack whose wife Janey has passed away and his daughter Amelia's subsequent car accident.
The timeline then switches to 2001 where we go back to some of these characters but we meet some new ones too. But all of their stories are interconnected.
William Boyle writes beautifully and this isn't like any crime novel I've read before. The emotions in every chapter, on every page are felt as you read and the New York backdrop is just perfect in my eyes.
I feel like it is really tough to go into the actual stories that these people are going through without spoiling it but if you like crime dramas that are emotional with flawed characters, this one is for you.
The story is told from many perspectives which in the beginning I felt was a bit much, more than what I'm used to, but it wasn't confusing at all by the end.
The story starts in Brooklyn in 1996, with fourteen year old Bobby Santovasco and his thirteen year old friend Zeke keeping themselves entertained by throwing rocks at cars, until something awful happens.
We then hear about Jack whose wife Janey has passed away and his daughter Amelia's subsequent car accident.
The timeline then switches to 2001 where we go back to some of these characters but we meet some new ones too. But all of their stories are interconnected.
William Boyle writes beautifully and this isn't like any crime novel I've read before. The emotions in every chapter, on every page are felt as you read and the New York backdrop is just perfect in my eyes.
I feel like it is really tough to go into the actual stories that these people are going through without spoiling it but if you like crime dramas that are emotional with flawed characters, this one is for you.
jakewritesbooks's review
4.0
William Boyle has done it again.
I don’t know if he’ll ever write anything as delightfully manic as A Friend Is A Gift You Give Yourself. But as long as he keeps doing these Brooklyn-based character driven crime stories, I’m a happy reader.
This one is familiar if you’ve read his others but you don’t need to in order to dive in. They’re loosely connected so you can start anywhere.
Boyle uses the template of a crime novel to create a world of south Brooklyn that he knows all too well, where the people are always losers who desperately wish to escape their situation even though they know they probably can’t. It’s like he’s rewriting Mean Streets every time but his characters always feel fresh.
He even takes the risk here on expanding to more POV characters and it works. His writing style is such that all of these people feel unique, their circumstances lived in. They’re drawn to things that they want for reasons they don’t understand, mobilizing in this decaying community where everyone around them is waiting for their number to be called for a funeral mass at the local parish and a grave in Queens or Long Island.
This is probably my second favorite of his. Mostly everything worked. I don’t know how much I bought that young women were comfortable going to this old guy’s decrepit house for respite but Boyle’s so good, I could go the leap just to get to the point. Everything builds up to the heart breaking conclusion which is unpredictable and left me feeling maudlin but in a good way. I hope he keeps churning these books out.
I don’t know if he’ll ever write anything as delightfully manic as A Friend Is A Gift You Give Yourself. But as long as he keeps doing these Brooklyn-based character driven crime stories, I’m a happy reader.
This one is familiar if you’ve read his others but you don’t need to in order to dive in. They’re loosely connected so you can start anywhere.
Boyle uses the template of a crime novel to create a world of south Brooklyn that he knows all too well, where the people are always losers who desperately wish to escape their situation even though they know they probably can’t. It’s like he’s rewriting Mean Streets every time but his characters always feel fresh.
He even takes the risk here on expanding to more POV characters and it works. His writing style is such that all of these people feel unique, their circumstances lived in. They’re drawn to things that they want for reasons they don’t understand, mobilizing in this decaying community where everyone around them is waiting for their number to be called for a funeral mass at the local parish and a grave in Queens or Long Island.
This is probably my second favorite of his. Mostly everything worked. I don’t know how much I bought that young women were comfortable going to this old guy’s decrepit house for respite but Boyle’s so good, I could go the leap just to get to the point. Everything builds up to the heart breaking conclusion which is unpredictable and left me feeling maudlin but in a good way. I hope he keeps churning these books out.