Really enjoyed Boyle’s writing style and will definitely be checking out more of his books, but unfortunately I don’t think the premise of this one was for me.

William Boyle, Shoot the Moonlight Out


William Boyle is wonderfully skilled in creating vivid, memorable characters. In Shoot the Moonlight Out, as in his earlier novels, he draws us into the encounters – whether quirky friendships, unexpected love or ill-conceived criminal transgressions – that upend the lives of those inhabiting their small corner of Brooklyn. It is a part of the city that Doyle knows intimately and that itself seems synonymous with the scarred lives of the characters who live there:

“The moon has settled over the neighbourhood like the fluorescent entrance to a tunnel-of-love carnival ride, spilling its light on the blacktop, on the hoods of cars and the Virgin Mary statues in weed-strewn front yards, on all the damaged windows and doors, on the cracks in the sidewalks and all the cracked hearts, on the rooftops, on the order and disorder, on all that’s hidden and all that’s out in the open.”

The course of people’s lives can be catastrophically disturbed by the most seemingly casual and thoughtless acts of violence. In Shoot the Moonlight Out, relationships and events have all been affected in one way or another by an accident that took place five years previously, when a boy heedlessly threw a rock at a passing car, causing the death of the young woman driving it.

The woman’s father, Jack, has never recovered: “she’s gone. Jack’s world stops.” But his isolation and grief begin to shift when he gets caught up in the lives of an ill-assorted cast of characters: amongst others, an aspiring novelist, Lily, who has just started a local writing group in St Mary’s Church; Max Berry, a sleazy ‘investment counsellor’ who runs a neighbourhood Ponzi scheme; Francesca, a young woman who dreams of being a filmmaker; Charlie French, a sadistic mobster; and ultimately Bobby Santavasco, the boy who accidentally killed Jack’s daughter. Characters are brought together in unexpected ways, as seemingly random acts collide and the damage done by the haphazardly thrown stone ripples out over the years.

Boyle’s characters are always a mixture of good and bad. Each has borne losses and disappointments, had misconceptions, made calamitous misjudgements. The stumbling decisions and actions of the characters themselves and their uncertainty about how to carry on with their damaged lives makes them intensely sympathetic. As they get to know one another, making overtures of friendship or stepping back in uncertainty, their movements all become part of a whole in which the larger ironies shadow their fumbling efforts to achieve justice and simply to survive. Out of their tangled crimes, loves and losses, Boyle crafts an intricate plot that is ultimately life-affirming and redemptive.

Lily reflects on the strange collisions of circumstance: “The world has been hard, is hard now and only getting harder. Lily thinks of Bobby throwing that rock. If he hadn’t thrown it, he wouldn’t have killed Amelia and maybe he wouldn’t have killed Max either. Maybe none of this would have happened…The future is a story she hasn’t written yet, wilder and more unpredictable than she could’ve anticipated.”

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.

When I was approached about this novel I was really intrigued by the synopsis and loved the cover.

I liked that the timeline began in the past but after that I just found the narrative very descriptive and slightly boring. Unfortunately this novel didn’t grab my attention as I’d hoped and I DNF’d at 20%.

The first William Boyle I read was Gravesend, which I picked up because it was being compared to Dennis Lehane, and for once the comparison was justified. Shoot The Moonlight Out is also filled with the Lehane melancholy vibe and adds Elmore Leonard's style of characterization into this almost mosaic styled crime novel, that starts with a bored teenager throwing rocks into traffic resulting in the death of a young woman. From there we jump five years and look at the lives of four people who seem unconnected to each other but as the novel moves on events slowly draw them together until a very explosive ending. Highly recommended.

My first read by this author and initially I wasn’t too sure as I found it a little slow paced but once I had the characters clear I found myself quite immersed in the story. The plot is quite complex but I loved the authenticity of the setting of South Brooklyn, starting mid summer 1996, where the authors knowledge of the area comes into its own. The descriptions are vividly clear - you can almost believe you are there.

Briefly, Bobby and Zeke are teenagers looking for fun and part of this is throwing stones at passing cars. It is mindless fun until one day Bobby throws a small rock which has devastating effects on the young female driver. Fast forward 5 years and in a short space of time we are introduced to Jack the girls father, con man Max Berry, gangster Charlie French, Bobby’s stepsister and wannabes writer Lily and Francesca who is Bobby’s girlfriend. So is lit a low burning fuse throwing all of these lives together in a tragic tale of what could have been, against the reality.

This crime story features a list of characters most of whom are on the wrong side of the law and highlights the broken nature of the neighbourhood. Reading the book is like throwing a bowling ball down the alley knowing full well what is going to happen but watching the movement of the ball the whole way down. A good story, relying on some coincidences and highlighting the potential consequences of earlier actions ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A riveting portrait of lives crashing together at the turn of the century

I have to admit that this is my first William Boyle read but definitely not the last. I got so attached to this story and the main characters, three emotionally damaged people brought together to heal. This is one true murder mystery that has so much more in it. It is funny but it is also tragic and strange

We start in the past, in the late 90s, with dumb kids doing stupid things. I think we've all done stupid things in our pasts, and mostly got away with them - there but for the grace... Sadly, Bobby doesn't and tragedy turns to death. Something that haunts him. We also have Jack who is a bit of a vigilante, meting out justice where the law fails. One of the recipients for that is con-man Max.
Back in the present, in 2001, we follow Charlie who stumbles over a bag of money which he takes to Max to look after. Bobby is now working for Max...
And so begins a convoluted tale of interconnected stories, all centred around each other, the likes of which I have to leave to the author to enlighten you of as I fear that saying anything else would probably inject spoilers into the mix and that really wouldn't be good.
Suffice to say I was impressed with the skill of the author to have so many juggling balls in the air at any one time and all in perfect motion as they rose and fell accordingly. As the characters all did within their own timelines, intersecting with others as and when...
It's very character driven and, as such, you need the characters to be strong enough to hold their own. Which I am pleased to say they do, with aplomb. Only issue I had was that I was never allowed to fully immerse myself into a single character and their part in the whole before the focus switched and I was shocked into another's story. But I guess that was the point of the book, whether I liked it or not! What was constant however, and I can almost consider it as a character in its own right, so important it was, was Brooklyn itself.
This is a new-to-me author and, after reading this book, I am definitely going to check out his back catalogue. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

this started so strong and then.... nothing. 50% through and it's still set up - for a book of this size it's just not enough pay off for me. such a shame because the opening was powerful

A new author to me but not for much longer as this was truly excellent. A wide ranging thriller that was based in Brooklyn and filled with beautifully depicted characters who all took centre stage at times.

The action was breathless, gritty and sometimes violent and the sense of time and place beautifully depicted.

I devoured this and will be searching for his back catalogue. Highly recommended.

Shoot the Moonlight Out is the first book I've read by William Boyle but it certainly won't be the last,within minutes of finishing it I had all of his previous books added to my Amazon "Wishlist", the day after I'd bought 2 of them.

In Southern Brooklyn in 1996, working class widower Jack Cornacchia ,a meter reader who does a bit of vigilante work on the side,is bringing up his school-aged daughter Amelia. They have a great relationship, Jack is a decent guy and Amelia is a contented girl with ambitions to become an author. Driving home one day from warning off a fraudster who has been preying on a vulnerable woman Jack comes across the scene of a tragedy caused by the stupid actions of a pair of teenage punks that leaves him devastated.
5 years later gangster wannabe Charlie French steals something that doesn't belong to him that sets off a series of events that impact on those involved in the events of that tragic day 5 years previously.

William Boyle's writing style is very similar to that of Don Winslow,another favourite author of mine. The book is full of memorable well-drawn characters,most of them flawed,some of them deeply flawed, and often with links that they're initially unaware of. Jack in particular is a great character,a man life has kicked in the teeth trying to find himself after almost giving up ,a decent guy it's not wise to cross.
I thought at first that this was going to be a straightforward tale of revenge,it's far more than that. It is a crime thriller but it's also a tale of redemption, love and unusual relationships, it's also very funny in places.

One of my favourite books of 2022 so far and the day after finishing it I've bought 2 more books by this author..

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

Max runs a Ponzi scheme out of his dump of an office while drinking carton after carton of milk. Lily returns to Brooklyn after college and teaches a creative writing course out of the church basement. Charlie is a low-level mobster with a backpack full of money and drugs. Jack lost his daughter, wife, and parents and is now a neighborhood do-good vigilante. Francesca dreams of getting out of town of making movies in Los Angeles. Bobby is Max's assistant, tortured by a fatal mistake he made years ago as a teenager. These stories and characters converge and connect, crash and burn.

Boyne's novels are gritty and uncompromising. He shines a light on the middle to low-income Italian American community living in Brooklyn. There's lots of violence and death, but there's also lots of love and hope. He's fast becoming one of my favorite authors.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Oldcastle Books for an advance copy of Shoot the Moonlight Out, a stand-alone set in Brooklyn in 1996 and 2001.

In 1996 Bobby Santovasco and his friend Zeke are bored and throw stones at passing cars until it’s too late. Widower Jack Cornacchia is doing his best to raise his teenage daughter, Amelia while working for Con-Ed and moonlighting as a vigilante. By 2001 Bobby has left school and is working for Max Berry, who runs a Ponzi scheme and is hiding wannabe gangster Charlie French’s I’ll gotten gains. With his new girlfriend, Francesca, wanting to leave Brooklyn Bobby decides to steal the money in Max’s safe. Meanwhile Bobby’s former stepsister, Lily Murphy is back in town after college and is running a creative writing class while she deals with her stalker ex-boyfriend. Jack, who had given up his vigilantism, is one of her pupils and decides to lend a hand.

I enjoyed Shoot the Moonlight Out, which is an ensemble piece, switching between characters as it weaves a slow narrative of how these disparate characters and their stories intersect. I say slow because the author is as invested in his characters as his story. This means that while the intersectionality is slow to come together, the characters’ lives and experiences are fully explored and explained. It paints a detailed picture of life in Brooklyn and what people will do to get ahead or simply get by around the turn of the century.

There is a fair amount of violence in this novel, but none of it seems gratuitous, more like an acknowledgement of how some people see life, and yet there is a warmth to the narrative that makes the reader want to continue. I think it comes from the characters and the way they are drawn. With the exception of Charlie French who is irredeemably bad and Max Berry who is irredeemably corrupt all the characters are recognisably human with both good and bad features.

The plot is clever in the way it all comes together. It could be argued that there is a certain amount of serendipity in the connections made, but it’s set in a local neighbourhood, so it’s not impossible.

I have rated the novel at 4* because it’s not totally compulsive. The constant switching between initially unrelated characters is a bit distracting and makes it easier to put the novel down. Having said that, I don’t see how the author could have produced such a character driven novel in any other way.

Shoot the Moonlight Out is a good read that I can recommend.

Shoot the Moonlight Out starts with Bobby and Zeke, two Brooklyn teenagers, wasting time throwing rocks at cars, with inevitably devastating consequences. What follows is a crime novel interspersed with some really touching interlinking stories touching on grief and the realities of Brooklyn in the late 90s/early 00s.

It took me a little while to get into this one, but once I did I was hooked. I loved Jack and Lily’s stories in particular and was kind of sorry to leave them. Definitely worth reading, fans of Boyle’s won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounded up.

In 1996 teens Bobby (Santovasco) and Zeke are egging each other on to throw objects into traffic and they grow increasingly foolish with their choice of things to throw, with fatal consequences. Then there’s Jack Cornacchia a kind of do good vigilante fixer who connects to the tragedy, who meets Lily, his teacher at a writing class in 2001 and is a stepsister to Bobby. Bobby now works for Max Berry whose investment firm operates like a Ponzi scheme, who has gang connections through Charlie French. This is a character driven novel of how lives connect, crash and burn and about the unpredictable path that life takes. Does fate bring them all together?

Initially, I feel unsure I’m going to like the novel as at the start introducing the characters its long-winded and somewhat tortuous and then something clicks and I find myself enjoying it. Maybe it’s the excellent atmosphere the author creates in this crumbling decaying part of Brooklyn which perfectly matches some of the characters. You especially feel it in Jack’s house with very vivid description so it springs to life before your eyes. As the complex plot develops parts are violent and shocking but not entirely unexpected given the nature of some of the characters. It’s very emotional at times with loss and grief portrayed so you feel it yourself. You want to yell at some characters for their extreme stupidity and greed and it’s inevitable chilling consequences. Jack and Lily are the standout characters for me and I specially enjoy reading their perspectives with Mairead injecting some much-needed humour! The characters connect together well (maybe it’s a little contrived but hey it’s fiction!) and the consequences of past actions are meted out and with a good ending, with permission to feel okay.

This is my first read of this author and I would read his books again as he has made me intrigued.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Oldcastle Books, No Exit Press for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I loved everything about this book. I did not expect to love this but it was delightful with an engaging plot, a rich imagery, and characters that came to life right on the page.
This is my first William Boyle and now I can't wait to read more works from the author.
Excellent.