Shoot the Moonlight Out

A haunting crime story about the broken characters inhabiting yesterday's Brooklyn, from modern master of neo-noir.

William Boyle has built an audience for his Brooklyn crime novels based on his memories of growing up there, and he's become a latter-day poet of that borough.

An explosive crime drama, SHOOT THE MOONLIGHT OUT evokes a mystical Brooklyn where the sidewalks are cracked, where Virgin Mary statues tilt in fenced front yards, and where smudges of moonlight reflect in puddles even on the blackest nights.

Southern Brooklyn, July 1996. Bobby Santovasco throws rocks at cars getting off the Belt Parkway, thinking it's dumb and harmless until it's too late to think otherwise. Consequences catch up with Bobby and his favorite pastime when he wrongs Jack Cornacchia, secret vigilante of Brooklyn. 

Fast forward five years: June 2001. Bobby watches as a low-level gangster wannabe, Charlie French, delivers a bag full of cash to Bobby's boss, Max Berry. It's not too long before Bobby gets it in his head to knock off Max's safe so he and his girl Francesca can escape Brooklyn forever. The return of Bobby's step-sister, Lily, to Brooklyn puts a wrench in things. Lily's been teaching a writing class in the basement of St. Mary's Church—and Jack Cornacchia is her star student.

A riveting portrait of lives crashing together at the turn of the century, SHOOT THE MOONLIGHT OUT is tragic and tender and funny and strange. A sense of loss is palpable—what has been lost and what will be lost—and Boyle’s characters face down old ghosts with grim determination, as ripples of consequence radiate in dangerous directions.