Good but..

I enjoyed this book but it took me perhaps twice as long as it would have normally taken me to read a book of this length. I also think that the end should have ended two chapters earlier although I can see why the author continued in order to tie together the title to the book but story wise it was unnecessary.

6.5

Average but has a nice twist

I believe this book is a translation of the original. The story loses a bit of substance due to this. It seems to be missing something. But I did read it to the finish even though you I didn’t have much empathy for the characters. Seemed like an Americanized version of an Italian story

A nice, quick read for your monthly Kindle First selection. The murder mystery and small town setting are reminiscent of Twin Peaks (and the show is referenced several times throughout), but those looking for horror with a more supernatural flavor will probably be a bit disappointed.

The translation is excellent, and, unlike some other reviewers, I didn't find the shifting point of view to be overly jarring or disorienting. Though the chapters aren't labeled, a la Game of Thrones, there aren't so many characters that it is hard to figure out which character is narrating.

I don't read many murder mysteries, but I thought the plot was well paced, giving the reader time to develop his or her own suspicions without seeming to deliberately withhold relevant information. The characters aren't super deep, but with only around 250 pages, I wasn't expecting too much on that front. I found the Italian setting interesting and compelling.

Overall, probably 3.5/5, an enjoyable read that kept me engaged and didn't drag but also didn't blow my mind.

Mysterious until the end!

This book was very well written. Normally I figure out the "who done it" right away, but not so here. I loved the way the story moved from one perspective to another, character by character.

A fun little story, definitely gave me some chills. Unfortunately, it felt half-formed. It's a story about a murder, but it's hard to call it a mystery when no one is trying to solve it because they think they know what happened. And the ghost of the murdered girl pops in to narrate, but she doesn't interact with anyone or move the story along so it's not really a ghost story either. Guess we'll call it a beach read. (Or in my case, quarantine read.)

very hard to follow, and very slow. I don’t know if this is the author’s fault or if his writing just sounds bad when translated into English. it’s a short book but i still couldn’t get through it no matter how hard i tried. DNF

To be honest I usually don’t read think kind of book but it was being offered for free on my Kindle and decided to give it a go. I’m so glad I decided to read this. It’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read all year. The way the author blends the current storyline with the past is beautiful. It’s like flashbacks in a movie. It adds so much to the storyline that would be otherwise lacking. The twists and turns in the plot leave you wondering exactly what is going to happen next. Kept me deeply involved from cover to cover. I highly recommend this book. It’s a must read for everyone.

I received a free copy of the Night of the Moths from the Kindle First program. There is no obligation for me to leave a review, but I am choosing to do so.

The Night of the Moths is a psychological thriller about a murder that had occurred a decade in the past. This is the second of Bruni’s works that have been translated into English (For those of you that can read Italian, there are more of his works out there for you).

I picked Night of the Moths from this month’s Kindle First selections because it was the most interesting one available (sadly there was no science fiction/fantasy choice this month). While the core of the plot was actually pretty interesting, I had a difficult time getting through this novel. It took me about two days (full of starting and stopping) to get through it all.
I think what’s really a shame is just how much potential this novel had. As I said above, the plot itself was perfect – a decade old murder where the supposed murderer is also dead (ironically, by murder) and no new evidence to suggest anything else. The main perspective Enrico, was the boyfriend of the girl who died. Unable to bear with the presence she left in the town or how all the people saw him as “the boyfriend for the girl that died” Enrico fled the town, only coming back 10 years later to finally sell his house. Sounds pretty compelling, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately the writing style is a pretty big turn off. Maybe a lot was lost in translation, I can’t say. It felt like there were a lot of odd phrases and sayings strewn about, frequently and without context. Some terms used were also…off putting. I’m not sure if the author did this intentionally to show the bias of the people around, or if this was his bias showing through (again, I don’t know what words he used originally, so I can’t really say).
Additionally, while I have nothing against multiple points of view (I love them in fact) I am a little fussy about how they’re done. Personally I prefer that the switches in perspective be distinct, either by starting a new chapter or creating a slight break. Something to warn us that the voice has changed. Not doing these results in a few paragraphs of confusion until I figure out that the perspective has switched to another character. Needless to say there were several points where I found myself lost, trying to figure out who was talking or why one character knew something they should not have. It may seem little, but it does a lot to break the immersion in the story (and usually I found myself putting the book down for a break around this point).
I haven’t read any of Bruni’s other works, not even the couple that have been translated into English. So I can’t speak to how well this book was translated or anything like that. I do think Bruni has potential; he just needs to clean up his writing styles a bit (or hire a different translator?). I’d be curious to see what he comes out with next, if nothing else.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

I got this as a Kindle First book. I read this entire thing looking for the point at which I would care about the mystery, and I never really found it. There were some well drawn moments, but much of this book left me feeling emotionally removed. I felt like maybe that was because there were a lot of characters, some of them well formed, but we never got to spend enough time with any one of them to identify with them as much as I think the reader should be able to do. There were also a LOT of sentence fragments - like, I'm not picky about that sort of thing, but it was extremely frequent and sometimes very noticable. I did read to the end, and the reveal was a surprise, definitely - but I wish I had been in a position to care more.