This Moth Saw Brightness
by A. A. Vacharat
High School    Dutton    448 pp.
5/25    9780593698600    $20.99
e-book ed.  9780593698624    $10.99

D (short for ’Wayne; the D is “invisible”), who lives in a somewhat off-kilter version of Baltimore, keeps to himself and doesn’t care about much. Half his life ago, his mother left the family during a serious depression. Then D enters a coveted health study and gets to know his crush and fellow participant Jane, who is autistic and who can relate to D’s loss. An oddball, conspiracy-heavy mystery begins as D, Jane, and D’s tech-and-surveillance-hobbyist bestie, Kermit, investigate the clandestine study’s purpose and intentions. The storytelling leans into absurdity and surrealism as the trio seeks answers about the shadowy operation through obstacles such as cartoonish adult characters (be they villainous or clueless) and distractions from their eccentric peers. Told in short chapters, dialogue scripts, screenshots, footnotes, and more, a trippy plot unspools in unpredictable directions. Cleverly placed motifs, unique turns of phrase, plays on stereotype and archetype, and meta elements (the mall sells “experiences”; a selfie theme park) together enhance the book’s timely themes: identity, ableism, the stigmatization of mental illness, and the impact of technology on human experiences. Vacharat’s debut is a standout work of speculative fiction and a foreboding social satire about unethical governing and the corrosive values of Big Tech.

From the July/August 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.