Language: R (100 swears 67 'f'); Mature Content: R (reference to sex and drug use); PG-13 Violence received PG-13 because there was murder and some fighting, including blood being mentioned, but none was described in graphic detail. There was also discussion of owning enslaved people.
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO MANY
17yo Amir does not want a relationship with his half-brother 16yo Marcel and the tension between them runs deep, but he shows up to Marcel’s birthday party only because Marcel’s friend Chloe, who is white, invited him and he thinks she might be interested in him. That night, Amir and Chloe hang out together and Amir passes out after doing some drugs. He wakes up in the early morning hours to find Chloe dead and he panics. The police and community are quick to place the blame on Amir: the black boy seen fleeing from her house. In spite of Amir pushing Marcel away, Marcel is determined to prove Amir’s innocence before he is indicted. His investigations reveal a dark trend of racism at their private school and the truth Chloe was fighting to bring to light.
While this book got off to a slow start for me, I was totally sucked in and wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next! It is a great read for anyone who loves a good murder mystery mixed with elements of social justice, but mystery readers may find the ending to be too neat and the motive for murder less compelling. The main downside of this book for me was that it had some instances of feeling didactic because it overexplained racism at times and had the characters unnaturally using therapy terms; however, it didn’t detract too much from the plot. After the story got going, I became really invested in both Amir and Marcel. Not only was I rooting for them to overcome the systemic racism and injustice that Amir experienced and, of course, to solve the murder, but I also cared about their family relationships and the storyline of healing their family relationships. This book went many layers deep and did it all effectively, from divorce trauma to the pain of finding out that your friends aren’t really your friends to the issues of racism in the justice system. But, wow, there was a lot of drama and so much slang, which may be off-putting to adult readers, but felt right for a teen audience. Amir is black. Marcel is black and gay. Chloe is white.
Marinda, librarian
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