Review by Booklist Review
Brooks (Promise Boys, 2024) offers up another compelling whodunit with this story of a shooting at protest. In the sweltering D.C. summer, Cooper's feeling aimless, since the teen jobs program he was relying on was unceremoniously canceled. When his best friend, Jay, recruits him to stand watch during a smash-and-grab, he reluctantly follows. Soon, though, he's toting thousands in stolen goods during a protest when a murder occurs, in which Jay's the top suspect. Cooper joins up with Jay's sharp, determined sister, Monique, to prove Jay's innocence while trying to conceal his own involvement. Brooks' cinematic mystery is full of twists involving crooked cops and charismatic leaders. Brooks treats the issues of police violence and the reverberating effects of disinvestment in Black communities with plenty of meaningful nuance, including how the precarity of systemic poverty can ease the way for bad actors to take advantage of vulnerable communities. While a few plot holes might irk some readers, teens who love procedural detective TV shows will appreciate this satisfying mystery.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sixteen-year-old Cooper King has always tried to heed his late mother's words: "Actions have consequences. Make your own choices." After his best friend, Jason--whom Coop views as an older brother figure--persuades him to go looting during a protest, however, he finds himself implicated in a murder following a woman's death. When Jason is arrested as a suspect, Coop worries he could be next. Then Jason's younger sister (and Coop's childhood crush) Monique enlists Coop's help in clearing her brother's name, setting the two teens on a dangerous path. Romance blossoms as Monique and Coop track down clues together; all the while, Coop keeps his part in the looting a secret. As Jason's involvement in an underground organization comes to light, and as each of Coop's friends get drawn into the murder investigation, time starts ticking down. Monique and Coop's alternating perspectives unspool in this intense thriller by Brooks (Promise Boys), who cleverly utilizes classic murder mystery elements to craft an expansive story that contends with issues surrounding racism, police brutality, and corruption. Readers will root for the protagonists' dynamic relationship and quest for justice. Cooper, Jason, and Monique are Black. Ages 14--up. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
After a woman is shockingly murdered during a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., two teens team up to find the real shooter before someone they both care about takes the fall. Cooper King, a Black teen, has been directionless since the death of his mother, which is why he reluctantly agrees to help his mentor, Jason, loot stores during an anti--police violence protest, even though it goes against everything he was raised to believe. Cooper desperately wants to hide his involvement in the theft from his childhood friend and secret crush, Monique, a young poet, activist, and high-achieving student. But she becomes involved nonetheless after Jason, who's her brother, is arrested for the murder. The pair are sure that Jason is innocent and resolve to clear his name by finding the culprit. Their investigation reveals a conspiratorial web of lies and relationships that complicates the potential motive and exposes the racial inequities, political corruption, and social unrest in their city. Each new clue and twist is revealed through Cooper's and Monique's alternating points of view, as they gradually piece together answers to an increasingly dangerous and high-stakes whodunit, all while falling in love. Brooks deftly explores the everyday growing pains of Black boyhood and girlhood alongside the threats of racial injustice and police violence faced by youths, often drawing parallels to real activists and movements. A thrilling, heart-racing mystery with a page-turning budding romance at its center.(Mystery. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
