A High-Stakes, Anxiety-Inducing Mystery to Read in February

This work of younger grownup fiction is extremely heavy and a completely absorbing learn. Our protagonist is Tracy Beaumont, a Black teenage lady whose father, James Beaumont, is in jail. James Beaumont was wrongly accused of homicide, and initially of the guide, he has 275 days earlier than he might be executed. The guide is instructed from Tracy’s perspective, and interspersed with the chapters of prose are Tracy’s weekly letters to Innocence X, a nonprofit authorized group that helps to show the innocence of people that have been incarcerated. They solely settle for requests by way of handwritten letters, and Tracy has been writing weekly for seven years.

Tracy is a highschool junior and lives along with her mom, her older brother Jamal (a senior who runs observe), and their little sister Corinne. Tracy is concerned with the varsity newspaper and in addition runs a Know Your Rights class at the area people middle in the Houston, Texas, suburbs the place they reside. Flash ahead, and there was a homicide, and Tracy’s brother Jamal has been accused.

This guide just isn’t solely a story about police brutality and abuse of energy but in addition the insidiousness of white supremacy — not solely the blatant KKK historical past of the city this takes place in however on the micro stage as properly. On prime of all this, it’s a high-stakes, anxiety-inducing thriller. Tracy is concurrently making an attempt to get assist for her father whereas additionally making an attempt to show her brother’s innocence and hold him from dealing with the identical doable destiny. Of course, she can also be making an attempt to hold herself from being harmed by the police. Just to make issues extra difficult, she’s making an attempt to handle friendships and relationships as a teen as a result of it’s not like all these issues cease when one thing bigger is occurring.

I’ve plenty of content material warnings for this guide: homicide, anti-Black racism, together with dialogue of lynching and cross burning, anti-Asian racism, and an incarcerated beloved one.