Marieke (mariekes_mesmerizing_books)'s Reviews > Promise Boys

Actual rating 4.5 stars.
 
Pitched as Karen McManus meets Angie Thomas meets Jason Reynolds, Promise Boys is a story about three teens of color whose lives suddenly turn upside down when they’re all suspects in the murder of the school’s principal. It shows the threat teens of color, especially boys, feel daily. Because they’re always at fault. Always. Even if they aren’t. Especially when they snap.
 
JB, the smart one who desperately wants to go to college, suddenly snaps and spits Mr. Moore in the face. Trey, the basketball star who’s hard on the outside and soft on the inside, suddenly snaps and tells Mr. Moore he’ll kill him. And Rámon, the cook who sells his abuelita’s pupusas, suddenly snaps when Mr. Moore throws his pupusas into the trash.
 
Did one of these boys kill Mr. Moore, or is there another culprit?
 
When an author gets compared to great authors like the ones I mentioned above, I’m always a bit skeptical. Because it’s so difficult to write a story as good as those authors do. And still, Nick Brooks managed to deliver one. Promise Boys is actual and immediate, and incredibly powerful. I started reading this story on a Sunday evening, and I read a quarter of the book without even noticing. Nick pulled me in, and I couldn’t let go. Build up from interviews, newspaper articles, multiple voices from side characters, and those of the three boys, Promise Boys is a must-read. It’s one of those stories that makes you think of how the system repeats itself. Time and again.

I have nothing more to tell. Just read it!
 
I received an ARC from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.