Up in Smoke by Nick Brooks

Narrated by: Aubrey Joseph & Megan Sousa
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: May 3-5, 2025
Stand-alone
Source:  Netgalley (I received a free e-ALC from Netgalley and the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Police Brutality, Gun Violence, Death, Violence, Murder 
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Own, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Black), Realistic Fiction, YA, Thriller, Mystery

    This thriller follows a girl determined to clear her brother’s name and a boy desperate to keep his own out of the line of fire. As the heat turns up in a murder investigation, old feelings reignite between them, but a shocking secret could tear them apart.
     Unmask a murderer or take the fall.
     After Cooper King is pressured by big brother figure Jason to go on a looting spree during a local march, the unthinkable gunshots ring in the air and someone ends up dead. After Cooper flees, the news shows four teens in ski masks near the scene of the murder—Cooper and his friends. Cooper fears the cops will come knocking at his door, and the pressure only mounts when a suspect is taken into custody – Jason.
     Monique, Jason’s sister and Cooper’s longtime crush, is willing to go any length to clear her brother’s name. Even if she needs to go into the belly of the beast and confront the killer herself. When she teams up with Cooper, they fall down the investigation rabbit hole and start to fall for each other. But little does Monique know that within this web of deception, Cooper is shrouding the truth that he was there when the shots went off. If the pair fail to uncover the real murderer, Jason will get locked up for a crime he didn’t commit—and drag down Cooper with him.  

*MY THOUGHTS*

I loved The Promise Boys, so when I saw there was another book by Brooks coming out I was hella excited! And sure enough, this one was just as good as the other one. This mystery had me hooked, I was yelling at the MC like I was his librarian IRL, and I obviously had to try and solve it before they did lol

Ok so the mystery in this one stressed me out. I had to take a couple breaks here and there because I was mad af at him for some of that shit he was doing. Like I didn’t like how he ended up there at all. And I had to keep reminding myself they were just children because they made some DECISIONS. The house? The “field trip?” Lordt my heart was going a mile a minute. And then when it all came out and the enemy was the enemy, I was impressed with the way Brooks did that.

The romance was cute. I always find it hilarious when a romance sparks up in the middle of a murder mystery because it always seems so out of pocket lol But this one was actually really organic. I thought it worked so well because they were originally friends and they had a connection through a previous crush already. I thought they transitioned pretty easily into their new roles. Which made it all the worse for me when that third act break up hit. This is another one of those times when I had to take a break because I was cringing so hard about what he did. That was a pretty bone headed decision Cooper and I was glad you got some push back about it because why in the world would you do that, do THAT, and then think it was ok to not say anything?! I wanted to pop him lol

The ending was the only thing that I had a bit of trouble with. It felt a little abrupt. I think I wanted more about the person behind it. I knew their story because he gave us the run down, but it was so fast and sort of info dumpy. And then they were already trying with the safe. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was a little more spread out.

This was a bit scary because it really felt like something that could actually happen. I really felt like this was something that I might see on the news. And that is pretty scary. All of this to say, read this if you haven’t already!

Overall, I give this