e-Audio, 07:21:23
Narrated by: Marc Anthony Samuel
Release Date: January 31, 2023
Published by: HarperCollins US
Read from: March 6-7, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Death, Wrongful Accusation by Police, Gun Violence, Drug Usage, Classism, Injury Detail, Toxic Relationship
For Readers Interested In: Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Restorative Justice, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Gamers, Realistic Fiction, YAFrom debut author Charlene Allen comes a captivating YA contemporary mystery and coming-of-age story, celebrating the power of friendship, first love, and exploring the criminal justice system from the lens of restorative justice. Perfect for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, and Maureen Johnson.
In the game of life, sometimes other people hold all the controls. Or so it seems to VZ. Four months have passed since his best friend Ed was killed by a white man in a Brooklyn parking lot.
When Singer, the man who killed Ed, is found dead in the same spot where Ed was murdered, all signs point to Jack, VZ’s other best friend, as the prime suspect.
VZ’s determined to complete the video game Ed never finished and figure out who actually killed Singer. With help from Diamond, the girl he’s crushing on at work, VZ falls into Ed’s quirky gameiverse. As the police close in on Jack, the game starts to uncover details that could lead to the truth about the murder.
Can VZ honor Ed and help Jack before it’s too late?
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I first saw the cover of this, I didn’t bother reading the synopsis. All I knew was that the cover was wonderful and I needed to see what the inside was like. And then when I found out it was a mystery and featured gamers, I needed it even more. AND THEN, I found out it was about restorative justice, a term I didn’t know much about, I knew I needed to read it. And though it was good, I didn’t feel like it had the umph I was looking for.
The first thing that stood out to me was the name drops in the synopsis. Y’all know I’m a sucker for anything from Tiffany D. Jackson and Nic Stone, so seeing them listed was a no-brainer for me to get my hands on this. Unfortunately, I think that hyped this up too much in my mind. I was expecting twist after twist and that just didn’t happen. In the middle it got really slow. And I don’t know, you just can’t do that in a murder mystery. It took me out of the story. I remember just listening to try to finish reading it, not to actually solve it.
I did like the gaming part of this tho. It will definitely draw in two different types of people who may be reluctant readers: those that are gamers and those that are game-makers. And that’s what mattered the most to me. Also, that rep of having a really smart, game making Black kid in the book was another thing that made me really happy. Yes one of them had gotten killed, but the rest of the story was also own voices, so it still had the representation.
Another thing that impressed me about this book tho was what it taught me. I had knew of restorative justice before but I hadn’t ever seen it in action. So seeing this book play it out, I had to sit back and listen to it slowly and replay some things to make sure I got it. (If you don’t know about it, this is the definition of restorative justice from Oxford “a system of criminal justice which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.“) And though I like the idea of it and the way they handled it, I still don’t think it was a good case to use it on. This person had killed a kid…. I don’t want to say more for spoilers, but I’m sure y’all get it. But I did like the way I was able to learn more about it. I will definitely be using this as a talking point for this book. A different result than what people might normally be thinking.
I wanted to love this more than I did, but I think I just built it up too much in my head. I don’t think I would have felt the same way if I hadn’t been so excited to read it because of the names that were dropped. It just wasn’t the same. Solid debut from Allen. I look forward to reading more!
Overall, I give this
