Starred review from October 23, 2023
Seventeen-year-old Amir Trudeau had no intention of showing up to his estranged half brother Marcel’s extravagant 16th birthday party, until he receives a text from Chloe Danvers, the most popular girl at his affluent and predominantly white school. At the party, Amir unexpectedly hits it off with Chloe and goes home with her at the end of the night. Upon waking, however, he finds her stabbed to death. Now, he’s the prime suspect in a high-profile murder case. As public opinion quickly turns on him, Amir discovers an unexpected ally in Marcel, who doggedly searches for the true culprit in hopes of repairing their strained relationship. During their investigation, the brothers learn that Chloe had been on the verge of revealing dark secrets about the most powerful families in New Orleans before her death. Emill (The Black Queen) employs smart sleuthing, messy teen dynamics, and hidden agendas, as well as liberal use of Black cultural references and a vividly portrayed New Orleans, to present a propulsive and engaging thriller. Between scenes that explore the dark realities of media coverage and the systematic racism of the justice system, Emill expounds upon the Trudeau brothers’ flawed family dynamics as they slowly learn to lean on each other in the face of extreme prejudice. The Trudeaus are Black and Chloe is white; Marcel is openly gay. Ages 12–up. Agent: Alec Shane, Writers House.
November 15, 2023
Two half brothers put aside their childhood beef to solve a gruesome crime. Amir and Marcel Trudeau share a father. Marcel, who's two years younger, is out, drives a Tesla, and lives in an upscale part of New Orleans with his dad and mom. Amir rides his bike everywhere, is a great cook (thanks to his nana), and has a single mother who works a night shift in the ER. There's a tense history between the boys that Marcel is trying to reconcile, especially now, with both brothers attending the same school for the first time--predominantly white Truman Academy, where they're just two of a handful of Black students. On the last night of Mardi Gras, Amir arrives at Marcel's 16th birthday party, hoping to smash with Marcel's best friend, Chloe Danvers, the white girl who invited him. What Amir wasn't planning on was not hooking up at all, instead falling asleep on Chloe's couch and waking up to find her body bathed in blood. With Amir accused of murder, Marcel is determined to prove his older brother's innocence. In the process, he uncovers how racist his white friends--and school--really are. The dual narrative allows readers to understand how desperate both brothers are to identify the murderer. In this page-turner, racism is the third major character, highlighting how deeply its systemic vortex affects Amir's and Marcel's lives. It's at once riveting and downright disturbing. An edgy, fast-paced thriller exploring important issues. (Thriller. 13-18)
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December 1, 2023
Gr 10 Up-This dual-narrative thriller opens at the 16th birthday party of Marcel Trudeau at his upscale home in New Orleans. Marcel is pleased to see his half-brother Amir in attendance, though he only came because of a flirtatious text from the popular Chloe Danvers. Marcel wants to be closer with Amir, but their family history has left the relationship strained. Amir leaves the party with Chloe, so when she is murdered later that night, the police target him as their prime suspect. Placed under a strict curfew, Amir relies on his half-brother to search for the true killer while anxiously awaiting the grand jury hearing. Through confrontation and luck, Marcel discovers that Chloe had details about a racist Instagram page run by several students at their school and proof of an affair between two prominent community members. Based on these findings, Marcel pursues a hunch to get evidence and a confession from the killer, though the reveal is forced and unsatisfying. Most of the main cast is Black, and the book comments frequently on systemic racism and the unfairness of the justice system. The story is weakened by the alternating chapters: Amir is mostly a bystander in the text, as it is Marcel who really knew Chloe and who drives the plot discoveries. There are some references to drugs and alcohol, but the language, particularly in the texts and Instagram pages, is often coarse. VERDICT Not recommended.-Michael Van Wambeke
Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from January 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Amir goes to his half brother Marcel's sixteenth-birthday party only because the popular Chloe Danvers asked him to. Amir doesn't want to have much to do with Marcel or his family--Amir's father, now a wealthy and established restaurateur, left him and his mother to marry Marcel's mother. Following some friction at the party, Chloe asks Amir to leave with her, and he takes her home, where he falls asleep on the couch after conversation and some weed. When he wakes up, he finds Chloe stabbed to death in her bedroom. Amir panics and runs--a Black teen in the same house as a murdered wealthy white girl will not end well. It doesn't take long for Amir to be arrested for the murder, and Marcel jumps in to try to prove Amir's innocence before the grand jury meets and indicts him in what everyone sees as an open-and-shut case. The plot accelerates at top speed to its exhausting, nail-biting, and unexpected climax, and there is enough falling action to allow readers to catch a breath. Chapters alternate between Amir's and Marcel's first-person narratives, and Emill reveals their characters in layers with skill. Their character development grows through each young man's perception of the other and himself. With his second novel, Emill is proving himself a fresh and talented writer.
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