I’m a “buy a book by its cover” kinda person and this cover got me. We got great use of reds and blues, shadows and light. We got a bad ass looking woman in a cool car. We got what could be some mystical shit. It got me. 

The book is fun. You’re dealing with a black lesbian reporter in 1973 with special powers for fighting off evil. You got mob issues, an evil ghost committee, veterans, new black mayor, etc. Lots of fun. 

A couple things didn’t work for me. The dialogue is clunky. Ahmed might have been going for a blacksploitation kind of vibe, which fine. I’m not sure as I’m not familiar with that genre as much. The vibe was off though. Maybe after reading books by black and queer authors about black and queer characters, it felt like it was written from an outsiders POV about an inside experience. 

Did it take away from the fun? Not really. It was still great to see black queer characters. The plot does move lightning fast and character development suffers because of it. I’d still read a sequel though. Especially cuz the art and coloring really held it together.