Every time I've read a Tiffany D. Jackson book, I've had an intense visceral response. Allegedly was no different.

When Mary was 9 years old, she killed a baby. Allegedly. After six years in "baby jail", she now lives in a challenging group home. She's stayed silent for years, surviving hatred and death threats from the world (it didn't help that Mary is black and the dead child was white). But now, she has her own baby on the way - and she's ready to speak up and tell her side of the story.

I couldn't put this one down. The writing is simple, yet deeply authentic. Mary is such a confusing, compelling, complex character. The dynamics between Mary and the girls in her home, her mother (talk about complicated), and her "boyfriend" Ted were well-developed. 

I also thought the excerpts sprinkled throughout (news articles, paragraphs from books, interview transcripts) were very well done and grounded the story in reality.

This book made me ANGRY. It made my stomach churn & my heart break. I had chills during several high stake moments. It's a difficult, uncomfortable read.

It's got dark insight into & commentary on the juvenile justice system, group homes, child abuse, racism, media frenzies, parental neglect, and more.

That ending .... hmm. I've felt mixed in a similar way about Jackson's other books - that the "twists" at the ending detracted from the story as a whole. I do feel like the set up/groundwork was there for this twist a little more so than in her other books, but it still felt like something thrown in simply to shock readers. This book didn't need that at all.

CW: child death, child abuse, violence, murder, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, mental illness, animal cruelty, animal death, bullying, gaslighting, sexual assault, homophobia, pedophilia, racial slurs, racism