“She says you have to leave. The rest of us can stay, but you have to get out. She doesn’t want a junkie in her house.”

White Smoke explores the intersection of gentrification and racism through the eyes of a character who views herself as an unreliable narrator in a book that is a combination of horror and thriller.

Our lead, Mari, struggles with adjusting to her new life in Cedarville after her family relocates for her mom’s new job. Mari is a recovering addict and blames her family’s need to relocate on her overdose after attempting to self medicate with drugs.

You see, ever since a horrible bed bug infestation- Mari sees them everywhere. Crawling on her, biting her…

So when creepy things start happening in her home Mari isn’t sure she is actually seeing what she’s seeing.

The door clicks, creaking open. I’ve grown accustomed to the creepiness . . . until it slams shut.

And her annoying stepsister Piper? She’s talking about an imaginary friend who wants Mari out of the house.

But it’s often hard for Mari to focus on what’s happening at her house when the town holds so many secrets. Including riots incited by city officials who have little regard for the primarily black citizens of their town.

“Well, he convinced them white folks that weed would turn people into addicts who would rob, loot, and kill, and they all believed his dumb ass. He dedicated the entire city’s budget to ‘cleaning the streets.’ Everyone in the Wood was getting swept up. Police were riding around like an army, walking into houses, offices, restaurants, schools, hospitals with no warrants. After the first wave, they started getting greedy, planting drugs on folks . . . like my pops. Pops never smoked a day in his life, but they somehow found an ounce on him. I once read this stat that said in the two years after them Sterling Laws kicked in, the prison population grew nine hundred percent. That’s why they had to build them giant blocks you could see from a mile away.”

I’ll admit- I wasn’t crazy about this book in the beginning. While Mari’s lack of response to weird situations was understandable due to her history it was often frustrating. It was slow initially and relationships between Mari and her new friends- especially Yusef - felt hollow. She wasn’t really giving anyone a reason to be so into her so his fascination and interest in her rang hollow.

However, things picked up after about 40% and I did really enjoy the second half of the book!

I particularly enjoyed Mari’s relationship with her younger brother Sammy. You can see how they do both genuinely love each other and strive to protect each other for different reasons.

This book also did a good job of viewing all sides of the characters and peeling them back layer by layer to see their true depths. This is done in a particularly interesting way with Mari’s white stepfather and stepsister (mostly the stepsister, Piper).

In regards to the horror aspect, I think it was fairly decent. The book is still more of a thriller rather than horror, but there are definitely some pretty creepy and tense scenes! Particularly the scene with Sammy and Mari in the closet.

This is definitely worth the read despite the slow start. 4 out of 5! (less) [edit] | Feb 08, 2022[edit]