Colson Whitehead has done it again. This is fantastic story-telling, impressive characterisation and twists and turns I was never expecting. Dare I say I might even prefer this to The Underground Railroad? Although both novels are spectacular.

I didn't fully know what I was getting into with this book. I have a habit of not always reading the blurb of books by authors I know and trust to deliver. Even though you know from the blurb that Elwood is going to end up at Nickel, Whitehead does a great job of building up hope that maybe it won't happen, or maybe it won't be so bad. Or maybe that's just me being ever the optimist. Because Whitehead doesn't scrimp on Elwood's characterisation before he enters Nickel, it hurts even more when he is incarcerated and when he realises what the place really is.

What I love is how Whitehead jumped between the past and the present, continuing to give the reader hope and forcing the reader to persevere through the worst parts of the book, knowing there was a future to look forward to.

And then came the page I had to read three times to understand what had just happened. Oh, he hit me with a surprise moment and he got me good. #nospoilers.

The worst part is that Nickel is based on a real school that was in operation for over 100 years and many of horrors depicted in this book really happened in the Florida school. This is a beautiful blend of history, research and narration. And yes, it was a painful and uncomfortable read but was it brilliant? Absolutely.