stefanicox's Reviews (519)

Brit Bennett can produce some amazing sentences. There were several parts where I stopped to read the last paragraph over again, because she so expertly captured an emotional moment. I was really drawn into the story, especially for the last half of the book. She writes family dynamics and romantic relationships really well.

Can't wait to see what she writes next!

I'm actually really unsure of how to review this book. It's so emotionally visceral and powerful yet so incredibly horrible of a situation to be writing about. It's a book that gets to the heart of class combined with race, along with gendered violence, and somehow love. It's about the things you never want to imagine being possible but that happen all the time.

The premise is America as it is today... except that slavery still exists in four states. Everywhere else is "normal," though the non-slave states boycott products from other states. The main character is a black man who serves as a bounty hunter of sorts for escaped slaves. But his latest case isn't going according to plan, and you learn all sorts of secrets as the book goes on about the abolitionists, and the U.S. government, and the slave-owning companies.

I really enjoyed the suspense of the book; it keeps you turning the pages up until the end!

Note: I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher for review.