Book Review

Welcome to the review.  It took a bit because I was late posting last month and wanted to give everyone time to catch up.  I enjoyed reading this last selection.  It was interesting to see how the plot would unfold, and you KNEW there was going to be some twist to it.

The story revolves around the character of Jodie Wolfe, a physically flawed 16-year-old girl who accuses four boys in her class of assaulting her.  The four boys are well liked and handsome kids from hard working, Muslim families and they all have the same story.   Zara Kaleel, who used to be a lawyer, takes on Jodie's case and believes her client, even though Zara's family pleads with her not to do it.  They feel she is being disloyal to her Muslim culture defending the non-Muslim girl against four Muslim boys.  It is a high stakes court case, and the outcome comes at a cost. 

I did enjoy reading this book.  It had a good premise and storyline.  I was interested in the story lines of all the characters.  As a parent, I felt for all the familes involved.  You want to support your child and be their champion and not believe that they could do wrong or harm anyone or anything.  As with lots of stories like this, I expected a twist somewhere along the line, and I wasn't disappointed.  It was done well and not just stuck in at the last minute as an afterthought. 

I try to be open to all types of stories and authors.  I typically do not care for books that pit one culture or race against another because we should all respect each other as humans regardless.  When you have books like that, it tends to demonize the other culture and that is why we are in the cultural place we are in right now.  Maybe future writers cannot worry about the characters race, gender, culture and just write a good story.  We are just feeding the divisive frenzy of malleable young minds and force feeding them that this group is always wrong, and this other group is always the victim, and it is simply not true.  Let's all stop fueling the hate.

3 out of 5 stars