I love a good young adult book from time to time, and what drew me first to Nick Brooks’ Promise Boys, was the stark contrasting cover. In a bright red you see three boys, but then the eyes have been torn out and you can see that they are boys of color. That gives this murder mystery another layer of intrigue.
JB, Trey, and Ramon are three students at Promise Prep, an all boys school that honestly sounds like a living nightmare. Yes, is DC known for rough parts and struggling youth? Undoubtedly, but this school takes reform to a whole other level. These boys have to be silent all day, walk on designated blue lines in the hallways, and anything they do even remotely skewing from the norm results in a demerit, which eventually results in a detention. It doesn’t take much to set off this teachers with god complexes, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that JB, Trey, and Ramon all end up in detention on the same day.
This day is different though because this means that Trey can not play in a potentially life-changing basketball game, and also, their strict principal Kenneth Moore is found with a bullet to the temple. What’s also not found are the three boys in the detention room. That immediately puts a target on their backs, and the fact that they are minorities from more run down areas of DC means that they certainly won’t be given the benefit of the doubt. In fact, the authorities probably only need the bare minimum to do some real damage to these boys’ lives.
Out of fear, of course they all point the finger at each other. Ramon and Trey had just left the detention room before the gunshot went off, and then JB shows up to meet his girlfriend with blood covering his clothes before running away. It certainly doesn’t look good from an outsiders perspective. Add to that the fact that they all had pretty valid reasons for wanting Moore dead. He enacted his “Moore method” at Promise, and it was because of him that they all ended up in this situation. Trey was just trying to get some laughs, Ramon was just trying to make some cash, and JB was just standing up for himself. Eventually, the three boys decide to work together to find the real killer rather than blaming each other.
It was when they started really looking into the murder that this book reminded me a lot of Karen McManus’ One of Us Is Lying series. I also really liked how on top of the three main characters’ perspectives, we are also treated to the perspectives of several different members of the community, family, friends, and classmates on the situation. Of course there is bias in these perspectives and it also goes to show that unless you are in it, you never know the full story. People will jump to conclusions based on almost nothing, which is pretty reminiscent of recent political events.
All in all, I found this book pretty enjoyable. I don’t know that I was that shocked by the ending, but there were so many interesting layers to this novel that I wasn’t disappointed by it. This is definitely an easy read, but it’s also for fans of McManus, like myself. There is also word that this is getting an adaptation. Whether that’s true and if it will be a film or a series is still unknown, but I’d look forward to it either way!