using the Trayvon Martin case as a template, this is told from the perspective of a girl present at the time of the racially motivated shooting. I did not relate to the writing style and language used by most of the characters but maybe it's best that I think some of them were base, and not deserving of a hero's platform, because that might be the very point: it's still not a valid reason to kill someone.

that said, it's not a good book, yup, it's a bestseller but that's a reaction to the over-the-top brutality and racism of the police force being fictionalized and presented to young readers who NEED to know this sh*t has happened and is happening. it's almost a given that we will care about the issues presented; but a good author makes us care about the characters. isn't that the most important part? the humanizing aspect of inhabiting those characters inside a novel? this first time novelist is in for a pile of hurt when her 2nd novel is proclaimed as immature, cliché, and boring.