This book holy wow. I am SHOOK! It is classic TDJ - messes with your mind, makes you question what is real and what isn't real, and highlights race and racism in a way that feels ripped from the headlines. 

You can read the synopsis of this book, y'all know what it is about. It's got Carrie vibes. Young high school student gets bullied when people realize she is Black (biracial) and has been passing as white. Bullying video becomes public which puts Maddy front and center of a discussion about race that is happening not only at her school, but in her town and in the whole US. People take sides. Nastiness and racism runs rampant. As Maddy tries to pry apart what is real and what isn't, as she is befriended by the popular Black quarterback, strange powers start to manifest. And when the shit hits the fan, the shit. hits. the. fan. 

This book has everything. The classic white cheerleader who thinks she's "woke" but is really a white savior and problematic af. There's the bullies - the white kids who are racist and are ok with it. The Black quarterback who has to toe the line in order to stay popular, uses his white girlfriend as a shield (as she does for him) and only starts to open up as he connects with Maddy. The racist adults. You don't really root for anyone in this book except for Maddy. Everyone else is shades of gray in the way they treat her - always either as a means to an end or the subject of their vitriol. And it deals with deep themes: colorism, being biracial in a world that so clearly wants you to choose an either or. Child abuse and parent abandonment. The importance of community especially for Black youth. 

This story is told in the past (during Maddy's reveal and the subsequent horror) and current time with a podcast. There are interviews sprinkled throughout. This interesting framing adds to the thread of not knowing what is going to happen, not knowing what is true and what is false. 

Although you kind of know where this story is going to go, the surprises are still endless. I can't spoil anything because it is just mindblowing. Not as creepy as some of TDJs other work (I'm looking at you White Smoke), TWOB makes you think. It makes you as the reader ask yourself, "what would I do?". "Who would I be?" It asks, what does it mean to "pass" in a world that labels everything and everyone?

This book is about systemic racism. It might not seem it, but the layers and depth are there. It's about how a community can be accountable for violence, stemming from years of injustice, and still blame the victim. And ultimately it is asking us what we would do. What side are you on?

This review feels like a mess but ultimately you have to read this book it is UTTERLY AMAZING.