Alternating between past and present, shifting back and forth from Jamaica and the United States, Sasha Knight picks apart the puzzle left behind when 11-year-old Sasha disappears. Everyone seems convinced that she has simply run away. Sometimes, on the good days, when she isn’t talking to him, her nine-year-old best friend Mathew believes it too.
My Review:
Rating: 4/5 stars
Firstly, I would like to thank Own It London for reaching out and gifting me a ARC for an honest review.
Admittedly this isn't a book I would normal read which is something I'm looking to improve in 2022! This book focuses on a boy/man called Matthew Archer that we follow through childhood right into adulthood. The setting switches between Jamaica and the United States. I found it such an educational experience reading about this authors take on Jamaican society in the late 70/80s with all its similarities and differences to other cultures including my own. I found it interesting to learn about the discrimination in small communities surrounding religion and class and of course gender. Not being a religious person myself I didn't know about the inner religious divides.
The main focus of this book is Matthew's friendship with Sasha Knight as a child before she went missing and how this has haunted him throughout his life. As the reader we go on a journey with Matthew trying to figure out what happened to his best friend which had such a huge impact on him. I really enjoyed reading this book and found it was such a quick read that I always wanted to get back to! This book touches on so many important topics: Homophobia, racism, gender inequality, sexual assault, to name a few. Matthew is a real and raw character that isn't perfect in the slightest. The author explores how toxic masculinity has shaped so many of the characters including the MC Matthew. I find it so refreshing for a male author to write about such important topics that effect men from the very beginning of their lives.
The only reason this wasn't a five star review for me was I didn't find the section of the book nearer the end where we focus on Matthew's adulthood as engaging as the rest of the book. I can see why it was done and how it added to the overall story but it just wasn't a section I favoured. This book is due to release in Spring 2022 and I really recommend it and believe it is going to be very successful on its release.