Instead of taking accountability for the part they played, they decided to make you a villain. Instead of learning to love your kinky coily hair, you were taught to hate it. Instead of allowing you to be who you are, you were relentlessly ridiculed, laughed at, and taunted. The nickname they gave you wasn’t accurate;they got something very wrong. Because you weren’t just mad, Maddy. You were infuriated, incensed, enraged. Maddy Washington was mad as hell and that is precisely why the town of Springville had to burn. 

I am stunned by the careful crafting of these characters, the richness of the novel’s message and dialogue, the perfect blending of horror, paranormal, and reality. This book isn’t merely a horror because of the carnage left behind because of a black girl’s justified rage. No, this book is a horror because it exposes a harsh truth about our country when it comes to race, colorism within our own communities, and the pressures of being the exceptional black kid. 

The news, citizens of Springville, bloggers, and the like continuously stated that “Maddy Did It.”  But only a few actually took the time to ask the question why and even fewer understood the answer to that. We mourn the casualties of fire, but forget to look close enough to see where it all started and how it could’ve been avoided. Springville was burning before Maddy decided to join the flame. All she did was ensure that it would now be a fire that everyone else could no longer ignore. 

The perfect pacing, suspense building, and the inevitable climax will have you enraptured as you turn each page. Tiffany D. Jackson’s words are more potent than paint fumes in a room with no ventilation. The Weight of Blood is not solely horrific because of spilled blood, mangled bodies, and silent pain. It is a horror because it also exposes and even more terrifying reality.