One of the most compelling novels I read this year. The story alternates between the perspectives of two lifelong best friends whose lives are upended when one of them has a journalist career making opportunity covering an officer-involved shooting of an unarmed Black teenager…and the other is married to the officer who shot the teen.

I was blown away by how much depth there was to this story both in the characters and the world described. From the legal system to the PR relations there is an entire ecosystem displayed both before and after the shooting involved and the racial and economic realities of the city of Philadelphia are written with clarity and power. Nearly every character is well-developed with complex feelings and motivations; even the ones who I thought early on would be one-dimensional all had at least a handful of moments where I could sympathize with them.

This was my first time reading a novel with two co-authors and I think the story was incredibly well served by their collaboration. Each chapter had a cinematic quality to it like I was witnessing the well-rounded universe that is usually seen in prestige television.