I went into this book excited and enthralled about the premise. I mean, vigilante warriors enacting justice against rapists, child abusers, and murders? Sign me up! However, some of the potential of the book wasn’t quite reached in my opinion. I felt there were plot points/moral questions lost due to the book being YA. I felt it could have benefited from being New Adult, or most of all, Thea being in college. Why were the Black Coats recruiting high schoolers? Unless the book wanted to make commentary on how the Black Coats indoctrinated young women (which I feel it didn’t) it would have made way more sense to be placed in college. I feel the darker themes could be further carried out.

My favorite part (that made me tear up) was Mirabelle’s inheritance. I wish more impactful scenes like that would have been featured in the book, but it felt like the romance scenes with Drew superseded the development of the girls and the Black Coats. Every time Thea was with him I wanted to be somewhere else: learning more about the Black Coats, or about her relationships with Team Banner. I wished we could have seen more of Robin and Julie’s relationship, and more of Nixon’s character. The romance cheapened the plot for me—why are we focusing so much on a contrived highschool relationship in a book about women seeking justice and questions that raises? Drew was alright, but there was so much beyond him that begged to be explored. I do like the moral quandary his father raised though.

The Black Coats had plenty of potential in it’s incredible premises, some of which it fulfilled with the characters that made up Team Banner (who I really wish we would have gotten more of), and its expert handling of grief through Thea’s flashback scenes with Natalie. However, some of its stronger points were very underutilized, which is why I’m giving it two stars.