Nightcrawling is a sensational debut novel ripped from the true crime headlines. While based on the Oakland police misconduct scandal that happened a few years ago, this story could be any city, in any state, in 2022. Leila Mottley brings to life a story that is gritty and timely. The novel is not for the faint of heart as it tackles sensitive subjects like abuse, exploitation, poverty, suicide and police brutality. Like a punch to the stomach, it leaves the reader in discomfort and breathless, but never feels gratuitous, or over done to the point of glamorization.

Our protagonist, Kiara is struggling to handle responsibilities that a 17, almost 18 year old has no business being made to master. She makes choices that aren't really choices but the only available actions in order for her to survive. While Kiara's world is bleak and broken, she shows the readers her strength and capacity to move beyond trauma to protect those she loves.
It's ugly. It's dark. But it's real. The beautiful prose adds to the texture and emotional pull of the story. Leila Mottley has made her mark as an up and coming bestselling author to watch out for.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

This book was a gritty and at times hard read about a young girl who's life is barely her own, having to be mother, father, sister, to others and doing what she has to do in the meantime to take care of them all. The characters in this book were maddening and there were times when I wanted to reach into the book and hug Kiara for all she went through. The corruption that was highlighted in this book isn't spoken of enough in the real world and I appreciate the author trying to give girls and women like Kiara a voice.

I'm so impressed by this debut and will definitely be waiting for Mottley to write another!

Kiara is seventeen and has taken responsibility for her older brother and neglected neighbor kid. As her rent goes up, she does what she needs to do to survive on the streets of Oakland. The streets involve her in the corrupt justice system.

This is a difficult one to read. It’s dark, depressing, but most of all… genuine. As you’re reading, you can see all of this truly happening. It shows how strong women are and how we do what we need to survive even though we have no chance against the systems in place. The language in the book is passionate and poetic at times. Fans of Grown will like this story, thought it is deeper and more graphic.

“Strut, fly, gallop. There are so many ways to walk a street, but none of them will make you bulletproof.”

“I’m starting to think there is no such thing as a good cop, that the uniform erases the person inside it.”

Nightcrawling comes out 6/7.

I love reading novels set in cities close to where I live and this one is set in Oakland, CA so I was immediately interested in reading this one.

This novel is a tough, gritty read. There’s poverty, prostitution, substance abuse, child endangerment, sexual abuse and a lot of other tragic situations due to the broken families and the poverty the characters endure.

The story centers around Kiara, a 17 year girl old left on her own: her father died, her mother is in prison, her brother thinks he can make it big as a musician and she’s about to be evicted by her landlord. She finds solace in caring for Trevor, the little boy who lives in her complex and abandoned by his mother, and from her friend, Alé who feeds her body and soul when she can.

A chance encounter with a man on the streets of Oakland one night entangles Kiara into the world of quick money as she convinces herself her body can do this. Unfortunately, Kiara gets pulled into a worse situation when police officers force her into doing sexual favors for them, promising her protection and the money she desperately needs to survive.

This one was a tough read. It’s loosely based on a true story of the major scandal that rocked the Oakland PD in 2016. The story is raw, gritty, emotional, and heartbreaking. And all this written brilliantly by a teenage novelist herself. Brace yourself for this read. It broke my heart but I also gave it 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley, Knopf Doubleday for this advance readers copy in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published on 6/7/22

Nightcrawling is an impressive first book, and is written in a spare, visceral prose. In this way it reminded me of Haruki Murakami's Men Without Women. In both cases the characters are entirely believable, but not necessarily likeable or approachable. I don't know who I will recommend Nightcrawling too, though, because it was too dark/heavy/bleak for me, and I know a lot of my reader friends are too exhausted for this content right now. That said, the author shows a lot of promise and I would read her next book.

Kiara and her brother Marcus are barely treading water — and with the threat of a rent increase looming over them, Kiara becomes desperate to maintain this new normal with just the two of them playing at being adults. Beginning accidentally, Kiara starts walking the streets of Oakland. Floundering around on the surface of reluctant prostitution, when she becomes embroiled in a ring of local police officers who exploit her services and leverage their power. Before she realizes what has happened, she finds herself in the midst of experiencing the utter failure of the justice system and how dispiritingly tangled the blue wall of brotherhood is within the system itself.

Nightcrawling feels like a raw, open wound — freshly burned skin not yet healed. A gash kept from knitting together by repeating the same well-known movements that tore it open to begin with. Mottley, who astoundingly wrote this at age 17, has crafted a novel with distinction and purpose. This feels very much like a novel that needs to be out there, but for the message and the ideas more than the particular story. Despite this rawness, the energy level feels low. There’s a strange dullness to it. Kiara herself becomes increasingly numb to the pain and trauma, forcing herself forward, which seems reasonable to the character. But the narrative itself, written in my old foe present tense, drags the story down into a monotonous tone riding the line between apathy and a steely reserve.

An interesting angle Mottley extends into Kiara's characterization is how she seems to have no agency or interest in who gets to touch her. Beyond prostitution, and the inevitable unwanted touching from those interactions, everyone is always hugging, touching, pulling on Kiara; her body is not even her own during everyday interactions with her actual friends or her brother. Her life seems to only exist in this basketweave territory of the claiming of her skin.

This book bruised my heart. No wonder it is getting so many reviews.
Kiara, a young black girl in Oakland is struggling to keep a roof over her head, make sure her older brother isn't getting too out of control, and takes on her neighbor boy while his mother is strung out. After one night out, Kiara is pursued by the police and taken as their on-call girl. She is at their beck-and-call or they threaten to lock her up.
A few things resonated with me: 1. the author was 17 when she started writing this story, which is based on a true story. 2. Every "system" that is supposed to help kids, the ones in need, the most vulnerable, they do not work, because the people who run them are more broken. They take advantage, and like the police officers, they don't care to help anyone but themselves. 3. The idea of found family is so prevalent in this book. That just because others share the same DNA doesn't make them family or worth spending energy on when they won't do the same for you.
Kiara had to grow up fast, with no help to escape the trauma from her past. But she loves her city, no matter how broken it is and no matter how much it will never love her back.

This book was dark, and raw, and gritty, and I loved every page. I will never forget Kiara. She is one of the best written characters I've read in a long time. My jaw dropped when I found out this was a debut. Leila Mottley is an author to watch!

I find myself at a loss for words and how to describe this debut novel. It is a beautifully written novel about a terrible subject and that dichotomy is not lost on the reader. Kiara is a young woman left with few choices in order to help her self, her brother, and a young man she has taken in, to survive. The choices that she makes are made out of desperation and from a place where hope has seemingly died. The black men and women that we meet in this novel are victims of a system in which they have no voice, a society that doesn’t value them. I don’t want to give away too much of what happens in the story, but the brutality the police exercise, the fear embedded from years of being conditioned to believe that they are a foe and not a friend, are difficult to read but so important. As the author says in her post script this is based on events that happened in her hometown of Oakland, although the characters are fictional, but this is also some thing that whole communities deal with in this world that they should not have to. This is a powerful and gorgeous read.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

So hard to believe the author was just 17 when she began writing this novel. The writing, the emotions of the story show a maturity beyond those years. It seemed, at first, that there was nothing uplifting in the life of the young protagonist: father dead, mother in custody, brother getting in with dubious crowd, 10 year old neighbor deserted by his mother, leaving her desperate to earn enough money to pay the escalating rent on the apartment. There are no good choices for her. Despite all of that, this bleak story is filled with glimmers of love that sustain her and show the strength of spirit that will hopefully help her through life. The novel was inspired by real life events in Oakland some years ago.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for the ARC to read and review.

I ended up DNFing this book because it didn't grip me. This has nothing to do with the book itself; the prose was lovely. I'm merely not the target audience.

Emotional. Timely. Racial Injustice. Broken Systems. Family. Heartbreaking.

This beautifully written book brings a timely, emotional story to its readers. I could not stop reading this one.

This story follows a young girl whose family has been torn apart one piece at a time. Her father to prison, and then to disease and death, her mother locked away, and now her brother has stopped helping support the two of them. The burden of paying rent and the bills falls to Kiara. It’s not easy for a 17-year-old to find and hold a job though, and time after time she is told no. When one night she is mistaken as a prostitute, and she accepts payment, she unknowingly steps into a life and scandal she can’t back away from.

This story was so emotional and upsetting, and it was an absolute must-read. The life Kiara is faced with isn’t one she asked for. As we follow her attempts to find jobs and to reach out for help, it so quickly becomes apparent how someone can end up on the street. The thing that was so frustrating for me was watching her go through this and not being able to help her.

When her prostitution job gets her caught by the police, and subsequently brought into sex ring with the police, ugh my heart hurt for her. It just felt like there was no way out.

So, this isn’t a heartwarming story that you’re going to feel elated at the close, but you will feel changed, and sometimes, I think that’s better.

Content Warnings:
Drug use, child neglect, prostitution, drowning, gun violence police abuse of power.

I was provided a gifted copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Wow! “Nightcrawling” by Leila Mottley is a brutal and breathtaking debut! It’s the story of a young woman, a girl really, who has to grow up too soon so that she can survive on the streets of Oakland, Left with few choices and no legitimate way to earn an income, Kiara does what she has to do to stay alive.

This novel is raw and real. It doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects, instead facing head on the topics of police corruption, sexual assault and exploitation, the failures of the criminal justice system, and white supremacy. The writing is absolutely outstanding. “Nightcrawling” is a heavy read, but it’s well worth the investment of time. This is a book that will stay in my mind for quite some time.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this fabulous book, in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. This was such a gut-wrenching story. Although Leila Mottley knows how to write an emotional story, the writing wasn't my favorite. However, it could have been because of how dark and depressing Kiara's story was. It was difficult to read at times, but I am so glad that I finished this book. Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing for a digital arc of this title.

DNF at 15%.

The editor's note at the beginning of Nightcrawling psyches the reader up for a fantastic debut by a stunning young author - and in many ways, this is true. Mottley's sheer talent at writing beautiful prose hits you from the very start, and it's clear that Mottley is an author to look for in the future.

However, I do think the editing team has let this particular story down. Every single sentence on the page is overflowing with meaning and insight, so much so that the reader hardly has enough time to digest one before the next begins. There is no time to sit with a meaningful turn of phrase when every sentence is packed with them. I understand the editor's reluctance to alter a work like this, but unfortunately the result is difficult to read and undermines the novel.

Any disappointment I have in this book I lay at the editor's feet. Mottley is already on the path to being a bestselling author; the raw talent shown in this book is proof of that. I'll be a reader of anything else Mottley chooses to write. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the one for me.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

Wow, what a book. What. A. Book. This novel, which focuses on the life of Kiara, a young, Black woman living in Oakland, CA and trying to get by without a support system, is an incredible read. The subject matter is dark and gritty, but the writing is stunning in its beauty and even poetic at times. I had visceral reactions the things described in the book and felt so many emotions as I followed along on Kiara's journey.

This book was inspired by true events, though the character of Kiara is entirely fictional. Kiara does what she has to do to get by, and you cannot help but feel so heartbroken for the things she goes through and the way she has to live. It's an important reminder that while Kiara is a fictional character, the things she experiences and the way she lives is reality for some people.

It is sickening to see how Kiara is treated and used, especially by people in power, people she should be able to rely on and trust. While there are glimmers of joy and hope sprinkled throughout, I feel that the author did an excellent job of portraying the way things realistically go for people in Kiara's position. It's a brutal but honest look at the struggles that many people face.

This book would've been impressive for a long-time author who has written many books and had lots of life experience, but I was absolutely floored to learn that this is not only a debut, but the author was a mere 17 years of age when she began writing this book. How she writes with such maturity, depth and beauty is astounding to me.

I will be recommending this book to everyone and I hope that it gets all the buzz and praise that it deserves. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing Group for the e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is like a punch in the gut, and I mean that in only the best way.

Finding out that Leila Mottley was only 17 years old when she wrote this book left me in awe of her extraordinary talents as a writer.

Nightcrawling is a raw, visceral story that will claw its way into your mind, into your heart, and into your very soul. The written is pure emotion poured out onto the page and following the ups and downs of Kiara's life as she struggles to survive, never giving up, determined that one way or another she is going to make it, will leave you feeling completely torn when you finish.

I highly recommend this book to all readers because it is one of those books that even though it might not be your usual genre, you will not forget this book and it will imprint on you and you will remember Kiara's character.

4.5 stars. Stunning. Raw and beautiful and depressing and hopeful all at once. Kiara is a complex, fascinating character, doing the absolute best that she can. Kiara is searching for love and family in a world that has completely abandoned her. This is a MUST read.

"Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent--which has more than doubled--and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed.

One night, what begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger turns into the job Kiara never imagined wanting but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. Her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland Police Department."

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Mottley has written an incredible novel showcasing the shameful failures this country perpetrates against the vulnerable, a true feat considering her age when she wrote it. I look forward to more of her writing in the future.