This dark, intense, and heartbreaking story of survival will have you rooting for Kiara, who has been abandoned by her family and is struggling on her own. Despite the many injustices and hardships that Kiara must battle, this kind-hearted girl always finds a way to keep going and maintain hope.

At age 17, Leila Mottley began writing Nightcrawling to demonstrate what it meant to be vulnerable, unprotected, and unseen. Well, she nailed it! This debut novel is heavy, but I consider it a must read. Not only is it beautifully written, but it also covers the plight of those battling poverty in such a compelling way.

I was shocked to find the author started writing this when she was 17. Her writing is rhythmic and propulsive. This gave me a window into a life that is very unlike mine. I found myself empathizing with each of the characters even when making horrible decisions- decisions of survival. Please review trigger warnings, if needed.

It’s 1 am and I just finished binging this book.

One hell of a dark story. My heart broke with every chapter and with the majority of the prose. This book was definitely much darker of a read than I was preparing for and I should’ve considered looking into this prior. Not a cheery, Christmas-time novel… that’s for sure.

It was still quite a gut-wrenching story that was worth the read/listen. As much as you hope for things to get better and for the best outcome possible, the terrible truth of reality sets in and proves you otherwise. A sad yet extreme view of the cruelties that women of color undergo with a long, hard look at the depths of police brutality. A tale of how far desperation will push people while interplaying dependence vs independence. A tumultuous story with a bittersweet ending. Beautiful diction with such a strong voice and message. Truly a heartbreakingly poetic piece at times. I should note that the author started writing this book at SEVENTEEN - what amazing talent.

And to be honest, this book has scared me more than any thriller/horror I’ve read to date. I haven’t read many but this book haunted me to my core and shattered me because of its realism. Having no faith in humanity is terrifying in this context.

With her family facing eviction, 17-year-old Kiara is desperate to make money. That desperation leads her down a dark path into a job she never wanted but sees as the only way to keep the people she cares about afloat. Nightcrawling is about making decision when there really is no decision to make and how to come back from it.

This started out really strong. As difficult a read as it was, It was a gut churning page turner for the first half or so. The characters felt real and their stories were compelling. I think it has the same problem as a lot of books and movies do these days--it just didn't stick the landing. It starts to loose momentum towards the end and didn't finish as strong as I would have liked. I don't know if this is a length issue because it's not longer than most books, but the first half was so tight and the very end was good, but the connective tissue felt a little insubstantial.

Leila Mottley is clearly a gifted writer and I look forward to seeing what does does next.

NIGHTCRAWLING is an important read. I already knew about diff cases where police abuse sex workers so I knew this book would be challenging.

The author, @leilamottley, does a phenom job of addressing the carceral state, the criminalization of sex work, the criminalization of poverty, the policing of black bodies, how black girls are made into adults. There were moments I felt utter fear and foreboding about what was going to happen. But still, there is real humanity and moments of love and friendship that also come thru.

#Nightcrawling is so good. But def not for a light read. I also love books written about cities in intimate ways, people from these places. I haven’t been to Oakland yet but I still felt like I could imagine it from the authors beautiful writing.

The book also highlights the importance of abolition work bc systems produce the results they’re meant to. In this case, the carceral state and criminal (in)justice system isn’t broken. It’s meant to perpetuate white supremacy, classism, misogyny, etc. and it does a hell of a good job of doing so.

Nightcrawler by Leila Mottley isn't an easy read, but it's a stirring debut. It's hard to read of young people having to struggle so much, but these are the stories that need to be told.

Many thanks to the author, publish, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

This was a difficult story to read. At times I felt I could not bear anymore but then I was sucked back into Kiara's story....I personally think it would have been better for me to have read this at a different time, not the weeks leading up to Christmas. Maybe I would have had a better focus.

Not all books are happy & I do gravitate towards some very dark stories, but this just beat me down.

While this book was raw and difficult to read, it was also a very necessary and eye opening piece of fiction. This book is based in fiction, but there are so many women who lead similar lives to our protagonist, and it, unfortunately, is not fiction in their cases.

This book may be difficult for some to read, as the situations that Kiara finds herself in (sometimes puts herself in) are not understandable to the average person. But that is Kiara's life. She is looking for answers to something that most people don't understand as a problem. The police can't help her, and so she has to rely on herself to find the answers, even if that means putting herself into situations that she shouldn't, and doing things that she, herself, doesn't feel comfortable with.

This book not only shines a light on what some women have to do to make ends meet, it makes us face our own judgmental thoughts for those women, and maybe, just maybe, find acceptance despite the differences that we see. This book is a must read, although it might be difficult for some to digest.

This is an incredibly strong debut from such a young writer. The prose moves quickly and intensely, which builds the sense of danger and foreboding that this protaganist must carry. That being said, the prose can also feel un-edited at times, and overly done. I am excited to read more from Mottley in the future.

Kiara is a 17 year old. She lives with her brother, Marcus. They are barely scraping by in an East Oakland apartment, on the verge of eviction. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. While Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent 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.

Wow. Check the triggers for this one. This book is shocking. It's so raw, so jarring. This is written in the perspective of a 17 year old and it really feels like that. It's written so beautiful even with such heavy subjects. I am baffled that this is a debut. It's tough to rate a book with such a devastating story. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the gifted e-book! ❤️

When 17-year-old Kiara and her brother are threatened with eviction, she makes it her mission to do everything she can to keep a roof over their heads. When a drunken misunderstanding leads to Kiara becoming a sex worker, she is thrust into a massive scandal within the Oakland Police Department.

WOW. I know this has been written so many time before - but Leila Mottley writing this at 17 is mind blowing. Her beautiful, lyrical prose portrays the wisdom of someone decades into their career -- her characters, truly beautiful creations of her craft. It was impossible not to feel so deeply for these people you only know on the page.

Nightcrawling is brutal and violent and Mottley does exactly what she set out to do in her author's note -- writing a story that gives us the lives of people involved in this awful, corrupt scandal beyond the headlines. I was particularly struck by the end of the novel where Kiara reminds the reader she is just a child. Too often we forget the lives of people who so often become a rallying cry.

Mottley's promise is so bright, I can't wait to see what she releases next.

It’s difficult to say you enjoyed a book filled with so much anguish and disappointment, but I quite enjoyed Nightcrawling. It was full of stops and starts for me; it’s too painful to read at once, and too urgent to put down permanently. Don’t let that stop you.

Kiara is real and raw, relatable in her desperation, idyllic in her ability to know joy despite so much violence. This book is about the exploitation of Black girls, the corruption rampant in our police, and the resilience required to stay alive when the world has a hit on you. I was endeared by the lack of judgment on each page, and Kiara’s relationships - with her brother, her mother, Alé, Trevor, and Marsha - all offer a glimpse into how quickly children are forced to grow up when they’ve been abandoned by the system, by their families. She’s adopted by the streets, which both destroys her and supports her. It’s a grueling contradiction, though beautifully depicted.

Nightcrawling is worthy of all the praise, of your time and reflection. The writing is troubled, and can be a challenge to wade through, but its poetry and lyricism will have you devastated in the final pages. I wanted more, but I was grateful it was over. I imagine I will be reaching for anything with Leila Mottley’s name on it in the future.

🏳️‍🌈

Nightcrawling is a raw, beautiful debut that highlights the vulnerabilities that young women face, especially women of color, who are often tasked with taking care of themselves and others in difficult circumstances. The story takes place in Oakland and follows Kiara as she navigates her life as a seventeen year old, trying to persuade her older brother Marcus to get a job that helps cover their rent so that they don’t face eviction. With the mounting pressure of finding ways to survive, Kiara stumbles into an impossible situation that will turn her world upside down.

Reading Nightcrawling left me with this overwhelming sense of discomfort and frustration. This was a difficult story to read, but was also so beautifully written that I couldn’t put it down. Mottley does an incredible job of portraying Kiara’s story and showing how young women may not have full autonomy over the decisions or actions they take. It was often difficult reading parts that conveyed the flagrant disregard for women’s bodies and how the systems setup as a veil for protection, are often the ones that do the most damage.

This was a truly heart breaking story and I appreciated how Mottley noted at the end that the idea for this book came from a real story that she read about. While a work of fiction, it’s not difficult to see how poignant and all too real this story may be for some. This was an impressive debut for a young writer and I can’t recommend this enough. Go read Nightcrawling today if you haven’t already!

Mottley's debut novel is a fictionalized version of the OPD scandal. While the content of this book is quite jarring, Mottley delivers a beautiful story. I found Mottley's prose poetic, which is something I have come to appreciate more as a reader. With subject matter at hand, Mottley layers in a well developed cast of characters that feel authentic. It’s impossible not to care deeply for Kiera as she navigates through her life choices.
Due to the lengthy amount of trigger warnings, I can understand if people DNF/pass on this book, Nightcrawling definitely packs a punch. For me, I was blown away and I will be following Mottley closely as her career grows!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary digital copy of Nightcrawling!

This is quite an impressive debut based on the Oakland police sexual abuse/exploitation scandal. While the story didn’t always hold my attention and had too much purple prose for my liking, I was struck by how raw and powerful the story was. This is by no means an easy read, so take heed of the content warnings before diving into it.

CWs: pedophilia, sexual assault, sexual violence, police brutality, trafficking, rape, child abandonment, death, suicide attempt

Really stunning story from the mind of a 17 year old. The writing is beautiful and poetic, especially knowing that it’s based on a true story. And the reality of Black teenagers in Oakland. Stunning portrait of a family and a city.

Kiara’s life was turned upside down when her father died and her mother went off the rails. Kiara’s brother Marcus promised to take care of her,but he’s been so focused on trying to become a rapper he is consistently failing her. With their rent being raised, and no money coming in Kiara becomes extremely desperate looking for a job. When all Kiara’s job searches turn up as dead ends, she turns to the oldest profession in the world prostitution. Kiara only 17 is scared, but knows if she doesn’t do this her and Marcus will be on the street. A chance encounter with a john leads her to a group of police officers, but they aren’t interested in protecting and serving. As Kiara gets in deeper things blow up and suddenly her world is crashing down around her.. Will Marcus get it together and help Kiara or will she be forced to continue to stand on her own and take her power back.

I really enjoyed this book. Finding out it was loosely based on a true story was compelling and had me looking up the real story. I was very impressed with Leila Mottley’s writing for someone so young, I will say knowing Leila was the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate I could see the poetry in her writing, that may be off putting to some, but I found the story compelling enough to get passed that. Great debut for Leila.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

Not my favourite book. It was too twisty and turns without much relevance to my population. I had high hopes for this one, though.

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley is such a profoundly raw and authentic story following the story of "Ki" (and those around her) as she fights to survive in such an unforgiving world that's so well based on reality. The story feels authentic in a way where the reader is on this rollercoaster of emotions with Ki as she tries to navigate survival. The author did a great job of wearing the stories of other characters along the way, so the reader wants to feel frustrated with them, happy when they're happy, feel loved or in need of it as they do, etc., and it was so well written that I couldn't dislike any character because the author did a great job of explaining how each of these people were doing what they knew to do to survive, to live, to want more and better. I could see family and friends in this story. I would recommend this book to anyone.

First of all.. I can’t believe the author? Who wrote this? Is NINETEEN??? This was an intensely heavy book, made even heavier by the fact that it’s based on true events.

Kiara (17) lives in Oakland with her older brother Marcus, and they are struggling to stay afloat financially. Marcus has been on an unsuccessful journey to become a rapper, refuses to get a job, and Kiara also is struggling to find work being so young with no prior work experience. One night after an alcohol-fueled misunderstanding, Kiara ends up “nightcrawling”, something she never imagined doing but ends up continuing when she feels like there are no other options. Just when you think this girl has had enough trauma, she finds herself in the middle of a massive scandal with the Oakland PD.

This is one heck of a debut novel. I feel weird saying I enjoyed this book because again, it was very very dark, and at times it was hard to read. While this is a work of fiction, this is based on a true 2015 scandal in Oakland where several police officers were charged with sexually exploiting a minor. This book tells Kiara’s fictional story but very much reflects the real violence that sex workers, especially black and brown sex workers, face. I’m blown away by how powerful this book was and I can’t wait to see what Leila Mottley does next!