A teenage black girl in Oakland is struggling to pay the rent. Her mother is gone and her older brother is determined to make it in the music industry, which takes all of his time. Out of desperation, she turns to prostitution, but after she is picked up by the cops, she because one of the regular underage girls that they bring to their cop parties which was usually unpaid. Such a heartbreaking portrait of a desperate young woman who deserved so much more.

𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲?
* Yes, the author has been regarded as a stand-out at only 17-years-old for writing this book, however, I think her best work is yet to come. So much hype on this one.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿:
* In this novel, my favorite character is East Oakland. Mottley does a splendid job in describing the scenes—the abject poverty, the populated streets, the beautiful arts, the unique people, and the community—that make up the place. It is the character that holds more substance and development than any other to me.

𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: (spoiler)
* All “kinfolk ain’t kinfolk.” Uncle Ty is a horrible uncle to abandon two of his brother’s kids in such abject poverty and enjoy his lavish lifestyle when their mother goes to prison. His behavior, next to the corruption and exploitation of the Oakland PD, is despicable and deplorable for someone that you’d call family. His brother would definitely be disappointed in him. I know readers are.

𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀/𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀:
* Survival
* Adultification of Black girls
* Trauma & Recovery
* Sexual Exploitation & Violence

𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆?
* Yes, nightcrawling is in reference to one that works at night. Kia engages in sex work in the streets of Oakland.

𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘁/𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂?
* The storytelling is inundated with lyrical prose and beautiful language that there’s no room for plot and action until it’s too late. The action doesn’t occur until the middle/third of the novel and by then the reader is bored. Strong plot points and good character development are necessary.

𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱?
* All the subplots not connecting bothered me (e.g. Uncle Ty, Clara’s cold case). These plots meander in the novel, but don’t find a real resting place to me.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫💫 (3.75)

Groundbreaking writing from such a young author. I look forward to what else she is able to create. The characters were rich in their development with a powerful story line. This is one to remember.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Set in East Oakland, Kiara and her older brother Marcus are trying to survive after their mother is taken away. and their father died a few years before. Marcus drops out of high school to care for his sister who is 17, and she subsequently drops out also so she can work so they can afford rent. Marcus has huge dreams of becoming a rap star like his uncle while Kiara is more grounded and knows that without the rent, they will become homeless. Since she is 17 and has limited work experience, it is difficult for her to find a job. On top of that - the apartment complex has new owners and they are doubling the rent and her neighbor has abandoned her nine-year-old son and Kiara has decided to take care of him also.

Kiara turns to the streets to make some money after a mistaken encounter. One night, in an alley, she gets busted; however, the cop has something else in mind for her instead of jail. As the book proceeds, Kiara becomes the key witness in a scandal that is breaking open in the Oakland Police Department.

Nightcrawling is Mottley's debut novel and is well done. While Kiara is a fictional character, the authors notes tell that it is based on facts on a similar scandal.

I found this book by Laila Mottley very real, she has a way of bringing each character to life. Kiara and Marcas are brother and sister, their father has died, their mother in prison, now they have no way to support them selfs, Laila desperate to make enough money to pay the bills, ends up in prostitution, and then with the police involved, all because she loves her brother and wants to keep what little bit of family she has left together, this is a raw heart breaking story, I loved it. It took me awhile to get to this book, I had a real busy time for awhile, once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read more heart breaking books by this Author.
I received this book with the agreement that I would give my honest review, I loved it

After so much hype around this one I was nervous to start it, but it did not disappoint at all! Such an amazing read, with excellent prose, characters you fall in love with, and the most emotive plot! Adored!

Kiara and her brother are struggling to make rent. Kiara is desperately trying to find work while her brother attempts to kick start his rap career. Eventually Kiara is forced to turn to prostitution to keep their heads above water. However, it's not long before she is involved in a scandal involving the police force.
Nighcrawling by Leila Mottley is absolutely brutal. It is dark and gritty, and I could not put it down. I read the whole thing in one sitting because I needed to know what happened. It is a fantastic work of literary fiction.

Every bit as original and stunning as you've heard it is. I am so glad Leila Mottley is out there and writing about what she's writing about. Nightcrawling completely absorbed me, broke me, and stayed with me for a long time. I know I'll be going back to this one in a few years and falling in love all over again.

A heartbreaking, rage inducing, hypnotically written ripped from the headlines tale. This book will cut you open in the best and worst way. The author is extremely talented. Kiara felt so, so real and I connected to her instantly. All the relationships in this novel were real and touching. I live for the found family trope so Alé, Kiara and Trevor fit that to a T. I really, really liked Kiara taking Trevor under her wing. Alé and Kiara as a couple were so sweet and real, friends to lovers? Oh hell yeah! I really enjoyed the metaphor of water and being unable to breathe in this book and the heavy use of AAVE Language. The later really helped me connect to the story.

The pace was fast and the style of writing was spell binding and hypnotic, gripping onto you tight and takes you into a story that will change your life. Kiara is based on a real life story involving 17 OPD officers. I dislike cops one hundred times more than I did before I read this. A child brutalized and hunted by the very people society constantly says is supposed to "serve and protect" This is an amazing book that sheds light on the horrific abuse a child suffered in real life at the hands of police. I cannot wait for the author's next book.

"I'm starting to think there is no such thing as a good cop, that the uniform erases the person inside of it."

A Huge thanks to Netgalley and Knopf publishing for granting me a digital ARC.

Reading the author's note for this book is essential to fully understanding and appreciating what Leila Mottley has accomplished with this book. It was very different from what I was expecting - I thought that the story would be more focused on the scandal with the Oakland Police Department, but instead it was about Kiara's desperation and struggle to survive as a young Black woman in a community ravaged by poverty and injustice. While this didn't result in the most page-turning book plot-wise, it was highly consistent with the author's purpose and painted a fuller picture for the reader.

At times, the writing did feel to me like it was overly literary, or vague. That being said, Mottley is clearly a talented writer and what she has done here is impressive. Read with caution and care due to the topics addressed in this book.

Incredible book. It's hard to believe that this is a debut- let alone that the author was so young when she wrote it! I can see why it made the Booker longlist. The book captures the main character's life as she comes into her own on the streets of Oakland. I think this book is best read without knowing much- so dive in, and you won't be disappointed. Don't miss the authors note.

This was a piercingly difficult book to read. The subject matter was difficult, but amazingly realistic. I could feel the pain and suffering of the individuals pictured in the book. We live in a society where life is too difficult for far too many people. This book made me think about what can be done to rectify the situation.

I rate this 3 out of 5 stars.

Nightcrawling is about a high school black girl named Kiara. Kiara and her older brother Marcus are essentially left as orphans, as their father has passed away and their mother is incarcerated. Kiara is desperate to stay afloat in life, dropping out of school to try and find work to pay for her and her brother Marcus to live as he is trying to be an aspiring rapper. She eventually bites off more than she can chew by an accidental encounter with a man who ends up paying her for sex, more money than she’s ever received working any other job. She then finds herself in life as a prostitute and tries to navigate her young life as such.

This book started off very strong with compelling characters and an interesting plot. I do however feel that it should be considered a young adult book. I don’t feel that this book has a mature writing style, and it’s about a teenager going through young adult issues in a grown persons world. The story eventually became redundant and tended to linger on storylines that should’ve been moved forward faster. I didn’t regret reading it, but I just expected more. I also wanted some sort of relief for Kiara's character as a young black girl I wanted to see her win and rise above, but unfortunately that never came and it was a book of darkness and despair of everyone involved.

This book was so difficult to finish. Not because the writing wasn't beautiful (it was), or the plot wasn't fast-paced enough (it was), nor because the characters weren't believable. It was more that it was all too believable in the way most of us probably wish it wasn't. And that's where the trouble is, isn't it? We would all prefer to live our lives hoping that young women like Kiara don't exist in the circumstances in which she exists--in that space between bad and worse choices, and just on the outskirts of places where other people live charmed lives.

As I read I found myself fighting against the narrative, arguing internally that Kiara could have made different choices at various points, choices that didn't lead her to a life on the streets. And then time after time I had to concede that the "better" choice simply wasn't easily available to her, or available at all. Through Kiara's story, Mottley painted a vivid picture of how the intersection of race and gender can operate to make Black women and girls especially endangered as a group. The fact that women are often disbelieved in cases of sexual violence; that Black people are often doubted when they are victims of crime; necessarily means that Black women are especially vulnerable to being discounted and disbelieved when they are subjected to crimes of sexual violence. That conclusion should be obvious, but it is skillfully driven home in this novel. Add to that, the fact that Black girls are often adultified, and have projected onto them the same capacity to exercise agency (usually to make poor choices) that adult women have. With all those ingredients, Kiara's story isn't just believable, it's a wonder it doesn't happen more often. Or, maybe it does and we just don't want to see it.

And finally, I loved the subtlety with which Mottley exposed her secondary theme, which is how Black girls and women have been conditioned to nurture and shield Black men even when some of those same men show no inclination to nurture and protect us; how, even in our own community, we glamorize and deify Black manhood, while often leaving Black women neglected and open to attack--from racism, misogyny and the structures that perpetuate those ills.

Some of the reviews I read complained about the trauma being too explicit. I actually couldn't disagree more. I found that the descriptions of the more difficult aspects of Kiara's experience were very sparing and not at all graphic. When we were told what was being done to her, the author focused mostly on how Kiara experiences those things emotionally, rather than the details of what was done physically. She hones in on how Kiara perceives those violating her, rather than the minutiae of the violation itself. I think that was an incredibly mature creative choice for a writer as young as Mottley was when she wrote this novel. She leaves room for us to imagine, giving us just enough information so we know that even our imaginations cannot encompass the scope of Kiara's degradation. Which leads me to the language ...

I gotta say. I did not at all understand the people who felt the prose was overwrought or melodramatic. Maybe because I know this was written by a spoken word poet, I expected and appreciated her use of language which seemed to me to sometimes be as much about how the words sound in their rhythm and cadence as about what they mean. While some writers create mood and images by choosing words that are descriptive, poets, it seems to me also choose words based on how they sound and feel on the tongue. At points I felt that that was what this author was doing. Ultimately I thought, this book was about the inner life of someone whose external existence is well outside of what most of us can imagine. And that, for me is the reason I read: to understand.

My rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

This book was a bit different than I expected. Knowing this debut novel was written when she was a teen, I was hoping for more of a story and not so repetitive. How terrible for this young black girl to be used and pushed aside over and over. It is heartbreaking. Thank you #NetGalley#KnofpPlublishingGroup#Nightcrawling.. .

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley is a powerful, gritty, eye-opening, and gut-wrenching story that I think everyone should read. Kiara is a character who I’ll never forget, and will think of often. Nightcrawling is her story of survival, and a very important one at that. When her parents are no longer able to support her and her older brother, she turns to the streets to make ends meet. I’m not going to lie. I had to put this book down several times, and then talk myself into picking it back up again. Many scenes made me uncomfortable, and were very difficult to read. As you can only imagine, life for Kiara was not easy. It was absolutely terrifying. This debut is dark and heavy, but the writing is so superb that you just can’t give up on it. Kiara’s story is a must-read. If you’re a fan of Angie Thomas and her ability to tackle important subjects like racism, social injustice, and police misconduct, then Leila Mottley’s Nightcrawling is right up your alley. I give it 4.5/5 stars. Highly recommend!

I received a reviewer copy of Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley from the publisher Knopf Doubleday from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Kiara and her brother Marcus are barely scraping by. Their father has died and their mother is in jail and they are on their own. Marcus is chasing dreams of fame and leaving Kiara to take care of the money. Also in their apartment is Trevor, a young boy whose mother is an addict who cannot commit to him or take care of him. Kiara is forced to take to the streets and finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy.

What I Loved: It seems wrong to say I loved this book when it is a hard book that is devastating, but I did. Let's start with what everyone is saying, the writing is a debut by a 17 year old! The writing is gorgeous and each word is chosen with purpose. This book simultaneously makes me want to know what led our characters here and the trauma they have lived through and know what is going to happen next. This book is devastation after devastation and yet there is beauty. There is the story of a girl looking out for a young boy who is motherless. There is the story of a girl looking out for her brother who always looked out for her. This is the story of a mother who was once a mother and is now someone who seems to have lost that piece of her. The story of adults being selfish and children being put in a position to be the adult. A story of fighting for justice in a world that doesn't seem to believe in it. A love story that was charged despite not being the central focus. I just loved this one.

What I didn’t like so much: Really nothing, I got annoyed with characters who messed with Kiara but also it was mostly because I felt protective of her.

Who Should Read It: People who want a realistic complex story of growing up when you shouldn't have to. People who want to read incredible debuts.

Summary: A story of a girl who is forced to take care of others when the world continues to fail her.

"a work of devastating social realism but cut through with a strain of pulp fiction—or perhaps more accurately, it acknowledges the pulpish shape of so many modern American realities—and it's executed with relentless momentum, built of purely dramatic moments and steeped in emotions that are wrung from characters as if they were wet rags"

From my Library Journal review.

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

277 Pages
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Knopf
Release Date: June 7, 2022

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Multicultural Interest, Sex Worker, Rape

Kiara and her brother Marcus were just served a rent increase. Their apartment is shoddy, and the landlord isn’t interested in any repairs or improvements. They are barely getting by now and the increase is going to force them out on the streets. Kiara is also concerned about their young neighbor Trevor. He is ten years old, and his mother goes off and leaves him alone.

Kiara thinks the only way she can earn money is by using her body. One night she is with a guy in an alley and policemen catch her. They arrest the guy, but they take her into their own custody. The book has a steady pace, the characters are developed but broken. It is written in the third person point of view. Although the book is fiction, it is a difficult read because it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. The author uses a similar event that happened in 2015 for the basis of the book. She wants to bring attention to the millions of sex workers around the world. It is hard to believe she was only seventeen years old when she started writing this novel.

Kiara lives in Oakland. Perhaps more accurately, she survives in Oakland. Trying to hold her tiny family of one brother together after everyone else abandoned them through various means and ways, she is determined to make something of herself and get out of the poverty they’re in.

It’s told from her point of view as a young, Black woman in America and as I’m a middle aged white woman, it was a different perspective from my own. For me, this is one of the main reasons for reading - to experience other lives and ideas and countries, good and bad. It is a privilege to be able to sit and read about Kiara’s tough existence from the comfort of my own sofa/garden, and one which hopefully I can use to help tell more people about what is happening. While it’s not a ‘true story’, Nightcrawling is based on a number of news articles that Mottley picked up on in Oakland, piecing together the narrative while imagining what that woman felt like.

As the reader, we get to accompany Kiara as she moves from place to place, checking in on her close people like her friends, and the 10 year old boy next door whose mother is a junkie and unable to take care of herself most of the time, let alone Trevor.

There are moments of kindness and tenderness inbetween the violence and stark brutality - sharing food, playing basketball, reminiscing on what happened at school. This is well juxtaposed with the constant, gnawing fear of how to make rent, how to avoid the cops, who to talk to and who to avoid in the streets of Oakland.

Getting drawn further into the murky, dangerous world of Oakland’s seedy underbelly, Kiara risks losing everything while trying to salvage what she can. We are right there with her as she tries and tries to make her own life better, as well as those close to her. I might not agree with all she does but I understand why, and her inner voice is compelling and insightful.

The fact that Leila Mottley wrote this when she was in her late teens and is still only nineteen, is staggering. It’s poetic and beautiful with razor blades in the sentences. It’ll pull you one way before yanking you backwards as you root for Kiara to get what she needs to get on with her life. Added to that, this also made the 2022 Booker Prize longlist, which is seriously impressive.

It reminded me of the film by Sean Baker, Tangerine. It has a similar frantic energy although I found Kiara easier to sympathise with than the main characters in Tangerine. Definitely worth a watch if you like the book!

Thanks to Netgalley and to Bloomsbury/Knopf DoubleDay for the DRC. This book is out to buy now and i can definitely recommend it.