Wow, this was such a great read! I liked all of the main characters and found myself rooting for them! Although it's not super difficult to figure out who the killer was it still kept me intrigued and interested. The writing was phenomenal and I look forward to more from this wonderful author!

Actual rating 4.5 stars.
 
Pitched as Karen McManus meets Angie Thomas meets Jason Reynolds, Promise Boys is a story about three teens of color whose lives suddenly turn upside down when they’re all suspects in the murder of the school’s principal. It shows the threat teens of color, especially boys, feel daily. Because they’re always at fault. Always. Even if they aren’t. Especially when they snap.
 
JB, the smart one who desperately wants to go to college, suddenly snaps and spits Mr. Moore in the face. Trey, the basketball star who’s hard on the outside and soft on the inside, suddenly snaps and tells Mr. Moore he’ll kill him. And Rámon, the cook who sells his abuelita’s pupusas, suddenly snaps when Mr. Moore throws his pupusas into the trash.
 
Did one of these boys kill Mr. Moore, or is there another culprit?
 
When an author gets compared to great authors like the ones I mentioned above, I’m always a bit skeptical. Because it’s so difficult to write a story as good as those authors do. And still, Nick Brooks managed to deliver one. Promise Boys is actual and immediate, and incredibly powerful. I started reading this story on a Sunday evening, and I read a quarter of the book without even noticing. Nick pulled me in, and I couldn’t let go. Build up from interviews, newspaper articles, multiple voices from side characters, and those of the three boys, Promise Boys is a must-read. It’s one of those stories that makes you think of how the system repeats itself. Time and again.

I have nothing more to tell. Just read it!

Loved It!

This book drew me in from the very first page. I was so invested in solving the mystery. I was kept guessing throughout the whole story. The Promise Boys, J.B., Ramón, and Trey, were all so lovable. I was rooting for them to be exonerated and to live happily ever after. I especially enjoyed the social commentary on the struggles of Black men in this country. This was such a well-written and creative murder mystery. The ending gave me everything that I wanted. I would highly recommend this dynamic YA novel. Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan, and Nick Brooks for this advanced copy to review. #PromiseBoys #NetGalley.

Synopsis: The Urban Promise Prep School vows to turn boys into men. As students, J.B., Ramón, and Trey are forced to follow the prestigious "program's" strict rules. Extreme discipline, they’ve been told, is what it takes to be college bound, to avoid the fates of many men in their neighborhoods. This, the Principal Moore Method, supposedly saves lives.

But when Moore ends up murdered and the cops come sniffing around, the trio emerges as the case's prime suspects. With all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. But is the true culprit hiding among them?

This exquisitely taut thriller shines a glaring light on how the system too often condemns Black and Latinx teen boys to failure before they’ve even had a chance at success.

This is EXTRAORDINARY WORK and it earns more than five stars! Maybe it’s early to declare the best books of 2023 because I probably read about 50 arcs that be released on 2023. But honestly when you see a glowing gem, you can appreciate its uniqueness! This book is different and special! So I can proudly say it will be one of the HITS and the best works of next year! I hope my words may put this great work on your radar and I advise not to add your tbr, just read it, don’t let this beauty be forgotten in your list!


Let’s take a quick look to the plot which hooks you up from the first chapter!

A gun shot terrorizes the students of Urban Promise Prep during the basketball game. The principal and founder of the school: Kenneth Moore is found shot to death at his office by his coworker and DC officers focus on the investigation to find the killer of the principal: who was beloved member of the community.

He started the school as a dream project to create a place for the young brains who are struggled at the regular schools. The teenagers nobody wants to teach and understand can have a brighter future ahead of them by attending to Promise Prep.

This place is their second chance to get approval from the colleges they dream of going.
But this dreamy place that can give opportunities to the children who were forgotten slowly turns into the biggest nightmare of their lives. The rules of the school are extremely rigid! You have to wear stuffy uniforms. No tardiness accepted. You cannot fraternize with the other students. Music and cell phones are forbidden. You cannot make jokes. You cannot raise your voice and you cannot even wear colorful socks or shoes. It seems like Mr. Morgan just created his own kind of prison and he became of the despotic king of this place!

There are three suspects of this murder case. All of them are Urban Promise Prep students and as you can guess: two boys are black and third not is Latin American. The principal sent three of them to the detention at the same day. But during the shooting none of them was at the detention and they have motives to get rid of him.

JB Williamson, tall, intimidating, mostly quiet but suffering with anger management issues ( that’s what the others say) had a fight with principal in front of the students and he punched the wall, threatened to the principal! Always the quiet ones get involved in crimes like this, don’t they? After the shooting, his new girlfriend whose ditched by him sees JB’s shirt covered in blood. He keeps telling that wasn’t his fault! Does he tell the truth?

Trey Jackson, star basketball player, moved from NY after her addicted mother couldn’t be able to take care of him, living with his extra disciplined , ex-serviceman and alcoholic uncle. He might have accidentally brought his uncle’s gun to the school. But it was a stupid misunderstanding. On the other hand, he was suspended to play at the important basketball game. This means he also loses an important shot to go to college. The recruiters were invited to watch him at the game. Even his uncle brought a friend his own to show his nephew’s skills. This is all Mr. Moore’s fault! Here’s his motive!

And Ramon Zambrano, sells his grandmother’s pupusas even though he’s been warned many times before. Mr. Morgan put his cousin to the jail by warning the authorities. And humiliating Ramon in front of his friends, taking the pupusa money and throwing everything his grandmother cooked for hours into trash, sending him detention were the last straws. Somebody has to stop that man!

Did one of them kill the principal or are they the victims of the trashy and biased system that convict the people according to their color!

Those three boys didn’t know each other because the school rules were too strict for the fraternization. But now they will be reluctant allies to find the real perpetrator who took the principal’s life to acquit from the crime that may ruin their entire lives! The clock is ticking and before someone convict one of them, they have to act fast not yo be a scapegoat!

I devoured it in one sitting! It’s so exhilarating, inspirational, moving, powerful! One of the best things I’ve read!

So many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group/ Henry Holt and Co. for sharing this FANTASTIC arc copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Three boys all sent to an inner city private school, "The Promise Academy" suddenly find themselves suspects in the murder of the school's no nonsense principle. Each one was in detention that afternoon, but each one also had a reason to leave the room at some point. All of these boys are living in tough home situations and the police have already decided that one of them is the murderer. The boys and their friends set out to prove that it couldn't have been one of them, even though they initially suspect each other as they do not "hang together" either in or out of school. Building trust, working together and "following the money" allow them to work out who is the murderer and the motive too. Readers get a distinct impression of each boy; their home life, their school life and their street life too. The characters speak true to their situations which makes readers empathetic to their realities. Readers won't want the story to end, but Brooks does provide some "after the conclusion" info about each boy's life path following their time at the Promise Academy. Would like to see more about this group of kids and their friends in the future.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC of #promiseboys, I got to read Promise Boys by Nick Brooks and I am SO glad I did. Equal parts Karen McManus and Angie Thomas, Brooks tells a compelling story about boys in a rigid charter school, trying to solve the murder of their principal before the blame falls on them. The story pulled me in and the social context had me thinking. Neither the importance of the story nor the mystery were underserved; it was a taut, well-written book perfect for today's world.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book. I was really excited to read this book because I work in the library of an all boys school and It's a book that I will likely put on a book order list since I think there will be students that will enjoy it. Personally, I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first half. The first half went very slowly for me, and I wish there would have been more of a relationship between the students of Promise Prep, especially the boys who end up being suspects in the murder of the Principal.

This was a wonderful mystery! I really enjoyed the topics discussed and felt that this really does bring something new the the genre.

It's a very solid mystery that tackles social issues at the same time. For me, maybe the end wraps up just a little too neatly, but I really enjoyed the different perspectives. Not only are the main characters given their POVs but their friends, family, and the people involved in the schools are as well, which really makes it pop. And honestly, I don't know that there are that many mysteries with male POCs as the lead, so all the more power to this.

Unfortunately this one just wasn't for me. I'm a big fan of character-driven thrillers, and I just didn't feel like I had a clear sense of our three MCs and their respective stories. However, I'd still recommend this debut to folks who are interested in reading fast paced YA thrillers!