This book was really good. I enjoyed the structure of the story as well as the characters. The narrators did an amazing job and the story kept you guessing until the very end.

I really enjoyed listening to this on audio because it brought a lot to the story. I liked how this author brought about important themes to a teenage audience.

To date, this was one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to! It is full cast, which awesome because the book is written with multiple POV so it helps listeners keep the characters separate as the story intensifies. Considering this book is a mystery/thriller, I loved the production for this. I actually prefer the audiobook over the print version, but the print version has text details that pop out better on page. I recommend this audiobook to everyone I talk to about books!

I listened to this is a full cast audio. The audiobook is incredibly well done. However, the last hour was missing on my digital download. Thank goodness for TBBS as they helped fill in the last hour. I was a tad sad. None of the libraries around me, had Promise Boys on audio! This is a mystery about a prep school that has some very, strict rules. The idea is to teach boys to be “men”. However, this is not a happy go lucky school, which is obvious from first chapter when the principal is shot. The rest of the book is who did it and how. This was an entertaining read that feels real and feels very “now”. Any kid would be able to pick this up and go hey this isn’t my school, but I see things in this that are like my school. That’s why for me this is a book that is what I think you should read.

A fast paced, intricate dark academia story. I liked all of the main characters and the observations of how a school works is well researched. I liked how the author addresses important themes without being didactic. The full cast of narrators bring the book to life. I'm not sure if the audiobook file was corrupted but the audiobook ends 7 chapters before the book actually ends. I had to grab the print copy of the book to finish it.

This book reminded me a lot of an Angie Thomas book in all of the best ways. I love the weaving of a mystery/thriller with social commentary about the ways race plays a part in academics, family and friendships. Also can I just say that at pretty much any point in the book I switched who I thought was responsible for murder. I love books like that, I want to stay confused with the characters and find things out as they do.


I really wish these kinds of books were available to me when I was a teen in a small midwest town. The diverse perspectives told in an entertaining story would have hooked me and exposed me to so much I didn't have access to at the time.

Overall - awesome book and a great YA read overall.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the audioARC.

🎧🛁 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 🛁🎧
Promise Boys by Nick Brooks
Narrated by a full cast
“Death can feel far away, even when it happens right in front of you.”

Synopsis: Urban Promise Prep looks like a safe haven for boys, particularly boys of color, when it’s actually more of a prison. When the esteemed principal is murdered, the eyes turn to three brown boys, each with their own motives and agendas. Together, they must investigate the crime to clear their names before they become a statistic.

I listened to this book on audio and I was amazed at how great it was. A full cast audiobook is always one of my favorite things. Kudos to the cast for bringing this story to life.

The book centers around the idea of who is “king” in certain situations. This idea of black male dominance and the ever-looming pressure to be bigger, stronger, and better is a harmful rhetoric amongst the young boys in this story. I found the writing style to be very cool and simple, making it an easy listen or read, but also one that can be broken down and analyzed deeper, giving it complexity. The ending I found a tad predictable, but with the lesson the story was trying to teach, it made 100% sense.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and if you’re a fan of ACE OF SPADES, this one NEEDS to be on your shelf. I give Promise Boys an 8/10 bubble baths.✨🛁📚

I couldn’t put this one down. Actually, the audiobook version is a must read. The alternating points of view drew me into the story as I learned of the events that surrounded the murder of the principal. The suspense and mystery held my attention as my mind questioned everyone’s alibi. The story touches upon the contemporary issues of racism and ethnicity along with family and friendship. I was quite shocked at the end to find out the truth behind the murder.

When Urban Promise Prep was founded, it had the best of intentions of taking poor black boys from the local neighborhood and giving them a great education. But over the years things have changed. Now the school is more like a prison. There are rules for everything: no tardiness accepted, no fraternizing with other students especially in the cafeteria, when walking in the hallways you need to be in line, on the line, and hands are behind your back, music and cell phones are forbidden, no jokes, you must wear your uniform without any changes like colorful shoes or socks and anything can earn you demits. Get enough demerits and end up in detention. It is in detention that J.B. Ramon and Trey are when their principal is shot and killed in his office. When the cops start to investigate they quickly emerge as the prime suspects. Each of them had the means motive and maybe even the murder weapon. But with all three maintaining their innocence, they must team up and track down the real killer before they are arrested.

This was a fast-paced, entertaining read. The mystery aspect of this book was very well done. Brooks introduced our three main characters all with a motive to kill their principal plus added in a ton of additional secondary characters who had motives as well. At different times I suspected many different people, including the actual killer, but I wasn’t sure until the end. I have found that the more teen mysteries I read the harder it is for authors to surprise me so this was a treat.

While the thriller mystery part of this book was done very well, this book is more than that. It makes its own social commentary on the education system and the school-to-prison pipeline that many black boys are on. Since it has been compared to Hate U Give, I was expecting more of a focus on systemic racism but it looked more at the education system and the power dynamics that exist between students and teachers.

While so much worked in this book I think my favorite part was the way it was told. I enjoyed the text messages, interrogations, police interviews, and more that were inserted in between the different points of view.

The audiobook for this was fantastic! It was a full-cast reading which made the characters come alive. With all of the different writing formats and multiple points of view, I felt like I was listening to a true crime podcast.

The story progression, character development, and pacing were all spot on making this a great read. I will be recommending it to fans of Karen Mcmanus, Holly Jackson, Jason Reynolds, and Tiffany Jackson.

Loved this story overall and it was so perfect on audio. I would've enjoyed reading it either way but audio kept me engaged to the point I never wanted it to end!

Great mystery for boys which falls along the lines of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson. It is told in alternating voices and you are left wondering who the guilty person is up until the end. There are so many people who could possibly committed the murder that you are never really sure until they reveal the killer at the end of the story. I enjoyed the development of the characters and the way they interacted with each other. I felt it was a well done mystery.

Murder mystery in an urban high school where your average student hated the principal. I even hated the principal.

It kept me guessing. My audiobook was stopped with about 40 pages to go. Thankfully, I was able to check it out from Cloud Library and finish it.

Nick Brooks' novel is outstanding. It follows the path of three boys at a charter school in Washington, DC immediately following the murder of their school principal. The boys each know that they're not guilty, but they suspect each other and they worry that they're going to take the fall for a crime they didn't commit. Can they work together to solve the mystery and bring down the culprit? A great choice for anyone who enjoyed Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé or Karen McManus murder mysteries. This book would be an excellent addition to any classroom library and would lead to fascinating and complex class discussions.

The principal of Urban Promise Prep is murdered at school and three students are suspects. Each of their perspectives reveal possible motives but the boys need to find the killer to prove their innocence.

- YA mystery thriller on institutionalized racism in the education system
- multiple POVS, countdown timeline
- audiobook read with a full cast, so immersive

The multiple perspectives and the storytelling structure help examine how a school created as a solution has only furthered the problem. It really challenges how to search beyond face value and understand the context of situations. This was thoughtfully crafted, engaging in issues and themes for the Young Adult audience to digest

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The book follows various points of view as a group of young men attempt to solve a murder and find out who is trying to frame them. The book also moves in time, before and after the event. While the style of writing may not be for everyone, it worked for me. I thought that the mystery was good and it was resolved at a good speed.

In our middle school library, mysteries from McManus or Jackson are popular. Especially with the girls. This is a great mystery that inserts stereotypes and racism and will appeal to the boys too! I enjoyed the male narrators too.

I moved this up the tbr after I saw my friends’ high ratings and reviews. I’m so glad I did. It was a winner.

I think my problem with YA is that I don’t relate to a lot of it anymore. That hasn’t changed here. While I don’t relate, I do empathize. That makes things entirely different.

Promise is a private school for the underprivileged. When the principal is murdered, fingers go wagging. At the students.

This book sheds light on classicism, and the idea of nurture v. nature. I won’t get into socioeconomics, but I think it’s an important read. I enjoyed every minute.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

The Urban Promise Prep School is an all-boys school focused on principles that, through strict rules and discipline, will, according to its principal and founder Kenneth Moore, turn boys into men on their path to college. This path takes a large and life altering detour for three students–Trey, Ramon and J.B.–when Principal Moore is found murdered at the school and all three of the boys appear to be viable suspects. They all maintain their innocence, yet no one seems to believe them. Leaving the trio with no other choice, they must come together to find the real murderer, even if it is one of them.

This novel is an absolute force. One of my favorite things about this novel, other than the actual story itself, is the style used by Brooks. Combining texts, emails and articles with the multiple points of view was a great way to tell the story. It was very effective at showing how much power perspectives and perceptions, good and bad, can contain. I also really liked how Promise Boys started off in the middle, grabbing me immediately, and then jumped to the beginning, building up to the murder and showing how the characters got to where they did as suspects. I really enjoyed the characters, specifically the three boys; they are unique individuals with their own talents and stories of obstacles and perseverance. Promise Boys also contained, in my opinion, a sad but honest commentary about the state of education in America and the roles it has taken on in some places, as well as what has been lost.

I absolutely loved the audiobook. The use of different narrators for the different narrators/voices in the story made it such an engrossing audiobook. I also liked the slight background sounds used at different points. I just wish I had been provided the entire audiobook; it only contained a part of the entire novel and I am grateful I had an electronic copy as well so I could finish the story.

Promise Boys is Pretty Little Liars, but better. This story is a dark who done it set to very current issues and situations that many young people, especially people of color deal with on a daily basis. From racism to false allegations and even automatic wrong doing assumptions, it is all there.

I give the story itself a full 5 out of 5, and the audio book I give a 10 out of 5. The production put into it was outstanding, and the full cast knocked it out of the park.

The only part I didn't like was that I didn't know it was going to be a series. That cliffhanger!!! Oh my goodness! Read it. You won't be disappointed.

This book had quite a lot going on and I had truly high hopes for it, but it fell a little flat for me. It seemed almost too predictable, and I was not really invested. The narrators were truly amazing and having the full cast was awesome.