Promise boys by Nick Brooks

Urban Promise Prep is a school based on the vision of its founder and principal, Kenneth Moore, to create a place that lifts youth out of the ghettos and gangs, and instils discipline and hard work. It sounds great, and is the reason that many poor black families struggle to send their child there, but the reality turns out to be an authoritarian regimental approach that seems more likely to break the spirit and instil fear. So when Moore is shot in his office one day, suspicion turns to three young ‘troublemakers’ who were supposed to be in detention: J.B., Ramon, and Trey.

The themes of racism, profiling, police intimidation, ghettos and violence will be familiar to readers of Angie Thomas (The hate u give, On the come up) or Tiffany D Jackson (Grown), but the thing that makes Brooks’ novel so compelling is the unique structure which begins with short chapters by minor characters telling what they know or have heard, and the rumours and conjectures that are going the rounds, before we even get to meet the main characters. Then we have the three boys’ versions of the day, interspersed with other snippets including text messages, news articles and police reports. It all combines to cleverly bring to life the warped environment of social media, where speculation, gossip and prejudgment run rife.

Gradually the three boys begin to realise that there could be other possible suspects, and if they want to prove their innocence, they each have to follow their own leads and share what they know. So we are given more possible murderers and motives to untangle – which makes for an intriguing puzzle right until the end.

Promise boys is a murder mystery, detective type novel, with a thread of romance thrown in. The chapters are short and attention grabbing and keep you flying through the pages. The underlying themes are serious, revealing the barriers that Black and Latino youth face, and how difficult it is to overcome racism. But the messages are positive, with honesty, friendship and strong family ties being the qualities that get people through.

An interesting question we are left with afterwards is to consider what would truly make an empowering school, one that would build confidence as well as achievement. A foreword to the book is a quote from John Talyor Gatto’s Why schools don’t educate: ‘The truth is that schools don’t really teach anything except how to obey orders’. Clearly Moore’s Urban Promise school becomes more like a prison, based on the continual threat of further punishment. The model that is suggested at the end has student government, mental health advisors, full ESL staff, and a sensory or chill-out room. It also advocates for continual research on what works better. The school motto becomes one that has more emphasis on self-empowerment and collaboration:

We ask from the world what we give to the world:
respect, wisdom and grace.
We are each other’s hope.

Themes: Murder, Racism, Black Americans, Profiling, Schools, Surveillance, Social media, Gangs, Poverty.

Helen Eddy