Promise Boys

Nick Brooks

Age 12 +
02 February 2023
9781035003150
304 pages

Synopsis

Nick Brooks's Promise Boys is a trailblazing, blockbuster YA mystery about three teen boys of colour who must investigate their principal’s murder to clear their own names. For fans of Angie Thomas, Jason Reynolds, and Karen McManus.

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 gripping 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.

'Thrilling . . . Promise Boys will stay with you long after the last page' – Karen M. McManus, author of One of Us Is Lying

Thrilling, captivating, and blade-sharp. Promise Boys will stay with you long after the last page.
The path to manhood has never felt more ominous than it does in Promise Boys. I was at the edge of my seat trying to figure out if I was reading a story about boys becoming men or boys becoming killers—you will be too. A brilliant pulls-no-punches mystery with bruised hearts at its core.
There's nothing like a book that manages to flawlessly thread subtle social commentary through a propulsive plot carried by complex characters. Promise Boys does that ten times over, and I can't wait to see this expertly crafted mystery take the world over... while teaching us a thing or two about what it means to be a boy of color in 21st century America.

Books by Nick Brooks