The Weight of Blood

 

Author: Tiffany D. Jackson

Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s

Year: 2022

🩸 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐲!🩸

A true crime podcast investigates a deadly high school prom night and attempts to discover if one girl was responsible for the destruction. 

Maddy Washington has always been the outcast odd girl at school who got teased and bullied. When Maddy’s closely guarded secret that she is biracial is revealed, the bullying ramps. Maddy learns to fight back with terrifying consequences. 

The Weight of Blood is author Tiffany D. Jackson’s homage to Stephen King’s Carrie. She dishes up a creepy horror story of revenge and uses it to examine racism and identity. I liked how Jackson constructed the story around a podcast. I thought it was a cleaver way to introduce background elements and characters and it kept the plot moving quickly. The characters are so well written. I loved Kenny, the school’s popular Black star quarterback and Maddy’s prom date. It was interesting to see his growth from popular jock who just smiles and overlooks his white friends’ casual racism to realizing he can’t just ignore it anymore- especially when Maddy is the target. 

Jackson’s take on Carrie does the original proud especially since the true horror here is not the bloodshed, but society’s deeply ingrained and unacknowledged  racism. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley  and Harper Collins Children’s for the digital review copy. The Weight of Blood hits shelves today. 

QOTD: what’s the last horror book you read? 

 I think bookstagram is turning me into a horror reader. I avoided it for the longest time but now I seem to be on a streak. I finished the new Stephen King last night (fabulous!) and I started Hidden Pictures over the weekend. 

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