Mystery/Thriller -- 4 stars
Noah has been battling cancer since childhood. Abdi is the youngest in a Somali refugee family. They have been inseparable friends since elementary school, the two odd kids who befriended each other. One night, when the now preteen boys were supposed to be sharing a rare sleepover, an unconscious Noah is fished out of the local canal. Abdi refuses to talk--to anyone. When police begin investigating the incident, they receive conflicting reports on the boys' relationship. There is a witness, but her story doesn't seem to add up either. With neither boy talking, finding out the truth of what happened is not going to be easy. ----- The main characters are interesting for their differences, not for their in-depth development. Each one is given just enough background to serve the story's purpose. Noah, who does much of the narrating, is the most fully realized because we are privy to his thoughts inside his coma. The story moves quickly with flashbacks of that night alternating with chapters of how their families are coping with the crisis. While obviously a mystery, the more important story is the prejudice, whether acknowledged or not, that exists between these two families who are forced to decide how far they will go to protect the people they love.
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