Saint Death by Marcus Sedgwick

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 272

Publisher: Orion Children's Books 

Released: 6th of October 2016 

Anapra is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the Mexican city of Juarez - twenty metres outside town lies a fence, and beyond it, America - the dangerous goal of many a migrant. Faustino is one such trying to escape from the gang he's been working for. He's dipped into a pile of dollars he was supposed to be hiding and now he's on the run. He and his friend, Arturo, have only 36 hours to replace the missing money, or they're as good as dead.

Watching over them is Saint Death. Saint Death (or Santissima Muerte) - she of pure bone and charcoal-black eye, she of absolute loyalty and neutral morality, holy patron to rich and poor, to prostitute and narco-lord, criminal and police-chief. A folk saint, a rebel angel, a sinister guardian. 

What I Have to Say 

This wasn't a book for me. Sedgwick lately has been getting very arty in his books, which in this book,  I didn't find too bad. It's the grimness in this book that I think put me off. I'm not that interested in drugs and gangs anyway, but there was just no optimism in this book. Even before Arturo turned up and the plot started there was no hope there at all. 

Once the plot started it got a little better, because there was something happening other than people being miserable, but there was just something that held me back and stopped me from getting into it fully. 

This just really wasn't the book for me, but it could really easily be a great book for someone else. 

Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 448

Publisher: Hodder Children's Books 

Released: 2nd of June 2016 

Sixteen-year-old Marlon has promised his widowed mum that he'll be good, and nothing like his gang-leader brother Andre. It's easy when you keep yourself to yourself, listening to your dead dad's Earth, Wind and Fire albums and watching sci-fi. But everything changes when Marlon's first date with the beautiful Sonya ends in tragedy; he becomes a hunted man and he has no idea why. With his dad dead and his brother helpless, Marlon has little choice but to enter Andre's old world of guns, knives and drug runs in order to uncover the truth and protect those close to him. It's time to fight to be the last man standing. 

What I Have to Say 

This was an intense ride through a world of gangs, knives and drugs. For me, it highlighted the difference that black teenagers face, especially boys with older brothers who were gang leaders, because for me, as a white reader, the solution was obvious. I thought that Marlon should go to the police, tell them everything and let them sort it out. But the book led me to understand the fear that was going through Marlon's head. He didn't believe the police were on his side (and the statistics that  I've seen do suggest that he'd be right). It was definitely and eye opening book. 

It took a while for me to get into it. Books about gangs and drugs aren't my usual go to read, but I fell into it easier that I thought I would. I liked the pace of it and the dilemmas that Marlon went to. I found it interesting that he was being dragged into a world that he didn't want to be part of. 

If you like thrillers and enjoy exploring what it means to be part of another culture, the read this book. 

.My thanks goes to Hodder Children's Books and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review.