May 4, 2022

Say Her Name


"He wore his blackness with the softness of a loving embrace, but also with the tough texture of polished armour ready to deflect the unfairness of life." ~ pg. 11

Author pairs are tricky. Everyone cannot pull it off successfully. There is almost always an author with a prominent voice and the shift in storytelling is obvious. However, Mitchell and Carter write wonderfully together in this new thriller titled Say Her Name.

Eva is a biracial woman, adopted daughter of Cherry and Carlton "Sugar" McNeil. They are the only parents she's known, wanted or needed since the formal adoption when she was eight years old. The story begins with the double blow of Cherry's death and Eva's own suspension from work. With time on her hands and against Sugar's advice, Eva joins a DNA database. It is time to discover who she was before she was theirs.

"But that's the thing with families. Seamless simply hides all the cracks." ~ pg. 161

From the moment Eva gets a positive hit on her DNA to the very last page, Say Her Name moves at a quick thrilling pace with twists. The authors take readers through a dark puzzle, the merciless underside of society and the unfortunate truth of black women disappearing without a word. There are no search parties. There are no names made public. There are no media pleas for their return.

It is enough to make you angry. Yet to read about it in a well-told fiction novel was a push in the right direction. I hope it helps bring awareness to this societal issue, the safety of black women and human trafficking. 

But far as the book goes, my feelings have changed. My immediate reaction upon finishing the book was to rate it 5🖤. I have since changed it to 4🖤 the more I thought about details forgotten later in the book, silly actions of the main character and some unrealistic parts of the mystery. Just to be clear—this new novel is still a good read! I will try more from this bestselling author duo even though Say Her Name wasn't as perfect as I originally thought.

Title: Say Her Name
Author: Dreda Say Mitchell & Ryan Carter
Published: April 2022
Pages: 308
Edition: eBook
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 

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